This is the first time I've fired up The Tube in about three years. In fact, if I think back, the last time I had the TV on was to watch the twin towers go down. Oh yeah, and watching the Gilmore girls once when I was really sick. It was the only thing on, I swear! So, the casing is covered with dust. And no matter how I twiddle the rabbit ears, the snow on the screen is as heavy as the snow outside--too many tall buildings in Center City, Philly. No, I don't have cable....

PREVIEW: Dean said that if what Scooter Libby says is true--that his superiors told him to leak--then Cheney "cannnot remain in office."

MORE TO COME. I'm going to make my way out through the drifts and see if there's any place open where I can achieve a state of caffeination, and file the rest of this story.

UPDATE Yes! They're open! In a blizzard that's still going on! My local, Hausbrandt, totally rules. Plus, they don't burn their coffee and the WiFi is free.

Dramatis Personae

SCHIEFFER Bob Schieffer, CBS news anchor

ELIZABETH BUMILLER Girl reporter from The World's Greatest Newspaper (not!)

CONDI RICE Bush's Secretary of State

HOWARD DEAN Chair of the Democratic National Committee

Condi Rice
In some ways, the snow on the screen was an advantage this morning, because all I had to go on was the voices. I'm sure that Condi looks confident, and her words are well-chosen and on message, but her voice is high-pitched, breathy, and very stressed. I think she questions her own adequacy and the pointy shoes are over-compensation. Then again, maybe it's just that her feet hurt.

SCHIEFFER The cartoons.

RICE Outrage... Press freedom... Responsibility.. Killing innocent people
is unacceptable. "Sistani spoke out againt this." Iran by contrast prints
anti-Israel cartoons. These are "incited." A question of how governments respond
not people.

I have to say that the cartoon controversy strikes me as a very smart move by Iran, obviously designed to make it hard for Bush to get Israeli help in taking out Iran's nuclear program.

[Troll prophylactic: The Iranian regime, like all theocracies, is a Bad Thing.]

RICE We would draw a distinction between peaceful protests and incitement to violence; that is beyond the pale.

SCHIEFFER Kofi Annan says there's no evidence of incitement.

RICE These are regimes that do not permit spontaneous demonstrations.

SCHIEFFER Why would Kofi Annan say what he said?

RICE I don't know. I won't get into that argument, we have the same view. Governments need to tamp down and not stir up. If publishing cartoons denying the holocaust isn't incitement I don't know what it.

The "need to" locution really grates on me, as it must on other. "What X needs to do is..." The Republicans consistently take a rhetorical stance that infantilizes the other; or, in less hifalutin' language, these guys treat everybody else like five-year-olds. Probably that "strong Daddy" frame Lakoff speaks of. But it gets old, doesn't it?

BUMILLER What's our strategy on Iran? Isn't it inevitable that Iran will get nuclear weapons?

RICE That's not our view.. Robust international response in the Security Council... Unity demonstrated in recent weeks... China, Brazil, India, they are all saying to Iran that you can make peaceful use of nuclear power but not weapons...

BUMILLER Is the pressure cornering Iran?

RICE What's pushing Iran into a corner is Iran's own behavior.

Last year, people thought the US was problem [I wonder why], but we supported the various proposals to demonstrate to the world that Iran is isolated....

We don't have a problem with the Iranian people but with the Iranian regime. The regime could take any of the several proposal on the table, have a path to peaceful energy, and be "back in community of responsible states."

Returning the United States to the "commmunity of responsible states" is exactly what the Democrats want to do and this crowd can't. After WMDs, Abu Ghraib, prison camps...

SCHEIFFER The Iran question moved to UN, but you slowed down the UN taking action at the request of Russia. More and more, Putin takes positions that differ from the United States. For example, Putin says he'll invite Hamas to Russia. Are you satisfied with the way you are handling him?

RICE In general, we have good relations with Putin. On Iran, good cooperation with Russi. Sometimes you have to give a little to get a little. A delay gave time for the Russian proposal. The wanted to look at what the IEAA was saying, we said, it has to go before the Security Council, ultimately we got agreement.

On Hamas, Russian says not Hamas is not a terrorist entity. However, Russia is also a member of the Quartet, which has signed onto a statement that that a Palestinian government must accept Isarel right to exist, give up
violence, and accept a two state agreement. Russia has agreed to this.

SCHIEFFER Israel says this is a stab in the back. Is Russia trying to reestablish its former position in the middle east?

RICE We're concentrating on making the message to Hamas consistent. How can you have a two state solution if you believe in violence?

BUMILLER Did Bush misjudge Putin when he looked in Putin's eyes and saw his soul?

RICE The President retains a good relationship with Puian. We are concerned with democratization. This is not the Soviet Union. I was Soviet Specialist [her voice strengthened and became more confident here], what we see bears no relation to the Soviet Union.

