A modern American demagogue

Howard Dean mouthed off again at the end of last week. He was trying to find narrow partisan advantage but yabbering about the immigration problem and by making critical comments about the Bush administration. But the problem is Bush has had a decent record in this area. His visit with Mexican president Fox last week renewed something that was severely interrupted after 9/11 (a continuing dialogue with Mexico) but his proposals for immigration reform have drawn a lot of fire from his own party and a lot of support from the democrats. But Dean tried to insert his mouth into an area where he has no knowledge or experience. Who really believes that a state like Vermont, where the number of Hispanics can probably be counted on two hands, gave him any knowledge to speak.

One of the roles of a party chief is to whip up the faithful. But there should also be a larger role to help make the political system function. Dean, and many of his counterparts in the political yabberati (this is not just on one side of the aisle) seem to think that they can say anything and as long as somebody prints it - it is ok.