Howard Dean Articulate & Outspoken on "Meet the Press"

DNC Chair Howard Dean was the sole guest today for the hour-long NBC News' Meet the Press. I thought he did an excellent job in clearly explaining Democratic viewpoints and frustrations to host Tim Russert.

In all honesty, he was more articulate, controlled and prepared for Russert's tough questions than John Kerry was in his appearances on that important showcase.

This Dean quote from this morning had me standing and cheering.....

"DR. DEAN: I will use whatever position I have in order to root out hypocrisy. I'm not going to be lectured as a Democrat--we've got some pretty strong moral values in my party, and maybe we ought to do a better job standing up and fighting for them. Our moral values, in contradiction to the Republicans', is we don't think kids ought to go to bed hungry at night. Our moral values say that people who work hard all their lives ought to be able to retire with dignity. Our moral values say that we ought to have a strong, free public education system so that we can level the playing field. Our moral values say that what's going on in Indian country in this country right now in terms of health care and education is a disgrace, and for the president of the United States to cut back on health-care services all over America is wrong.

Democrats have strong moral values. Frankly, my moral values are offended by some of the things I hear on programs like 'Rush Limbaugh,' and we don't have to put up with that. Our problem in this party is we didn't stand up early enough and fight back against folks like that who thought they were going to push us around and bully us, and we're not going to do it anymore."

Like Howard Dean said, it's time we all stood up and fought for the principles of compassion and common sense that Democrats hold dear.

Here's a link to the entire transcript from NBC News' Meet the Press interivew today with Howard Dean. And here's a link to my profile of Howard Dean, Democratic Party Chair.