Dr. Howard and Mr. Hillary

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael Goodwin's column today displays how Mad Dr. Dean and Hillary draw from the same loony left deep well for their rantings.

Any suggestion that Hillary is moving to the political center is as ridiculous as the ludicrousness she peddles at fund-raisers.

I thought she was supposed to be so brilliant. How can she be so stupid to be making on the record remarks that will certainly come back to bite her in 2008?

Goodwin writes:
Howard Dean is all the rage. The loudmouth leader of the Democratic Party has set off fireworks with his nasty broadsides at Republicans. He's been so harsh that some in his own party want to muzzle him. Here's a taste of the tone:

"Right now we have a White House and a majority in Congress who are systematically weakening the democratic traditions and institutions on which this nation was built. They are turning back the clock; they are tearing down the building blocks of democracy ... turning the clock back on the 20th century. Turning the progress back beyond Franklin Roosevelt, even beyond Teddy Roosevelt."

Oops. Beg pardon. That wasn't Howard Dean. That was Sen. Hillary Clinton, speaking at a Democratic dinner in Minnesota in April.

Here was Dean speaking on the same topic, the Senate filibuster rule, at a Take Back America conference in Washington on June 2:

"This administration is beginning to erode the core of our democracy. ... The great genius of American democracy is that if 48% of you vote one way, you still have some say. ... Now they're trying to eliminate that."

The accusation is identical, the words are interchangeable. And it is not a unique event.

Dean, of course, openly admits his far-left views. He is comfortable with Michael Moore and is a charter member of the Dems' wackadoo wing. He even told a Manhattan gathering, "I hate Republicans."

Clinton has gone out of her way to emphasize more centrist values. She has quoted from the Bible, calls herself a "praying person" and has urged "common ground" on abortion. She appeared with Newt Gingrich, a darling of the right, to discuss health care.

But an examination of many of their speeches to party faithful and at fund-raising events shows that Dean and Clinton often say very similar things. Dean occasionally goes way over the top, but both make it seem they share a speechwriter, if not a brain, in their harsh attacks on Republicans' character and integrity.

Goodwin goes on to detail the similarities between what he said and she said.
On GOP honesty

She said: "It's very hard to stop people who have no shame about what they're doing. ... It is very hard to stop people who have never been acquainted with the truth."

He said: "Republicans ... can do that, because a lot of them have never made an honest living in their lives."

On GOP and religion

She said: "Some honestly believe they are motivated by the truth, they are motivated by a higher calling, they are motivated by, I guess, a direct line to the heavens."

He said: Republicans "all behave the same. They all look the same. It's pretty much a white Christian party."

On GOP power

She said: "There has never been an administration, I don't believe in our history, more intent upon consolidating and abusing power to further their own agenda."

He said: "This is a culture of corruption and abuse of power in Washington. This is what happens when one party is in charge of everything."

On ballot-box problems

She said: "Too many communities, too many people of color, too many college students are effectively denied an equal right to cast their vote."

He said: "The Republicans are all about suppressing votes. Two voting machines if you live in a black district, 10 voting machines if you live in a white district. I think every single American ought to be able to vote!"

I get the feeling she really doesn't want to be president in 2008. She does seem to be doing her best to alienate Red America. She is polarizing as it is, and now she's compounding that by following in the lunatic Dean's footsteps.

Way to move to the center, Hillary!