Anonymous Democrats attack Dean

The Democratic circular firing squad cocks the rifles and fires again. Blog for America:

On Thursday, the New York Times reported that George Bush would begin attacking us in January. We already know from the RNC ad in Iowa and New Hampshire that George Bush and Karl Rove will use fearmongering to attack Dean.

But using the war on terror for political gain is not just George Bushís game. Some Democrats have now taken their strategy of acting like Bush Lite to a new lowólaunching an ad in South Carolina and New Hampshire that uses images of Osama bin Laden to attack Howard Deanís commitment to defending America.

The ad was bought and paid for by Americans for Jobs, Health Care and Progressive Values, an organization that doesnít have to reveal the identity of its donorsóand it is one of the most despicable attack ads ever launched.

The ad is here. It is pretty despicable.

I think Al Gore was wrong to imply the other day that all Democrats have a duty to rally behind Dean even before a single vote is cast in a primary. There's nothing wrong with everyone from low-single-digit candidates like Kucinich to runaway front-runners like Dean vigorously making a case for themselves.

But the spineless, anonymous Democrats who created this ad are not contrasting themselves with Dean--they're juxtaposing him with Osama bin Laden. Disgusting.

It's sad that this attack is coming from our own party (so we'll lose a bit of the moral high ground when the Rove/Bush team launches its own fearmongering attacks). I think it's the first time that the Dean campaign has brought out the bat in response to an attack by Democrats. But the bat is out, and I know what I'm going to do...