Crybaby Dean ...
Last week, I authored a column about Dean's flip-flopping: ["Frontrunner Dr. Dean is Mr. Flip-flop"].
This morning, I wake up to another hypocritical stance by Dean: ["Dean criticizes Cheney task force, had own energy group"].
And then, there is this: ["Dean Wants Party Leader to Slow Rivals' Attacks"].
I don't know even where to start but I do know that it is becoming crystal clear that Howard Dean is not ready to lead this nation.
I have already written enough about the flip-flops above, but the hypocrisy is just too much at this point. Dean has been verbally assaulting Vice President Dick Cheney - and rightfully so - about his secret energy panel for months [BTW, of course, no mention from Dean about Hillary Clinton's secret health care hearings in the 1990s that basically killed our chances of getting a decent health care bill]. And then we find out that Dean had his own secret energy task force. Okay, this is just getting to be too much.
Now, let's talk about the attacks.
First, Dean is technically asking for it. He is the frontrunner and frontrunners always get attacked. Second, if Ron Brown were alive and heading up the DNC, he wouldn't be doing jacksh*t about the attacks on Dean. Brown didn't do anything about the attacks on Bill Clinton in 1992. Sure, just before the New York primary when it looked like Jerry Brown might swipe the nomination from him, Brown did call Brown to stop attacking Clinton. Brown told him to screw. But this was the March of a very long primary season. The 2004 primaries haven't even cast a vote yet and Dean is already squealing like a teenage geek getting a tittie-twister. Lighten up already!
Second, this is the same Dean who attacked McAuliffe and said he would replace him if elected now calling on McAuliffe to rescue him! Again, how hypocritical is that?
This is a part of the process, Howard. If you can't handle your fellow Democrats giving you some political hipchecks, what are you going to do when Karl Rove starts the onslaught? Cry some more? Gosh, such amateur hour.
Dean has run an amazing campaign so far. He has outraised his opponents by multiple folds. He has invigorated the base and brought thousands of other people to his campaign and the political process. However, it is becoming clear that Howard Dean is in way over his head and taking the party to a disastrous result if he is the nominee.
The key now is, when will the Deaniacs get a grip and smartly abandon their candidate for someone more electable?

... might be dropping
American Research Group released a poll today from New Hampshire showing Dean's lead dropping a bit: Dean 37 percent, John Kerry 19 percent, Wesley Clark 12 percent, Joe Lieberman 6 percent, Dick Gephardt 4 percent, John Edwards 3 percent, and Dennis Kucinich at 1 percent. While Dean is still in the lead, he has lost as much as 8 percent in a matter of days. Also, his lead, which peaked at 32 percent, is now down to 18 percent. ARG will be tracking daily from New Hampshire until Primary Day ["2004 New Hampshire Democratic Tracking"]. I will post numbers every once and a while, especially if there are significant changes.

Reaction
Here is some of the reaction from the other candidates about Dean's crying, in the order it was sent out:

Dick Gephardt: "The race for the Democratic nomination should be a contest, not a coronation. Howard Dean has spent the last year criticizing me and other candidates at every opportunity. Now, as he makes a series of embarrassing gaffes that underscore the fact he is not well-equipped to challenge George Bush, he suddenly wants to change the rules of the game. I said almost a year ago that this campaign should be a contest of ideas. Since that time, I have offered bold, innovative ideas that will create jobs, guarantee every American health care that can never be taken away and make us independent of Middle East oil. I want caucus and primary voters to judge us on our ideas and that’s why we must have a vigorous debate on our records and proposals. Anything less would be an insult to Democratic voters."

Joe Lieberman entitled his email, "Terry Help!" and sent out a file with all of Dean's attacks against his rivals. Here are Lieberman's comments: "Throughout this year, Howard Dean has repeatedly attacked other Democratic candidates. But when recently challenged on his own policies, misstatements and retractions, Dean responded by complaining to the party chairman that we're being mean to him. I've got news for Howard Dean: the primaries are a warm up compared to what George Bush and Karl Rove have waiting for the Democratic nominee. If Howard Dean can't stand the heat in the Democratic kitchen, he's going to melt in a minute once the Republicans start going after him. Voters deserve to know why Howard Dean wants to raise middle class taxes and why I want to cut them. They deserve to know why he wants to shut down markets abroad and why I want to open them up. And they deserve to know why he is abandoning Bill Clinton's policies and I want to build on them. It's a matter of being open and honest with the voters."

John Kerry: "Listening to Howard Dean's comments yesterday makes me wonder if he's worried about our Party's chances for victory or his own personal political future. No one who really cares about the future of the Democratic Party would make such a divisive and threatening statement. Sadly, they're part of a pattern. He was the first candidate to attack in this campaign and the first to run negative ads, and he has been attacking Democrats and their accomplishments during the Clinton years from day one of this race. Sometimes he's had to apologize for it, like when he said he's the only white candidate to speak about race in front of white audiences. His fellow Democrats and President Clinton deserve better than to have their hard work dismissed and distorted for Dean's own political advantage. To win back the White House, we need better than Howard Dean has been offering, we need answers not just anger."