Howard the Donkey is Served Up a Heaping Portion of His Own Words

There doesn't seem to be any institutional memory among Democrats. They're like chickens - they wake up in a whole new world every day, and what happened the day before is a vapor never to be recalled. That's why people like Hillary Clinton think they can get away with Bosnian fairy tale stories about landing under sniper fire, and why Howard Dean can be reminded about arguments he made in 2004 that could come back to haunt him this year:

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., launches a biography tour next week, which looks to tell the American people about his days as a POW in Vietnam, at least based on his new TV ad (watch HERE) introduced today in New Mexico.

In response, Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean issued a statement, saying, “John McCain can try to reintroduce himself to the country, but he can’t change the fact that he cast aside his principles to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with President Bush the last seven years. While we honor McCain’s military service, the fact is Americans want a real leader who offers real solutions, not a blatant opportunist who doesn’t understand the economy and is promising to keep our troops in Iraq for 100 years.”

The Republican Party has seized upon the term "blatant opportunist" to suggest that Dean is implying McCain is an opportunist for including his POW information in his TV ad.

RNC Deputy Chairman Frank Donatelli said, “Howard Dean owes John McCain an immediate apology and both Sens. Clinton and Obama should unequivocally denounce this disgraceful attack."

That's all noise. What's more interesting are the Dean quotes from 2004 that may come back to haunt him this year.

"The real issue is this," Dean said in March 2004, when endorsing formal rival Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., "Who would you rather have in charge of the defense of the United States of America, a group of people who never served a day overseas in their life, or a guy who served his country honorably and has three Purple Hearts and a Silver Star on the battlefields of Vietnam?"

McCain, by the way, has been awarded the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, two Bronze Star Medals, a Purple Heart and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

And the military awards won by Clinton and Obama, and I'll even let you add in Bill:

*crickets chirping*

Both Clinton and Obama, along with Dean and other Dem surrogates have been pounding that badly out-of-context "100 years" comment by McCain. For a complete demolition of their argument, see Charles Krauthammer's piece on the subject.

Although the RNC has blasted Dean for the "opportunist" comment, of course McCain is an opportunist just like every politician who seeks to use his experiences and skills to pursuade voters to his cause. I get very tired of people demanding apologies for every little word. Man up and fight it out - this isn't a Sunday social.

Howard Dean is proving to be the kind of ambassador for Democrats that we all hoped he would be when he took that job. He's the GOP's best friend.