Dean: Dems Should Use Kerry Incident To Attack Bush Where He's Weakest

This Democrat, at least, knows how to get back to the point:

Howard Dean, in comments to reporters in his home state, said Sen. John Kerry had committed "a blooper," but the reaction had given Democrats an opportunity to highlight what they describe as the Republicans' weaknesses on the Iraq war.

"Kerry made a blooper. Bloopers happen," Dean said at the state party's campaign headquarters.

I think we want to focus on the president's intemperate rhetoric in saying to vote for a Democrat is a vote to help the terrorists win," Dean said. "That's clearly untrue and that's exactly the reason why President Bush is a failed president."

Of course, Republicans immediately jumped for Dean's throat, which only proves that Dean is on the right track.

Meanwhile, Laura Bush thinks that honest and open discussions about the war are endangering the troops' lives:

First lady Laura Bush cautioned Wednesday that Americans discussing the war in Iraq -- especially politicians -- should be careful what they say because other countries are paying attention.

"The right to have these conversations is part of what makes our country great and our democracy strong. We must be mindful that people around the world are listening to these discussions," Laura Bush said at a suburban Columbus recreation center during a campaign appearance with Rep. Deborah Pryce.

"Responsible candidates understand that the men and women of our military are risking their lives for us, and that we must conduct our debate here at home in a way that does not jeopardize our troops in harm's way," she said, calling for "conversations conducted with civility and respect."

Shorter Laura Bush: It's fine to debate the war, as long as the debate is premised on Republican talking points: Our military is in Iraq to keep Americans safe; America is winning the war; dissent is unpatriotic and gets our troops killed. Gotta love it. Especially the part about "conducting the conversation with civility and respect." Guess in Laura's Precious Moments world, this kind of talk is civil and respectful:

Q Are the terrorists trying to influence our election in your view?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I think they're very much aware of our political calendar here, I really do. And when you see the kinds of things that happened this year, for example, when the Democratic Party in Connecticut purged Joe Lieberman, in effect, drummed him out of the party on the grounds that he had supported the President in the global war on terror, that sends a message to the terrorists overseas that their basic strategy of trying to break the will of the American people may, in fact, work.

Or maybe I'm not giving Laura enough credit. Maybe when Laura calls for "conversations conducted with civility and respect," she is actually chiding Tony Snow for suggesting that journalists who report the truth about what is happening in Iraq are colluding with "the terrorists" to bring America down.

Perhaps Laura can clear that up for us.