Howard Dean on Teabaggers, Palin and 2012

Kyle Blaine (InsideVandy.com):

“I think in addition to a bad economy, the Tea Party arose out of a discomfort with the demographic shift going on in this country,” Dean said.

According the Dean, the country is shifting to a group of ethnic and social minorities, and this bothers members of the Tea Party, which he says consists mostly of white people 55 years and older.

“Obama was elected overwhelmingly by voters under 35 years of age,” Dean said. “Obama has not lost any voters to the Tea Party.”

The advantage that President Obama and Democrats have in general, according to Dean, is a younger generation with views more in line with the Democratic Party.

“The problem with Republicans in general is that they offend the younger generation with their attacks on gays and immigrants,” Dean said. “I don’t have much advice for Republican (presidential contenders) other than to abandon their right-wing social agenda.”

Dean also offered his opinions of Sarah Palin and her potential candidacy in 2012.

“Sarah Palin stands for the middle class of the 1950s, when things were much more black and white,” Dean said. “It is interesting that she is a turn off to most women but attractive to older Republican men.”

Despite this, Dean said he cautions most Democrats who write Palin off as a weak contender.

“If she can win a major party’s nomination, she could win the race,” Dean said. MORE...