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February 17, 2005

Evidence that the Screwball Dean of the Presidential Campaign Was Not an Anomaly

I was wondering if the wildman Dean of the presidential campaign was just a creation intended to appeal to the most radical voters on the Left. Could it be that, as Chairman of the DNC, Dean would now behave in a more calm, reasonable, professional, effective manner? Surely if Dean was really such a nut, the Dems would never have put him in charge.

But this anecdote appears to indicate that Dean really is a loose cannon.

Dean Seeks Media Blackout, Changes Mind

I saw that headline, but assumed there must be some exaggeration in it. No so:

PORTLAND, Ore.— Howard Dean, the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee, requested a media blackout of a debate with top Pentagon adviser Richard Perle, then quickly changed his mind Wednesday after news agencies complained.

“DNC Chair Howard Dean has declared a news blackout of his appearance and requested the media not quote, record, and/or paraphrase his remarks,” event coordinator Gabrielle Williams wrote in an e-mail sent to news agencies Wednesday morning. “We apologize for the late notice, but we were just informed of this request.”

Less than two hours later, Williams called to say: “We were told just a few minutes ago that it is now open” for media coverage. The decision to open Thursday’s debate came roughly 30 minutes after an inquiry by The Associated Press.

Dean’s spokeswoman came up with some spin:

Dean spokeswoman Laura Gross said Dean had decided the event would be closed before he was elected DNC chairman Saturday, but changed his mind because of his new job.

“Some speeches are open, some speeches are closed. He decided months ago that this speech would be closed. We’re in transition. Now he’s the DNC chair—and so we needed to have this changed,” Gross said.

But that spin was evidently off-the-cuff, because the other major player in the event, Perle, had heard nothing of the kind:

Perle, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld’s top policy adviser, is a key architect of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and Dean is among the war’s most prominent opponents.

Perle said that he was surprised to learn that the press had been barred from covering the debate.

Not only that, Perle says it doesn’t seem to make much sense:

“It seems quite extraordinary that the chairman of the Democratic National Committee would not want the public coverage of this debate,” said Perle, a resident fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

What is the Left doing to itself?