Stating the Obvious

"If he wore an orange tie, people here would be crying," said Yuri Maluta, a protester from Lviv. "It would show that the American president supports democracy here."

... Nicholas D. Kristof, NYT, on the Orange Revolution in Ukraine of 2004

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Perhaps DNC Chairman Howard Dean stuck that Dowd sticker on his shirt without much forethought.

Perhaps Dr. Dowd was a supporter of Dean's 2004 presidential run, and Dean was simply returning a favor.

Perhaps Howard just has a thing for door-knocking.

The Comet, however, cannot believe that a party official of Howard Dean's magnitude would pass over a county executive and a newly minted mayor so easily.

We do not think Dean would have donned the campaign gear of any debutante politico, without doing some serious research first.

It is only reasonable to assume that at some point, Howard Dean thought to himself, "This kid stuck it to a bunch of parochial, conservative party dinosaurs, and that's exactly what we need. As Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, I'm going to send a message, and shake up this rusty machine town."

Think about the message this sent to the Party Crashers of Allegheny County -- those rebellious underlings who spent the spring primary election getting insulted, ostracized, threatened, and blackmailed by the local party apparatus -- all for the crime of supporting independent and progressive leadership.

Now think about the message to the ACDC establishment. As party leaders contemplate reform options, they had better take into account the sweep of history -- and a realistic assessment of their own place in it.