Dem Leadership

John Hinderacker:

Will Terrible Leadership Hurt the Dems?

Is the current leadership of the Democratic Party an embarrassment, or what? There's Howard Dean, who "hates Republicans and everything they stand for," imitates Rush Limbaugh snorting drugs, and vows to "use Terry Schiavo." And there's the increasingly out-of-control Harry Reid, who, just days after calling President Bush a "loser" in front of a group of students, did the previously unthinkable: he slandered a judicial nominee by referring to a "problem" disclosed in the nominee's confidential FBI file--without, of course, referring to what the "problem" might be. This is really breathtaking; did Joe McCarthy ever stray this far over the line? Not that I can recall.

Dean and Reid, with their increasingly thuggish conduct, are making Nancy Pelosi look like Winston Churchill. But that's mostly because she's been keeping her mouth shut lately. The Democrats generally don't pay a price for ths kind of misconduct, mainly because the press covers for them. They are also helped, obviously, by the fact that not many people are paying attention to politics at the moment.

But it can't be a good thing for a party to be led by men who have so little judgment or self-control. We said not long ago that Howard Dean is a ticking time-bomb for the Democrats. It looks now as though Harry Reid is in the same category.