Before going into why I wrote this diary, lets talk about Strike #1 That was the wonderful episode where he was shilling for the Healthcare Industry by campaigning against the ACA's IPAB. This culminated with him writing a lie-filled Op-Ed in the WSJ on the subject which, naturally, gave credibility to those on the right who want to gut IPAB because it does what they don't want: cutting cost out of out the healthcare system by forcing changes to Doctors and Hospitals as opposed to consumers and the poor. Now, some people not familiar with our politics probably don't understand why the Republicans, a party that professes their #1 priority to be cutting out of control entitlement spending, is so religiously opposed to IPAB. Well, besides their desire in all things that pain shouldn't come to corporations but to people and especially the poor, there is also the reality that if Medicare is made more efficient and cost effective it reduces the needed pressure to force radical solutions that they prefer like "Premium-Support". So Dean, after saying, in 2010, passing the ACA wash't worth it cause it didn't have a public option and had no cost controls, is now opposed to the most consumer friendly cost-control out their and is the right's biggest ally on that cause.
But what really drove me over the edge and basically counts as 2 strikes is his op-ed with Rudy Gulianni published in today's Roll Call:
They urged us to convey to the US administration that Iranians are fed up with the ruling theocracy and do not view Rouhani as an element for change. They all called for firmness in dealing with Tehran’s rulers.
Yet, tragically, the firmness they were yearning for has become hostage to nuclear negotiations that are stuck behind “hard decisions by Tehran”— and that is while Tehran’s nuclear infrastructure has remained intact and the centrifuges keep spinning. In the meantime, the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, underscored last week that the regime “will not give up its nuclear achievements and nobody has the right to negotiate over these achievements.” The weak policy vis-a-vis Tehran has only emboldened it to intensify suppression, continue massive support for Syrian dictator Assad and to slaughter its opponents, members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran in Camp Liberty in Iraq.
During the nuclear negotiations in Geneva in November, France demonstrated that neither Europe nor the U.S. would lose from upholding a firm position. But offering concessions to a regime that views major compromise on its nuclear weapons program as a “poison chalice” and human rights as its Achilles’ heel only protracts the security threat for the U.S. and Europe and postpones the Iranian people’s desire for achieving democracy and freedom. America must commit itself to the principle that the human rights of others must not be sacrificed for ephemeral diplomatic gains.
http://www.rollcall.com/...
What we have here is an Op-Ed that is calling Obama weak and parroting Neo-con talking points that only complete and utter capitulation by Iran will suffice. Even worse, with the mention of opposition from the Iranian populous and the Ayotallahs being weak, the obvious subtext is that regime change is the only option. This shouldn't be surprising, cause Howard Dean is shilling for MEK, a shady exiled Iranian group that's sole purpose is the overthrow of the regime.
Whats so disgusting is how he's so completely embraced the cause of his clients, the HC Industry and MEK, and that either he really didn't believe any of his '03 message and previous positions or that he's so money hungry that he'll subjugate his views with glee.
Either way, its disgusting. I'm done with him, and you should be too.