Divisive Dean

Before a group of Florida business leaders Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean called for an end to divisiveness in America. Then he cut loose on everybody:

Dean called President Bush "the most divisive president probably in our history."

We'd have to say that superlative belongs to Abraham Lincoln, on whose watch 11 states actually tried to leave the union. Under Bush there hasn't been a serious secession movement even in the People's Republic of Vermont.

Anyway, the AP also reports that at the same appearance, Dean declared, "The Iraqi prime minister is an anti-Semite." And the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports that "Dean also had a harsh assessment of [Katherine] Harris, a U.S. House member trying to unseat U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.":

"Thank God for Bill Nelson, because we'd have another crook in the United States Senate if it weren't for him. He is going to beat the pants off Katherine Harris," Dean said during his 20-minute address. "She doesn't understand that it's . . . improper to be chairman of a campaign and count the votes at the same time. This is not Russia and she is not Stalin."

Now we understand why Dean is complaining about how "divisive" Bush is. He wanted to be the most divisive president in our history!

I might could sympathize with what the Dems think of Maliki, if they hadn't been against Iraq progress from the beginning. Dean, Clinton, Pelosi, and Reid are Hawks when it is convenient.

Thanks to James Taranto.

Also read Peter Beinart's column at the Washington Post, and how Dems paner for the Jewish vote.