"A few Democrats spoke in Dean's defense, saying the Republicans are bound to jump on every blunt utterance. "It's a diversion from the real, central issues," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (Mass.). Sen. Patrick J. Leahy said hesitantly of his fellow Vermonter, "He's done a superb job with fundraising." Democrats are playing into Republicans' hands by allowing Dean to distract them, some party strategists say. "It seems to me that the shots at the chairman from Democratic elites says more about our party, sadly, than it does about Chairman Dean," said Jim Jordan, a Democratic consultant who has advised Dean. Jordan groused, "Not much of a mystery really why we're the minority party."
Even Lieberman, one of the more outspoken critics of Dean's predecessor, said that Dean "is being held to a higher standard" because of his history as a presidential candidate, and that his comments are no more outrageous than those of previous party leaders. Terence R. McAuliffe, Dean's predecessor, was hardly a shrinking violet -- he caught heat for accusing President Bush of going AWOL from the Texas National Guard. Bush adviser Karl Rove once called McAuliffe "a wild man."-from the ProgressNow blog.
Anybody see a pattern here?
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