Dean Answers Cheney’s Barb About Mother (AP)
Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean, responding to criticism from the vice president, said he doesn’t “care if Dick Cheney likes my mother or not.”
The vice president said in a recent interview that Dean was not the type of person to lead a political party and mentioned the chairman’s mother. “I’ve never been able to understand his appeal. Maybe his mother loved him, but I’ve never met anybody who does. He’s never won anything, as best I can tell,” Cheney said in an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity & Colmes.”
Dean was elected governor of Vermont five times between 1992 and 2000. He ran for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination but closed down his campaign after stumbling in the early primaries.
Dean has recently described the GOP as “pretty much a white, Christian party” and said many Republicans have “never made an honest living.” Republican leaders have called on him to apologize, and even some Democrats have distanced themselves from his remarks.
While his (presumably joking) remarks were rather silly, it’s rather clear that Cheney didn’t say anything bad about Dean’s mother but rather about Dean himself. And, presumably, Cheney realizes that Dean was elected governor of Vermont, hence the title “Governor Dean.”
That said, while both men’s comments are insipid, Cheney’s will hurt him more. Frankly, a large part of Dean’s appeal is that he’s a loose cannon. Cheney’s appeal is that he’s a steady hand on the til. Comments like this and his autoerotic comment to Patrick Leahy (also here and here) don’t exactly bolster than.
Greg Saunders demonstrates how this will play with Dean supporters:
People who love Howard Dean aren’t the money-grubbing pieces of s— who would spend $10,000 a plate for a “seat at the table”. That’s your constituency.
Thus, presumably, explaining the two straight wins for the Bush-Cheney ticket. In a nation of millionaires, the party representing the little guy just doesn’t have a chance.
