Inside Politics

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By

Cheney on Dean

Howard Dean is "over the top," Vice President Dick Cheney says, calling the Democrats' chairman "not the kind of individual you want to have representing your political party."

"I've never been able to understand his appeal. Maybe his mother loved him, but I've never met anybody who does. He's never won anything, as best I can tell," Mr. Cheney said in an interview to be aired tonight on Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes."

Mr. Dean was elected governor of Vermont five times between 1992 and 2000. He ran for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, but closed down his campaign after poor showings in early primaries.

In recent weeks, Mr. Dean has described the GOP as "pretty much a white, Christian party" and said many Republicans have "never made an honest living." Republican leaders have called on him to apologize, and even some Democrats have distanced themselves from his remarks.

"So far, I think he's probably helped us more than he has them," Mr. Cheney said in the interview, which was taped Friday. "That's not the kind of individual you want to have representing your political party."

The vice president added: "I really think Howard Dean's over the top. And more important ... I think many of his fellow Democrats feel the same way."

History lesson

"During a discussion with minority leaders and journalists [last] Monday, Howard Dean declared that Republicans are 'a pretty monolithic party. They all believe the same. They all look the same. It's pretty much a white Christian party,'" Peter Kirsanow notes at National Review Online (www.nationalreview.com).