Howard Dean is right (yet again)

There is a piece by John Judis over at The New Republic entitled In defense of Howard Dean's comments on Iraq. After detailing the anti-Dean babblings of Republicans and several spine-challenged Democrats, Judis goes on, oddly enough ;-) to defend him...

There are, however, two very different questions to ask about Dean's statements on Iraq. The first is whether they are politic--whether they have advanced his own or his party's electoral chances. Probably not--I am no fan of Dean as a national politician or party chair; and I would certainly concede that a Democrat in Georgia, Florida, or Nebraska might not want to run on what he says.

The second question, though, is whether his judgment on Iraq has been sound. And there I would say that it certainly has been. During the months leading up to the invasion of Iraq, and during the invasion and occupation, Dean has been almost consistently correct in his statements. He has been the Democrats' and the nation's Cassandra--willing to reveal bitter truths about which Republicans and his fellow Democrats would prefer that he remain silent.

Dean's statements perfectly fit Michael Kinsley's definition of a "gaffe"--an assertion that is impolitic but true.

He then goes on to detail a timeline of Howard Dean's remarks about Iraq, how he was attacked for them, (not just by Republicans but by fellow Democrats, including the one whose tepid 2004 presidential campaign he worked tirelessly to support). And how it keeps turning out that Howard Dean was right. Go ahead and click that last link, it takes you to http://www.howarddeanwasright.com ! And over at Kos, floridagal has a great diary about the fact the the Democratic party has no clue why Dean has so much support.

Also, over at Alternet there is a piece by Jan Frel, entitled Howard Dean: Just Plain Right. (Frel's byline indicates that he worked on Howard Dean's presidential campaign.)

Authored by Lawrence Korb and Brian Katulis, the plan is titled "Strategic Redeployment."

That report suggests a global redeployment of 80,000 troops in 2006 composed of all Guard and Reserve troops (roughly 46,000) back to the United States, 14,000 soldiers to Kuwait, and 18,000 to Afghanistan. One thousand would be sent to Southeast Asia and another 1,000 troops to the Horn of Africa (including Somalia and Sudan) to support "counterterrorist operations" there.

It's only a matter of time before Bush's "strategy for victory" evolves into a "strategy for withdrawal."

I have to admit, Howard Dean is a much more noble human being than I am. As far as I can tell, he has consistently demurred each time he has had the opportunity to say "I told you so!" Heck, by now I'd be feeling the urge to add an "In your face, Lieberman!", and maybe even do a little victory dance. Granted, especially now as party chair, Howard needs to be above that sort of thing. So I'll just say, yet again, "Thank you, Howard Dean!"

P.S. Hit the bat!

Alternate link for comments