An Embarrassing Paucity of Ideas

The invaluable James Taranto notes this stellar repartee between Tim Russert and Howard Dean on Sunday's Meet the Press:

Russert: What is the Democratic position on Iraq? Should we withdraw troops now? What do the Democrats stand for? 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. 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. Dean: Right now it's not our job to give out specifics.

Yes. That's. The Chairman. Of the Democratic Party.

Sometimes I think it's the gryoscopic energy of FDR, JFK, and Harry Truman spinning in their graves that keeps the Earth aligned on its axis *.

* Hat tip: Mass Backwards. Submitted to The Political Teen's Open Trackbacks.