Howard Dean

In the recent Democrat debate in Boston, Howard Dean said the following in defense of his wish to be the candidate for "guys with Confederate flags on their pickup trucks."

"I think we need to talk to white Southern workers about how they vote, because when white people and black people and brown people vote together in this country, that's the only time that we make social progress, and they need to come back to the Democratic Party. "

Notice Dr. Dean makes no mention of actually providing Southern workers with a reason to vote for him. Rather, he feels a need to talk to them "about how they vote." He even followed up on his pledge:

Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean told a Tallahassee audience today that southerners have to quit basing their votes on "race, guns, God and gays."

Maybe Southern workers don't like the Democrat's ideas for how to "make social progress." Maybe guns and God are important to some people. Dean's suggestion that all the South needs is a good talking to, followed by his actually telling Southerners to ignore certain issues that he is unable to address adequately is an example of the Northern elite condecension that drives this transplanted Northerner nuts. Call me a curmudgeon if you like.