Yesterday I happened to catch Howard Dean’s appearance on Meet the Press. I probably should have turned the set off and spared myself the blood pressure spike that this man causes every time I listen to him speak.

Given his position as DNC Chairman, it is not surprising that he is among those leading the charge to rewrite history by claiming that the President “withheld intelligence” from legislators, thereby duping them into believing that Iraq had WMDs, which, in turn, caused them to vote for the war – a war that the President started to further his personal agenda and to line the pocket of his rich cronies.

As cynical as I am, I still have a hard time believing that any American (whose reason hasn’t been overpowered by a seething hatred of the President), let alone the leader of the Democrat Party, would make such charges, which, if true, would constitute treason on the part of the President. I find it equally hard to believe that any American (whose reason hasn’t been overpowered by a seething hatred of the President) would make such irresponsible charges knowing that they will most certainly undermine the ongoing military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

After Dr. Dean did his part to rewrite history, Tim Russert asked about what the democrats’ alternative agenda might be.

MR. RUSSERT: Let’s talk about the Democrats and some of the polling data. Congressional Democrats have the same priorities as you: yes, 26 percent; no, 54 percent. So the Democrats aren’t perceived as the answer. And look at this, Chairman Dean. We asked independent voters: Do you believe that Democrats have a clear message, a vision for the future? Fifty-two percent of independent swing voters say no. One in four Democrats say you have no clear vision, no agenda, no clear message. Joe Trippi, your former campaign manager said, “Obviously, the results” from Election Night “are great for us Democrats. But given the GOP’s problems, the tightness of the results suggest that people aren’t happy with either party right now. Democrats have got to push an alternative agenda.”

DR. DEAN: We have an alternative agenda. We made it very clear. We want a strong national security based on telling the truth to our people at home, our soldiers and our allies. We want jobs in America that’ll stay in America, and we believe that renewable energy is one of the areas where we can do that. We want a health-care system that covers everybody, just like 36 other countries in the world. We want a strong public education system. And most of all, we want honesty back in government. I think that’s a pretty good agenda.

MR. RUSSERT: But those are words that will appeal to people. But when you go behind them, for example, what is the Democratic position on Iraq? Should we withdraw troops now? What do the Democrats stand for?

DR. DEAN: Tim, first of all, we don’t control the House, the Senate or the White House. We have plenty of time to show Americans what our agenda is and we will long before the ’06 elections.

MR. RUSSERT: But there’s no Democratic plan on Social Security. There’s no Democratic plan on the deficit problem. There’s no specifics. They say, “Well, we want a strong Social Security. We want to reduce the deficit. We want health care for everyone,” but there’s no plan how to pay for it.

DR. DEAN: Right now it’s not our job to give out specifics. We have no control in the House. We have no control in the Senate. It’s our job is to stop this administration, this corrupt and incompetent administration, from doing more damage to America. And that’s what we’re going to do. We’re doing our best.(emphasis mine)

So, here we have the Chairman of the once-great Democrat Party stating on national television that it is not his party’s job to offer alternatives, but rather to do their best to oppose everything that the current administration proposes. In other words, “Whatever it is, we’re against it.”

Do I question the man’s patriotism? No, I question his sanity.

Via NewsBusters. The transcript of the interview is available here.

BONUS: The DNC Theme Song