Dohiyi Mir
In Which NTodd Says His Peace
Dean on MTP
Not a homerun, but I think the Good Doctor did okay on Meet the Press. Given Russert's obvious agenda and his attempts to smack Dean down, Howard held his own. He's got time to polish up how he explains his positions, particularly:
* Death penalty - I'm against it, as you might suspect. However, I think Dean's explanation of why he changed his mind is tenable. He just needs to get the story down and make it sound less wishy-washy.
* Civil unions - I was surprised here. Dean didn't show as much clarity as I would've expected. That said, I appreciate his willingness to say "I don't know", as he did when asked about legal recognition of Canadian gay marriages in the US. And his distinction between recognizing marriage and civil rights is spot on--now articulate it better!
* National security - Again, he communicates okay here, but needs to smooth out the rough spots. I think he's right that it's not incredibly important that Russert was picking nits wrt how many people serve in our military, for example, though not knowing that might further the impression that he's weak in this area. But come on, Bush got a pass when he didn't know Musharraf was the leader of Pakistan.
Good job, Howie.
A transcript of the show theoretically will be availble on the MTP site.
ntodd
