Dems. love to eat their own

UPDATE: TalkLeft weighs in as well.

Why is it that Democrats just love to attack their own? Howard Dean makes a fairly innocuous criticism of Republicans. The response? He gets dumped on by leading Democrats, John Edwards and Joe Biden, both of whom are (surprise, surprise) thinking about running for President themselves. The "controversy," such as it is, is over these remarks, as reported by AP:

While discussing the hardship of working Americans standing in long lines to vote, Dean said Thursday, “Republicans, I guess, can do that because a lot of them have never made an honest living in their lives.” Dean said later his comments did not refer to hard-working Americans, but rather to the failure of Republican leadership to address working-class concerns.

Dean also said he thinks Tom DeLay should be in jail. So what's the problem? The GOP doesn't care about working class concerns and Tom DeLay probably will be in jail (and certainly should). So, again, what's the big deal?

This looks like another one of those cases where the Right Wing media machine ginned up over Dean's comments... fed them to the media.... who then got Democrats (who conveniently are running for president, so they want to knock Dean out of the picture) to bash Dean. Seriously, the GOP must just sit back and laugh over how easy it is. Our people fall for it every time. They got this headline from AP: "Dems Blast Dean For GOP Remarks".

Joe Biden, appearing on "This Week," jumped on Dean.

Dean “doesn't speak for me with that kind of rhetoric and I don't think he speaks for the majority of Democrats,” Biden, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Sunday on ABC's “This Week.”

John Edwards got on the Dean-bashing bandwagon, too:

Responding to Dean's initial remark, Edwards said Dean “is not the spokesman for the party.”

Dean is “a voice. I don't agree with it,” Edwards, a former senator and the Democrats' vice presidential nominee in 2004, said Saturday at a party fundraising dinner in Nashville, Tenn.

Hmmm. John Edwards was singing a different tune just a few days ago at the Take Back America Conference that John and I both attended. According to the Washington Post:

Former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards, who spoke later in the day, took aim at critics who say Democrats should modify their positions to make themselves more appealing to the public. "How about if we actually stand up and fight with passion for what we believe in?" he said to cheers from the audience.

Yeah, Mr. Edwards. How about if we actually stand up and fight with passion rather than - oh I don't know - think some pretty boy smile is going to win us the election? Oh that's right, you're only for passion when you're wooing Democratic audiences behind closed doors. Silly me.

Meanwhile, as we posted below, judges are under attack. Leading Republicans and their top allies have condoned violence against the Judiciary... now THAT is harsh language most would consider very serious. And what's the GOP response. Pretty much nothing.

The GOP will hardly criticize each other over really vital life and death issues. Democrats leap to eat their own every chance they get. It's easier. And, if you're John Edwards or Joe Biden, criticizing Dean keeps your face on the TV.

Here's an idea for Democrats. Stick together for a change. It's what the Republicans do... and they control the White House, the Senate and the House. You might be better off standing up to the right wing and even the media, instead of beating the crap out of your own party chair.

BTW, while prospective candidates Biden and Edwards are beating up on him, Dean is out organizing in Montana and Missouri this weekend.... trying to turn red states blue, rather than trying to turn other Democrats black and blue.