Was Howard Dean a "poor widdle me" disgrace to manhood?

(DEAN): And I think we can improve this situation. I was very disappointed...

ZAHN: Sir, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

DEAN: ... with -- particularly Senator Edwards tonight. I thought that that strayed over the line of personal attack that was unnecessary.

ZAHN: And what was it that you objected to the most? He didn't...

DEAN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) personal...

ZAHN: He didn't, he didn't call you -- out and outright call you a racist.

DEAN: No, he called me arrogant, I thought that was unnecessary.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0311/04/pzn.00.html

Dean is the Democratic front-runner in recent polls nationwide and in New Hampshire, which hosts the party's first presidential primary next month. He has joked about "picking buckshot out of my rear end" in previous campaign appearances, but attacks from his fellow Democrats have begun to dominate headlines and overshadowed his recent policy speeches.

"If we had strong leadership in the Democratic Party, they would be calling those other candidates and saying, 'Hey look, somebody's going to have to win here,' " The New York Times quoted Dean as saying Sunday during a campaign swing in Iowa.

But Dean's leading rivals have accused Dean of being unable to take what he dishes out.

"That struck me as outrageous coming from Howard Dean, who launched the first negative ads of the campaign who has repeatedly and divisively attacked the Democratic Party, other Democratic candidates and the Democratic leadership," Sen. Joseph Lieberman told reporters Monday.

The Connecticut senator said Dean has responded to criticism with personal insults and invective. "What does he do now that he's being substantively challenged? He goes complaining to the party chairman that we're being mean to him," Lieberman said. "Well, I have some news for Howard Dean: The primary campaign is a warm-up compared to what George Bush and Karl Rove have for the nominee."

(snip)

But Dean campaign spokesman Jay Carson said the former governor's opponents "are throwing everything positive out the window."

"All they do is attack," Carson said.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/12/29/elec04.prez.dean.democrats/index.html

No ordinary person would presume to tell other presidential candidates to stop criticizing Dean. But Gore did. He instructed Democrats to "speak no ill" of anyone in their party. "We can't afford to be divided," he said. Why did Gore deliver that message this morning? Because tonight Dean's rivals will get their last chance to confront him in a debate until nearly a month from now, at which point the Iowa caucuses will be just two weeks away. Gore is trying to stop anyone from stopping Dean.

In case anyone missed the point, Dean underscored it. He thanked Gore "particularly those words that said that the 11th Commandment now also ought to apply to Democrats. As you know, I've been picking buckshot out of my rear end in some of these debates, and we're going up to New Hampshire tonight and see if I do some more."
http://www.slate.com/id/2092275/

"I intend to talk about race during this election in the South. The Republicans have been talking about it since 1968 in order to divide us, and I'm going to bring us together. Because you know what? White folks in the South who drive pickup trucks with Confederate flag decals on the back ought to be voting with us because their kids don't have health insurance either, and their kids need better schools too."

The two southerners in the Democratic race, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards (search) and retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark (search) of Arkansas, also protested. "Some of the greatest civil rights leaders, white and black, have come from the South," said Edwards. "To assume that southerners who drive trucks would embrace this symbol is offensive."

Clark said, "Every Democratic candidate for president needs to condemn the divisiveness the Confederate flag represents."

"The last thing we need in the South is somebody like you coming down and telling us what we need to do," Edwards told Dean in the debate. "The people that I grew up with, the vast majority of them, they don't drive around with Confederate flags on pickup trucks." The audience of Bostonians applauded. Nobody pointed out that the sentiment Edwards had just expressed was the most common rationale for flaunting the Confederate flag. Nor did Edwards betray any chagrin when moderator Anderson Cooper recalled Edwards' recent comment that Democrats should "reach out to people like Zell Miller," the Democratic senator from Georgia who has just endorsed President Bush for re-election. If Dean's outreach to people with the Confederate flag decals makes him a racist, does Edwards' outreach to Miller make Edwards a Bush man? Or is outreach just part of politics?

Sen. John Kerry (search) of Massachusetts contended that Dean's "pandering" to the National Rifle Association (search) gave him an inroad to "pander to lovers of the Confederate flag."

Dean's comment was reported in story about Kerry's criticism of Dean's record on guns. The senator claimed that Dean was an NRA favorite who opposed a 1994 law that banned assault weapons to civilians.

"I would rather be the candidate of the NAACP than the NRA," Kerry said in a statement

"I don't want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks," Gephardt said in a statement. "I will win the Democratic nomination because I will be the candidate for guys with American flags in their pickup trucks."

Candidate and civil rights activist Al Sharpton (search) — who has accused Dean of having an "anti-black agenda" — said he was "surprised and disturbed" by the Confederate flag remark. "If I said I wanted to be the candidate for people that ride around with helmets and swastikas, I would be asked to leave," Sharpton said.