Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., last week said what many moderate Democrats would like to say. The congressman told Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean to "shut up!"
It doesn't get any clearer.
Dean had likened the war in Iraq to the war in Vietnam. He said it was wrong to believe the United States would win in Iraq. Pomeroy, who has been to Iraq three times and was one of only 81 Democrats to vote to authorize the war, said Dean wasn't representing Democrats when speaking about the war. "He was not hired to make major policy announcements," the congressman said. "...he needs to focus on ... winning elections."
The congressman had it right. Dean has done Democrats no favors with his flap-jaw, often thoughtless comments. The chairman probably has turned off moderate Democrats, even as he tries to energize the party's lefty base. But Pomeroy knows elections can't be won with only the left. Telling Dean to "shut up" is good advice, and further defines Pomeroy as his own man who does not march in lockstep with the party line.
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