Dean on Meet the Press
Dean was fabulous on MTP this morning, following Condoleeza Rice. Be sure to watch Dean on Larry King on Wednesday, and follow his announcement on Thursday about the future of the grassroots organization. Here are some highlights from this morning:

"TIM RUSSERT: Dr. Rice said that Saddam Hussein was the most dangerous regime in the world.

DR. DEAN: That was ridiculous. This is a pathetic old man who we'd been containing for 12 years by overflights. We had sanctions on him that were paralyzing him. It turned out that there were no weapons of mass destruction, as the administration--although the administration said otherwise. It turned out that there was no relationship between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda or the killing of the 3,000 Americans at the World Trade Center, even though the administration tried to lead us in an opposite direction. The administration simply did not tell the truth about Iraq. The debate is not about whether we should fight terrorism. I supported the war in Afghanistan because I think we did the right thing in Afghanistan, although I think the conduct of the war is not being very well-managed, after the fact. But fighting Iraq had nothing to do with terrorism."

[snip]
"George Bush got into office with 500,000 fewer votes than Al Gore got. And for the first two years, we all laid down in front of him, we let him get away with all this stuff, and we passed his right-wing program. Furthermore, he governed far further to the right than I ever thought he would, knowing him as governor of Texas. I was just shocked by the stuff that he has passed. The Medicare prescription bill, imagine having your administration order somebody not to testify that it's going to cost $140 billion more than you thought. I mean, if this was going on in the Clinton administration, there would be all kinds of inquiries and hearings and people being fired. What is going on in this Capitol and what is going on in this country?"

I think the issue of Richard Foster, ordered not to tell the true cost of the Medicare prescription bill is, as Johnny Cochran would say, outrageous, and demands more attention. The DNC blog points to his confirmation that his job was repeatedly threatened if he disclosed true costs of the bill before its passage. Dean is right: if Clinton's White House had done this a special counsel would already be appointed.