Sister Howard

DemDaily wonders:

Many people are also trying to read into Harold Ickes' endorsement of Dean on Friday. Does it signal which way the Clintons are leaning? And, if so, do they think Dean will make a great chair, or do they just want to make sure he's not a candidate in the 2008 race.

Assuming you buy the theory that everything Clinton insiders do is part of a secret plan to get Hillary elected president in 2008 (I'm not sure I do... it's too easy to be a conspiracy theorist), I think there's a very plausible third explanation: With her liberal credentials pretty well sewn up, what better way for Hillary to appeal to the center than to trash the leader of her own party, who most voters (sorry, Deaniacs!) already see as a hyper-liberal mental case. A "Sister Howard" moment (say, right after she sows up the nomination) would be eaten up by the media--nothing's more fun than an intra-party fight--and establish Hillary's moderate bona fides more effectively than a dozen speeches recalibrating her position on abortion.

And it's not like Howard "I Hate Republicans and Everything They Stand For" Dean won't provide all sorts of great opportunities for the junior senator from New York to take the high ground.

It's so devious it just might be true!