Give 'Em Hell Howard!

By: Lowell
Published On: 5/22/2005 1:00:00 AM

In his interview on Meet the Press this morning, Howard Dean was his usual feisty, combative self.  I've never been a "Deaniac," particularly, but I've got to say that I admire a guy who doesn't back down in the face of bullies, whether those bullies happen to be Tom DeLay, Dick Cheney,  Bill Frist, or the right-wing media. 

This morning, for instance, Russert hounded Dean relentlessly, as if Russert were reading from Karl Rove's opposition research memos, trying to get Dean to back down from his statements about Republicans ("I hate...everything they stand for"), the corrupt Republican House Majority Leader ("I think Tom DeLay ought to go back to Houston, where he can serve his jail sentence down there courtesy of the Texas taxpayers."), etc.  Instead, Dean shot it right back at Tim "Lap Dog of the Republicans" Russert, even citing the story of Harry Truman and a voter in 1948:

Look, Harry Truman was campaigning in 1948, and a guy went up and said, "Give 'em hell, Harry!"  And Harry Truman said, "I don't give 'em hell. I just tell the truth and the Republicans think it's hell."

Well, maybe we need to update this for 2005, but instead of "Give 'em hell, Harry!" it should now say "Give 'em hell, Howard!", because that's exactly what Dr. Dean does.  Sure, it makes Republicans, and some weak-kneed Democrats, nervous, but this is exactly what we need right now in response to what Republicans are doing to our country.

Here are a few highlights from "Meet the Press" this morning, as Dr. Dean demolishes the Republicans simply by speaking the truth (bold-face added):

This is great stuff, especially for all those right-wingers who just love to stereotype Howard Dean - and all Democrats, actually - as a bunch of crazed, immoral, tax-loving, bible bashing, religion hating, unAmerican losers. 

Well, sorry to disappoint all you right wingers out there, but we Democrats and progressives are the true Americans, fighting for real American (and Virginia) values like ethics, honesty, the Constitution, freedom, personal responsiblity and patriotism.  Maybe what you don't like is that we stand for "liberty and justice for all," not just "tax breaks and favors for rich corporations and special interests" 

By the way, we know that you right wingers would like nothing better than for Democrats and progressives to sit down and shut up, but that's not going to happen.  So sorry.  Instead, what we're going to do is follow the lead of Howard Dean (and Wesley Clark, and of course Harry Truman) and "give Republicans hell!"  Oh yeah, and we're going to "raise some Kaine" while we're at it, too.


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