Dean of insults
HOWARD DEAN should squelch the incendiary rhetoric on behalf of the Democratic National Committee. It won't change Republican hearts and minds, and it could alienate Democrats. It's also one more angry voice in a divided America, which desperately needs political leaders to lift the national vision and speak a language of civility.
Last week the feisty DNC chairman fired another verbal bomb when he told a Washington conference sponsored by the group ''Take Back America" that a lot of Republicans ''have never made an honest living in their lives."
As he has often had to do, Dean later clarified his remarks by explaining that he was attacking the Republican leadership and policies, not individuals. But it was still a cheap shot, playing off the stereotype that Republicans command the party of the rich while the Democrats are working-class types.
His words to the DNC Black Caucus last February were equally divisive. He told the gathering: ''You think the Republican National Committee could get this many people of color in a single room? Only if they had the hotel staff in here." Such a swipe is not only unfair but harkens back to a time when people of color did not have the economic, cultural, and political mobility they do today.
In a speech to the Massachusetts Democratic convention last month, Dean zapped the House majority leader, Tom DeLay, saying he ''ought to go back to Houston where he can serve his jail sentence." DeLay is being investigated by the House ethics committee but has not been charged with a crime. The remark earned Dean a rebuke from Representative Barney Frank, not exactly a shrinking violet when it comes to vigorous debate.
When Dean was campaigning for the Democratic chairmanship, he proclaimed, ''I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for." He has also defined the political landscape as ''a struggle between good and evil."
Last month on NBC's ''Meet the Press" he tried to back down a bit by again explaining that he was referring only to GOP national policy. But then he told host Tim Russert: ''This is a fight for the soul of America between the Republicans and Democrats."
Why must it be a pitched battle? How about having a conversation -- or even a spirited debate -- but one that seeks to bring voters to some common ground through a discussion of the issues rather than fueling an ''us and them" mentality with insults?
It's fine to be tough on the opposition's ideas, but the case should be made with facts, better ideas, and an ear for the art of persuasion. Winning over people with passion that is tempered by logic, fairness -- and a little humility -- will do a lot more than anger to strengthen a political party, and the nation.
