Democratic Party, you have my deepest condolences.

Until you learn to get along among yourselves there is no way

any of your nine candidates will make it to 1600 Pennsylvania

Ave.

Frontrunner Democratic candidate Howard Dean just received an

endorsement earlier this week from former Vice President Al

Gore.

Congratulations, Gov. Dean, for being Al Gore’s latest favorite.

Gore doesn’t apparently speak to the person he used to share the

White House with. He also hung Joe Lieberman, his 2000 running

mate, out to dry without so much as a prior phone call warning of

the endorsement. So Dean had better be careful, because if there’s

one thing Gore seemed to learn from his eight years with the

Clintons, it’s how to look out for number one.

Many opinions are in the midst concerning Gore’s timing. In a

Thursday Washington Post article, various reasons are sighted for

Gore’s selection, “Some say he’s getting back at Bill Clinton . . .

some say it’s an attempt to block Hillary or a slap at Lieberman

for being too centrist.”

The article then makes his own comical prediction, “To be Dean’s

running mate. Think of the ads: A vice president we won’t have to

train! Al Gore – He knows what it takes to be Number 2!”

Either way, Gore’s endorsement reveals what has been brewing

within the Democratic Party for some time now. A downright

dogfight: Clinton vs. Gore.

Hillary Clinton just won’t have the common courtesy to step out

of the spotlight. From her three talk show appearances on Sunday

afternoon alone, it is evident Mrs. Clinton is up to something.

Of course Hillary’s eyes haven’t left the White House since ’92.

With her husband’s arm ambiguously wrapped halfway around Gen.

Wesley Clark you can bet she’s at best halfway hoping for Dean’s

success in ’04.

Clark, however, has issues of his own.

Calling himself a Democrat in the same sentence as admitting

voting not once but twice for both Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.

Clark’s footing needs not be dismantled by the Bush-Cheney

campaign, he has taken care of that without any assistance from the

opposition.

Then there’s John Kerry, who perhaps thought throwing out the

F-bomb in the Rolling Stone would attract young voters but has of

course repulsed anyone not part of four-letter word-insult

party.

And who could forget the self-proclaimed comedian, Rev. Al

Sharpton, who spends his time along the campaign trail thinking

about the quickest comebacks and his guest appearance on Saturday

Night Live.

Well, Rev. Sharpton, you have certainly succeeded in making me

laugh!

But Clark, Kerry, Dick Gephardt, John Edwards, Lieberman,

Sharpton, Dennis Kucinich and Carol Moseley Braun don’t need much

attention right now. Each one of the eight is of course losing to a

woman, Hillary, who is not even in the race and to Dean as

well.

Dean, who may one day need the South’s electoral votes to

saunter into Washington, seems to forget that his own mouth may be

his worst enemy, “I still want to be the candidate for guys with

Confederate flags in their pickup trucks,” Dean said on Nov. 1 in

an interview with the Des Moines Register.

Perhaps southerners should just forgive Dean for temporarily

forgetting that for some, the Confederate Flag is a symbol of

racism. I’m sure that will sit well with African-American voters

who previously granted Al Gore 90 percent of their demographics’

vote in 2000. Dean seems to be pushing away votes that should come

with ease.

With all of these issues it is no wonder that the Democratic

hopefuls have aligned themselves under the all-encompassing cloud,

“We’re not Bush, so who cares who we are?”

Of course there’s always a Democrat scapegoat favorite to fall

back on, the economy. Oh, wait! Never mind, stupid.

“For the July-September quarter, economic growth was 8.2

percent, the fastest since 1984, productivity growth was 9.4

percent, the fastest since 1983 and manufacturing reached its

highest level since 1983. Is it pure coincidence that in 1983-84,

as today, the nation was deep into the first term of a tax-cutting

Republican administration?” according to a Washington Post

article.

No matter what the issues are, the candidates seem determined to

self-destruct rather than leave it to George W. Bush.

I’m sure he’ll get over it.

Good Luck!