Christopher Ruddy
Monday, Jan. 19, 2004

Even if he does not win, Dean will remain as Dick Morris calls him, the first candidate of the Internet age.

Make no mistake about it: I am voting for George Bush in November. President Bush inherited an economic and national security mess and has returned America to a semblance of sanity in a remarkably short period of time.

And if I were a Democrat, I would be supporting Joe Lieberman.

Still, I must give Howard Dean his due and cheer him on.

In less than a year, he has risen from obscurity to become the leading and most imaginative of the Democratic candidates.

With little money he has challenged the whole Democratic Party establishment and is giving them a run for their money as never before.

Clearly, Dean scares the hell out of Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the DNC, and the Beltway wing of the Democratic party.

For years the Democratic dealmeisters like McAuliffe have cashed in.

While campaigning, they offer platitudes to the working and underprivileged, who have voted Democrat like robots. Once in power, the dealmeisters like McAuliffe cash in their chips and become lobbyists and the “go to” people for big government contracts and favors.

Dean is different. He owes none of these big-money frauds. His support comes from the left wing of the Democratic Party, the folks who really believe those things their leaders have been saying for years.

The Democratic establishment is working overtime to stop the former Vermont governor. The liberal press, so closely tied to the Democratic establishment and led by the Washington Post, is on a jihad to stop Dean.

The Democratic insiders do not believe Dean can beat Bush. Their real fear is that he and his supporters will gain control of the Democratic National Committee. Once he becomes the certified nominee of the party this coming summer, Howard Dean can give Terry McAuliffe and his cabal a pink slip.

The Democratic establishment is so fearful of Dean and so certain that no current Democratic candidate can beat him that they have even turned to Wesley Clark to stop him.

Clark is a former general and a man who voted for Ronald Reagan twice. (Can a general change his stripes so quickly? I doubt it.)

These folks are desperate to kill Dean off. On Friday, the New York Times reported in an above-the-fold Page One story that former Clinton White House damage control operative and opposition research “dirt digger” Chris Lehane is working for Clark. His task: Get the goods on Dean and destroy him.

I am not sure they will find too much. The one thing I like about Dean is that there has not been one whiff of an accusation of political corruption during his entire public life.

And many of the criticisms of Dean are not going to change the public's overall opinion of him. Such criticisms include: Al Sharpton is the first black man he ever met (OK, I’m kidding); his wife keeps her own name and shuns the spotlight; he hasn't released his official papers as governor; the gay and lesbian community likes him; and, like all politicians, he flip-flops on the issues.

I would be more worried if someone accused him of offering the country’s nuclear secrets to the Chinese for campaign cash, as was the case in a previous Democratic administration.

The bad side to Dean is that he has appealed to the hate-Bush crowd. There is no place in America for being rude, disposing of civility and appealing to the lowest denominator. Some of Dean’s supporters have compared President Bush to Adolf Hitler. This is beyond the pale.

One reason George Bush appeals to me is that he always behaves as a gentleman and for the greater good. Even during his campaign against Al Gore, Bush never offered a hint of anger or hate. Bush knew that if elected he would have to be president of all the people.

Bush avoided poisoning the same well from which he would have to drink for over four years. By being so vitriolic, Dean is poisoning the well. If he becomes president, it will be difficult for him to govern.

Still, it is refreshing in this age of media cartels and synthetic candidates that the governor of Vermont, who no one heard of a year ago, has come this close to the presidency.

My hat is off to you on that one, Howard.

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