There is no #$!&% way there is any comparison between Howard Dean (and the electronically engineered scream played over CNN at least 800 times in one week)and the racist creep, George Felix Allen, Jr. Allen has consistently been a racist. Where's the surprise? Howard Dean, on the other hand, had the support of the entire black caucus because he not only was no racist, but also had the honesty and proposals to lead.
Too bad simpletons like "too conservative" conflate the trivial with the important. Too bad many Dems couldn't tell the difference between a real issue and a contrived controversy like the so-called Dean scream either. We have got to stop doing that. That (the "scream")was an organized destruction of a candidate by electronic deception, dirty tricks, for no reason, except the GOP (and other presidential aspirants among Dems) were afraid Dean wouldn't wage an unnecessary war based on lies. Necon hegemony "must be served." Look where we are now and ask yourselves how imporant it was to diss a candidate for such claptrap.
One more time, 3000 supporters were screaming (I have heard the complete tape) and you could barely hear Dean, whose voice was raspy from campaigning. Out of context, the media tried to portray him as unhinged. He was able to get energy from the crowd and look to the next primary and beyond with optimism. Wow! What a "terrible" thing. (Sarcasm.) Now look at George Felix Allen, Jr., former noose owner, who makes a racist statement. Can you honestly say there is a comparison? How did racist George Felix Allen get this far without the media coming down on him? Inquiring minds want to know! The "scream" finished Dean only because voters were too gullible for their own good, failed to question both the importance and the excess of the media effort to trounce him, and turned on a dime. Instead we got the "electable" one and look what happened next.
The next time we have a strong candidate for president who's moderately progressive (that's what Dean was, BTW), fights hard for us, doesn't flinch, and tells the truth instead of the crock we've been fed for the past five years, we'd better not be so easily manipulated. If we are, we have only ourselves to blame.
And as for "Too Conservative," give up the flawed comparison. I've met Howard Dean and George Allen isn't fit to walk in his shadow.