“CAUGHT ON TAPE: DEM CHAIR DEAN CALLS GOP ‘WHITE CHRISTIAN PARTY” blares the red alert on Drudge!

“They all behave the same. They all look the same. It’s pretty much a white Christian party…”

Audio here.

Here is your new Democratic Party, lead by one Howard Dean.

**UPDATE**

Some of the more choice quotes (AS SF GATE HAS REMOVED THE FILE):

“The Republicans are not very friendly to different kinds of people…”

“They are a pretty monolithc party…”

“They all behave the same and they all look the same…”

“It’s pretty much a white, Christian party…”

Here is the text story. I hope the audio turns up again - this was incredible. Howard Dean, raw and off the cuff saying some of the most outrageous things I have ever heard. His explanation?

“This is one of those flaps that comes up once in awhile when I get tough,” Dean said. “We have to be rough on the Republicans. Republicans don’t represent ordinary Americans and they don’t have any understanding of what it is to go out and try and make ends meet.”

The GOP here in California (where Dean made these remarks) is responding.

Simi Valley Councilman Glenn Becerra - “I’m living proof that the (GOP) isn’t what Howard Dean is trying to describe,” Becerra said during a telephone interview. “It’s a sad day when Democrats don’t have any ideas to put forward, and they have to resort to race politics. President Bush didn’t get 40 percent of the Hispanic vote (in 2004) because we’re a monolithic, white Christian party.”

[...]

“I’m thrilled he’s the DNC chair,” says Tom Del Becarro, chairman of the Contra Costa County Republican Party. “Howard Dean is scaring away the middle. People don’t like angry people. They like hopeful people.”

[...]

“Where do I sign up on a committee to keep Howard Dean?” crowed GOP operative Jon Fleischmann, publisher of the FlashReport, a daily roundup of California political news and commentary. “He’s the best thing to happen to the GOP in ages.”

Howard Dean’s days at the DNC are numbered. In fact, I will be very suprised if he makes it through the 2006 election cycle. In fact, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if we hear at least one prominent Democrat calling for his resignation before the week is out. My money is on Barney Frank.

**UPDATE**

Read all the way to the end of the article - at least check out the “In His Own Words” section for goodies like these:

On Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger: “Gov. Schwarzenegger has been a big disappointment to a lot of Californians … Americans are tired of politicians that break their promise, especially in an area like education … so I think there’s going to be a lot of questions about whether the governor really cares about average Californians.”

On Schwarzenegger’s endorsement of the Minutemen: “This is why I don’t agree that there’s no difference between Republicans and Democrat … you would never have heard a Democrats talk like that … I think the Republicans are always like this. I remember (former Republican Gov.) Pete Wilson … got elected by victimizing immigrants. Republicans always divide people.”

On illegal immigration: “(Democrats) understand we have a border problem. But we think that if you enforce the laws you already have, the people who are already here …they haven’t broken any laws [ed. note: Well, except for coming here illegally in the first place], they paid their taxes, a lot of them are paying into the Social Security system and getting nothing. Those people ought to be on a reasonable track toward citizenship.”

On San Francisco politics: “It’s always a pleasure to come to San Francisco because I don’t look so liberal when I come to San Francisco.”

Stick a fork in this guy.

**UPDATE**

Audio is back!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 7th, 2005 at 4:56 pm and is filed under "WTF" Moments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.