The Dem '06/'08 Crack-up Is Underway

There are a bunch of stories in the paper today about the Dems starting to lash out at each other and the GOP in anticipation of the '06 & '08 elections. First there's this from John Edwards (who? Oh yeah, he's the guy that ran for VP with the windsurfer guy):

John Edwards Speaks Up
Don’t crown Hillary yet!
Hillary Clinton may be all but declared the 2008 nominee here in New York, but don’t tell John Edwards that. “I think talking about a front-runner four years before an election is ridiculous,” he tells us. Edwards is coming to town this week to give a speech at the New School assailing Bush tax policies, and to visit his daughter, who works at Vanity Fair. Now at the University of North Carolina, his voting finger is clearly itchy. We ran through some talking points. The circus of legislative outrage surrounding Terri Schiavo? “We saw the memo that went out to Republican leaders about how they could take political advantage of Terri Schiavo. That’s disgusting. They will pay a price for this in the 2006 and 2008 elections.” The Democratic acquiescence to the appointments of Condoleezza Rice and Alberto Gonzales? “I would have voted against them.” Would you oppose John Bolton as U.N. ambassador? “I would.” The easy passage of tort reform? “People have attacked my [trial lawyer] career ever since I’ve been involved in politics. But the attacks never stick. I think people fundamentally believe that those who have been wronged by powerful interests should be able to hold them accountable.” The reports that you told John Kerry you wouldn't run against him? “The conversations that John Kerry and I have had are personal and private.”

Then we have this from the Windsurfer Guy himself:

Many voters in last year's presidential election were denied access to the polls through trickery and intimidation, former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry told a voters' group Sunday.

"Last year too many people were denied their right to vote, too many who tried to vote were intimidated," the Massachusetts senator said at an event sponsored by the state League of Women Voters.

"There is no magic wand. No one person is going to stand up and suddenly say it's going to change tomorrow. You have to do that," he said.

Kerry supporters have charged that voting irregularities in largely Democratic areas made it difficult for voters to cast ballots in the November election. A lawsuit in Ohio cited long lines and a shortage of voting machines in predominantly minority neighborhoods, but the Ohio Supreme Court dismissed the suit.

Kerry also cited examples Sunday of how people were duped into not voting.

"Leaflets are handed out saying Democrats vote on Wednesday, Republicans vote on Tuesday. People are told in telephone calls that if you've ever had a parking ticket, you're not allowed to vote," he said.

John Kerry - champion of the stupid.

And then there's Howard "The Scream" Dean:

Howard Dean called the other day and started talking about Jesus. Yes, that Howard Dean. Yes, that Jesus.

Dean is the doctor and former Vermont governor who now is chairman of the Democratic National Committee, having pretty much screamed himself out of the Democratic presidential nomination last year.

Along the campaign path he remarked that his favorite New Testament book was Job, which, actually, is in the Old Testament.

It was insinuated that Dean, like the Alan Alda character on "West Wing," wasn't all that much for church-going. The way to insinuate such a thing is to call a man "perhaps the most secular candidate for the presidency in modern times."

I wanted to go back to how the Democrats shouldn't shy away from the values debate. "We need to talk about Christian values and how they're Democratic values," Dean said. "Jesus taught to help the least among us. He spent his life reaching out to the disenfranchised. The Democratic Party is the party of that value, not the Republican Party."

Dean said that passing on debt to children was a Republican value that Democrats didn't share. He said that it's not a Democratic value to get in new ethics trouble every two or three days, which has been the rate lately for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

Apparently Dean wasn't paying attention when Clinton was in the White House. Speaking of Clinton, there's a new book coming this fall which promises to tell The Truth About Hillary (from Drudge):

A book battle has broken out on Publisher's Row over the ultimate Hillary-attack!

The project being billed as "Hillary in the Raw", like you've never seen her before, is set to drop in September by liberal Ed Klein, former NYT MAGAZINE editor, VANITY FAIR, PARADE contributor and author of multiple works on the Kennedys.

"The revelations in it should sink her candidacy," a source close to Klein warns the DRUDGE REPORT.

Hillary supporters are already comparing this book to the Swift Boat Vet attacks on the Windsurfer. We can only pray that that's true.

Of course, when a book comes out slamming Bush, the author gets booked on every show in the country. What do you bet this guy gets the cold shoulder from the morning shows, and only a concerted effort from the blogosphere will get the information out - ala The Swift Vets.