This about sums up my fears...
http://www.tmsfeatures.com/tmsfeatures/subcategory.jsp?catid=1104&custid=67
Dean for president: A Democratic tragedy in one act?
By Matthew Miller
Tribune Media Services
Karl Rove entered the Oval Office and the president looked up.
"Close the door," Bush said, signing some papers. "I'll be with you in a sec."
Rove shut the door and took a seat on the sofa. The president joined him on the sofa opposite. He lit up in a smile.
"Well, Karl, I gotta hand it to you," Bush said.
"It does seem to be working, Mr. President."
"It was important to take out Saddam, tough and costly as it's proving. These idiots who say I did it for political reasons really have no idea what these decisions involve. But I have to say, when you predicted that an ancillary benefit of an Iraqi war would be to split Democrats down the middle and make it likelier they'd nominate someone easily cast as a shrill anti-war peacenik, I never imagined they'd be so crazy."
"Never underestimate the self-destructive power of angry hard-core liberals, sir."
"And with these two big union endorsements now," Bush said, still marveling at the prospect, "it looks like it's actually going to happen. Whatcha got there?" Bush added, noticing the videocassette resting atop Rove's legal pad.
"An early test of some of the advertising themes we'll run. Wanna see?"
"Sure."
Rove popped the video into a TV near the wall. An image of an agitated Howard Dean, sleeves rolled up above his elbows in his trademark pose, appeared on the screen.
"What's with those sleeves?" Bush said. "Nobody rolls their sleeves up that high."
"Sssh," Rove said. "It's starting."
The image froze with Dean's face in a pantomime of rage. A dark minor chord sounded, like the signal in a horror movie when something scary is coming.
"Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont," intoned the voiceover, "- for (START ITALICS)president(END ITALICS)?
"The only state with fewer people than Vermont is Wyoming - yet Howard Dean raised taxes on Vermont's best schools in some crazy liberal scheme to make them as bad as other schools."
A graphic reading "Raised Taxes on Schools" floats across the screen.
"Vermont's general fund amounts to less than one day's spending at the Pentagon, yet Howard Dean still handed his successor a budget mess - and now he wants to raise taxes on every American."
A graphic reading "Raise Taxes on Every American" floats by.
"But that's just the start. Howard Dean wants special new rights for gay and lesbian couples.
"And Howard Dean says he's not sure the Iraqi people are better off with Saddam Hussein gone - even though Saddam killed a million Iraqis and tortured millions more.
"Howard Dean . Is he ready to lead America? Is America ready to be led by Howard Dean?"
The camera zooms in tightly on Dean's angry yet goofy visage, then fades to black.
"How big was Arkansas?" Bush asked, a little nervously.
"Four times bigger than Vermont, sir. And Dean is no Clinton."
"You're right, you're right," Bush said, reassured. "Is it really over?"
"The only chance now is if Gephardt wins Iowa. The press will plaster him wall to wall the week after, and he'll be reincarnated as 'Dick Gephardt, Fresh Face.' He's up seven points in the latest poll. It's a risk. We're sending a few of the boys out to see if we can't be - heh, heh - helpful to the democratic process there."
Bush nodded in the direction of the TV.
"Dean's a decent guy - we were governors together," he said. "Ambitious."
"It's not personal, Mr. President."
"Yeah, I know." Bush's smile flashed again. "Well, as someone once said, 'bring 'em on!'"
The two men laughed quietly, laughter which soon yielded to uninhibited, thigh-slapping guffaws. The Secret Service agents posted outside the Oval Office thought it sounded strangely like a cackle.
(Matthew Miller, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, is the author of "The Two Percent Solution: Fixing America's Problems in Ways Liberals and Conservatives Can Love." Reach him at www.mattmilleronline.com.)
© 2003 MATTHEW MILLER
DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.