Does anyone take Howard Dean seriously?

He's at it again. This is the same guy who recently opined about republicans, that they've "never made an honest living in their lives", and they "all behave the same" and "they all look the same" and finally "it's pretty much a white Christian party".

That would be enough to deep six the career of almost any republican or even a libertarian. But that's not all! He also recently compared repubicans and democrats by saying, "this is a struggle of good and evil. And we're the good".

So, what has he done now? In a speech for the DNC last night at the Armory in Lewiston, Maine, Dean laid it on thick and heavy:

LEWISTON — The Bush White House is the most corrupt administration in U.S. history since President Warren G. Harding's, said Howard Dean

Really, Howard? Read off the indictments and jail terms, I wanna hear em. Sounds like he might believe republicans are always guilty until proven innocent. That would fit, since he did say the republicans were evil. Side note--in the article, the skillful reporter included in the opening paragraph the fact that Tom DeLay had been indicted, even thought DeLay has nothing to do with the Bush administration. It's an art, folks.

Dean continued:

"The first thing we're going to do is we're going to have ethics come back to Washington again," said Dean, the keynote speaker at Saturday night's annual fundraising dinner for the Maine Democratic Party at the Lewiston Armory.

To deal with the "culture of corruption," Dean said, there needs to be an ethics code in Congress and stronger campaign finance laws.

Well, at least he's trying to lay out a message for the dems. However, it still sounds like the old one--"vote for us because we're not republicans". Keep trying, Howie. You are entertaining if nothing else. By the way, I wonder what Dean would do to promote better morals and ethics in DC? Don't know, but I guess it wouldn't be to reference a Bible:

"I'm tired of the ayatollahs of the right wing," Dean said. "We're fighting for freedom in Iraq. We're going to fight for freedom in America."

"Ayatollahs". Must be his new code word for "religious wacko". Perhaps they are trying to rein him in a bit.

I've always found the diverse criticisms of Bush from the left humorous, to the point of making it hard to recognize legitimate criticisms. For example, on the one hand Bush is said to be a fascist warmonger dictator hell-bent on world conquest, while on the other he's a dangerous born-again Christian, heaven-bent on turning America into a theocracy. Apparently the contradiction is missed, but that's ok. Understanding the candidates is crucial.