Pugilistic Advice from Mean Dean

Howard Dean, in a speech last Wednesday at George Washington University, told Democrats that we must "learn to punch our way off the ropes" rather than go that route of "Republican Lite" that is always the first solution some fearful party leaders fix on. (WashPost coverage here or treat yourself to the full transcript.)

"There is only one thing the Republican power brokers want more than for us to lurch to the left, and that's for us to lurch to the right," Dean said. "Because what they fear most is that we may really begin fighting for what we believe: fiscal responsibility, socially progressive values for which Democrats have always stood and fought."

Dean also said, "What I want to know is at what point did it become a radical notion to stand up for what we believe? Over fifty years ago, Harry Truman said, 'We are not going to get anywhere by trimming or appeasing. And we don't need to try it.' Yet here we are still making the same mistakes."

We hear you, Howard.