Former Vermont governor Howard Dean described Iraq as "Bushgate, which is far more serious than Watergate in many ways because 600 . . . Americans are dead, in addition to countless Iraqis."
Will Marshall, president of the Progressive Policy Institute, said that even if Kerry is temperate in his criticisms, he could be hurt by the comments of others. "I think the campaign needs to be wary of the risk of mixed messages," he said. Rand Beers, national security adviser to Kerry's campaign, said, "Senator Kennedy did not clear his speech with us and Governor Dean did not clear his comments with us, nor would we expect them to, even though we talk to them."
Ivo Daalder of the Brookings Institution said Kerry, in contrast to Dean, has set the right tone. "Anything that goes right goes to their benefit," he said of the administration. "But anything that goes wrong is due to their action. What we've seen in the last 12 months is incompetence following incompetence, arrogance following arrogance, ignorance following ignorance. Kerry is right to point that out, quietly as he has."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56064-2004Apr6.html
In one of the political chat rooms I lurk at they were debating if Dean and Kennedy have gone to far in attacking the administration in that the American public will see them and thus Kerry as unpatriotic in a time of war. I was suprised how many dems in chat thought that Dean and Kennedy should shut up. I wonder what the people here think.