Pacific Views

Thanks, Howard.

Molly Ivins has been thinking about the Democratic presidential candidates. In Ivins' most recent column, she reminded us that John Kerry is one hell of a debater (although he may also need a humor transplant), and she suggested that people take another look at John Edwards, who Ivins thinks has become a much better candidate than he was a year ago (when she dismissed Edwards as a lightweight).

But Ivins saved her best words for former candidate Howard Dean, and those words bear repeating here:

For just a moment in time, Dean was ahead of the pack -- and no one owned him. Go back and look at whom that scared.

Sure, Dean self-destructed to some extent. He now does a very funny imitation of his own "scream speech," delivered in a quiet monotone and ending with a mild, deadpan "yahoo." (Come to think of it, he should have done that riff on Leno the night after he made the speech. We all have great ideas when it's too late.)

I'm not crazy about anger as a motivating force in politics, but didn't someone need to point out that the emperor isn't wearing any clothes? Didn't someone need to say that we were led into war under false pretenses? Imagine an entire campaign in which all the candidates ignored that because they were all complicit in it.

I think we owe Howard Dean more than a "Gee, thanks for participating in our noble political system." Personally, I'd like to say, "Gee, thanks for helping keep democracy alive when it looked fairly dicey."