Politics: rhetorical disaster

Did Howard Dean take a class somewhere along the line teaching him how to word things in the absolute most offensive way possible?

Dean told a forum of journalists and minority leaders Monday that Republicans are "not very friendly to different kinds of people, they are a pretty monolithic party ... it's pretty much a white, Christian party."

Challenged on that during the NBC interview, Dean said "unfortunately, by and large it is. And they have the agenda of the conservative Christians."

Not that Dean's statement is without some truth. But if you're a white Christian (which has to be the largest demographic in the nation), and the Democratic chairman is telling you that the other party is the party for you, you're pretty likely to believe him.

Dean's best move would be to only speak via satellite with about a ten second delay, with more rhetorically sensitive people at the controls of the "cut feed" button.