When Howard Dean says, "I was against this war from the very beginning." That just grates against every bone in my political body....(mind you, I'm paraphrasing, this is how I HEAR it.)
#1: it says, to me, things are going so poorly in Iraq that he feels comfortable saying, in effect, "I told you so."
#2: it also implies to me that Howard Dean has tied his political fortunes to things continuing to go poorly in Iraq.
#3: finally, it sends a message to all those folks with much more mixed feelings about support for the war and the appropriations and the troops and 9/11 that "Howard Dean knows better than you to root for George Bush in a time of crisis. You're dupes. We don't need your votes."
God forbid things are going so poorly in Iraq that the Democrats use it as "the" issue in 2004.
Of course we'll have to talk about it. Of course we'll have to offer a differing and considered opinion (I think Al Gore's MoveOn stuff is right on the mark)....but to claim some kind of purity in all this....is a huge misjudgement in my view.
(ps. I cut this from the tail end of a long debate I had with folkbum yesterday....and yes, I've toned done my own ethos a bit!!)