The Doctor is in

From a strategical standpoint, I've had a hard time understanding the political value of all the crazy statements Howard Dean has made since he became the head of the DNC. As a conservative anticipating 06 and 08, I'm rather pleased every time the dear doctor from Vermont makes a fool of himself.

Yesterday the story broke that Dean said the following:

"The Republicans are not very friendly to different kinds of people. They're a pretty monolithic party. They all behave the same and they all look the same. It's pretty much a white, Christian party."

The audio link is here.

This strikes me as odd for Dean to say given that the Republicans received far more minority votes in terms of percentage than the minority population of Dean's home state. But more importantly, I wonder how Dean would explain the 40% of the Hispanic vote that Bush picked up in the last election.

I can't help but notice how quickly Democrats are to characterize the GOP as Christian--as though that characteristic poses the greatest threat to them. I suppose that that may very well be the case given how so much of the Democratic agenda is grounded in the values of secularism.

Update: I forgot to post Susan Estrich's commentary on Dean.