I'm glad you all are pulling for Howard Dean. That all but guarantees a Republican vistory [sic] in the next cycle of elections. The man - who claims some sort of experience from managing a state not quiet [sic] as big as Milwaukee and a budget not quite as large as the a big city school board - who, according to friends of mine from Vermont - has made a horrible ongoing mess of the state health care system, would be the best thing for a Bush/Cheney victory in 04.

Keep up the good work - it will be like Nov 2002 all over again! Looking forward to more of your "expert" analysis, Mike. Also, I enjoy reading about your continued whining about the President... [pointless ellipses in original] therapy should work for you since you obnviously [sic] can't deal with reality on your own. Seek it.

We reply: We're glad your "friend in Vermont" is whining about Dean. Can he explain why Vermont voters kept Dean as their governor a record five times? Just like the way you wrong whiners told us Clinton had no chance and the people in Arkansas hated him. Remember that governor from a small state who humiliated another failed one-term Bush? Another Bush, another loser. You never learn, do you?

Dean will beat Bush on the issues and experience - just like Clinton beat the more experienced Poppy Bush. Just as Dean always beat the Republicans he ran against every time. You must know this, since you're whimpering again. A Republican running on health care? That's a solid plan. Stick with that, based on the lie that health care in Vermont is a "mess." That's sure news to them! As Dean himself explains:

You know in my state, everybody under 18 has health insurance. 99 percent eligible, 96 percent have it. In my state everybody under 150 percent of poverty has health insurance, all are working poor. In my state, seniors making less than 225 percent of poverty get help with their prescription drugs.

If we can do that in a small rural state – 26th in income out of the United States, which balances its budgets every year, year after year, surely the most powerful and wealthy society on the face of the earth can join the British and the Japanese and the Germans and the French, the Israelis, the Canadians, the Irish, the Italians, the Swedes, the Norwegians, the Danes, even the Costa Ricans have health insurance for all their people.

Mr. President, I'm tired of being a second class citizens in the industrial world. We can do better than this....

Dean left his state with near-universal medical coverage, record new job creation, better education, and Dean balanced the budget every single year. How does that compare to health care collapses, job destruction and education and budgetary melt-downs in Texas and the USA under Bush? Based on facts not fantasy, Dean's record is great. Bush's? Not so much.

Dean's experience - success in banking, medicine, and running his state - is tremendous. Bush's? Again, not so good. Bush couldn't find enough oil in Texas or the Middle East to keep his businesses solvent. He drove them all deep into the ground. Even in those depths he couldn't find any oil. Bush illegally insider traded, just before his stocks went up! He can't even cheat right. Still, it was a crime, and Bush lied under oath about it. Luckily all he had to do was convince his Daddy's appointees not to throw the boss' brat in prison.

Bush failed as governor. Bush cheated, but still lost the 2000 election. Daddy's appointees helped him steal the White House. Then Bush Lost 3 million jobs. Bush lost $trillions in surplus. That's some record!

Throw in Bush's failures on the national economy, the failed Search for WMDs and Saddam and Osama, the record high and exploding Bush Deficits and worst of all the American troops killed thanks to Bush lying about 9/11, Saddam, and Iraq. Bush gets caught in more lies each week. This is the key: Un- and underemployment. (Raw data: http://www.bls.gov/webapps/legacy/cpsatab12.htm)

Clinton Declining Unemployment (Blue) vs. Bush Rising Unemployment (Red)