But clearly,the use of energy as used in Ukraine, for example, is a problm. Russia is President of the G8 now. We hope for fitting behavior.

SCHIEFFER Does Putin share the values of the G8?

RICE Putin is a Russian patriot who believes in a more open Russia. I don't see anything positive to be gained by the isolation of Russia. The challenge to the Russian polity is to integrate G8 values.

Bottom line: Condi's weak. That means Bush likes his cabinet members weak. Probably Condi's only asset is her relationship with Bush.

Howard Dean
Howard Dean's voice has deepened and changed since I saw him in 2004. It's an improvement. Dean too stays on message, doesn't let the questioners shake him, and doesn't get irritated, or raise his voice. Here's a man who can learn, and who keeps getting better at what he does. Somehow, I don't get the feeling Dean wears pointy shoes--or needs to.

SCHIEFFER What would the Democrats do about Iraq?

DEAN This President is weak on defense. North Korea nothing done for 5 years, Iran nothing done for five years, and the President sent us to Iraq not Iran. In Iraq no armor "and on and on it goes." As far as Iran, "no option should be off the table."

Reiteration of the Republican talking point on "options"--which commits nobody to anything--without any expression of support. Nice little piece of jujitsu.

[NOTE: I'm not sure whether Dean actually used that insanely irritating formulation "this President" that the Republicans used for Clinton, but if they aren't I think they ought to. In every turn of phrase, the Democrats must signal that Republicans are not fit to govern, and have forfeited the respect that their high offices would otherwise have entitled them to.]

BUMILLER Some say that the Democrats are losing their voice. Do you agree?

DEAN We have an agenda:

1. Honesty and open government
2. A strong national defense based on truth
3. Jobs in this country based on energy independence
4. A health care system that works for every American
5. Strong public education.

And he rattles them off, just like that. Nice work. Short and concise. Is this a rollout of the Democratic 2006 message? Readers?

BUMILLER Do you think your message will have a hard time getting traction?

DEAN Senator Reid worked hard with his caucus to secure agreement. If we are the party of change we will win. And we'll get our troops "out of harm's way in Iraq" and focus on Iran and North Korea...

Sounds a lot like Murtha...

SCHIEFFER The President and the Vice President suggest that the election should be about national security, and that eavesdropping should be on the table.

DEAN The Vice President was leaking national security information in time of war. The Vice President has no credibility on national security. If it turns out that Libby was ordered to leak for political reasons, "this Vice President may not be a Vice President."

SCHIEFFER [Brief explanation of Plame affair.]

DEAN The President said two years ago that anyone who was involved in the leak should be fired. Now if it turns out that the Vice President has knowledge of the leak, he should no longer be Vice President.

SCHIEFFER What's the remedy?

DEAN I suggest that first we need to find out if this is true. If it is true, then the Vice President cannot remain in office.

SCHIEFFER But should he step down? What course of action do you recommmend?

DEAN First, let's find out if it is true.

SCHIEFFER Impeachment?

DEAN First, let's find out if it is true. Libby was indicted, and said his superior told him to leak classified information. If that's true, his superior cannot remain in office. Cheney is Libby's only superior.

Nice work again. "Let's find out if it is true" is a statement that is useful for any Republican scandal (and there are so very, very many of them), and it ties into the notion of truth-seeking through evidence and reasoning--see points 1 and 2 in the agenda above. Also, though Schieffer tried to sucker Dean into using the I-word, Dean was having none of it. Finally, it was wonderful to hear Dean say "the Vice President has no credibility on national security." That exact sentence should be used by all Democrat whenever they're discussing national security.

It's also interesting to contrast "let's find out if it's true" with Republican behavior during the scandals they themselves ginned up during the Clinton years, when literally anything and everything the VRWC said was treated as gospel, by Lizzie Bumiller, among others, no matter how ludicrous.

BUMILLER Ken Mehlman says that Hillary is too angry. Do you agree?

DEAN I don't want to talk about 2008, I have to be the referee in that race. Let's leave Clinton aside. But there are some things Hillary said I can agree with... Recall Clinton said Bush was the worst President.... Bungled the response to Katrina and then mislead the American people, mislead in Iraq, mislead on prescription drugs...

BUMILLER But [laughing contemptuously] is Hillary too angry?

DEAN I won't talk about the 2008 race. Mehlman was upset because this President's record of accomplishment is very short.

This "angry" meme is like a constant low-grade infection in the American body politic. I would prefer to see Dean address it head on.

The segue into "mislead" was a pleasure to see, though. Seems like we've settled on "mislead" instead of "lie." Excellent! Because now we can dust off all our old "Dear Misleader" snark.

But Dean might have been more effective if he had said something more like: "With this President misleading on Iraq, Katrina, prescription drugs, and on and on and on, it's only natural that people might get a little irritated. Some people take being misled very seriously. I don't know what was in Hillary's mind and heart, of course. But I agree with what she said about the President continuing to mislead."