Howard Dean, Up Close and Personal

Go here for a transcript of Howard Dean's Monday night appearance on Chris Matthews' Hardball. It's an interesting back-and-forth, and one that challenges Dean supporters to maintain their enthusiasm for the guy. He comes across as pretty funny and clever in some places, but also relentlessly self-serving.

As Mother Jones has noted, Dean channels the ghost of Gerry Ford by insisting the best way to force regime change in Iran is by using the "Soviet Union." The colloquy on his draft deferment is intense and interesting, especially now that there's a war going on. His comments about gay marriage are cagey and evasive, as are his thoughts on campaign finance reform.

Whole thing here.

A snippet:

DEAN: I am absolutely a capitalist. Capitalism is the greatest system that people have ever invented, because it takes advantage of bad traits, as well as our good traits, and turns them into productivity.
But the essence of capitalism, which the right-wing never understands
? it always baffles me-is, you got to have some rules. Imagine a hockey game with no rules.

…
MATTHEWS: Do you think a person has a right to work somewhere if they don?t want to join a union?
DEAN: I do.
No, wait a minute. I don?t.
(LAUGHTER)
MATTHEWS: Why not? What?s wrong with an open shop where you can…
…

DEAN: I hate right-to-work laws.
And let me tell you why it?s OK to be forced to join a union. The union is out there negotiating for your wage increases. Why should you get a free ride? Why should you should be able to go to work for that company, get the same benefits as everybody else who paid their union dues and you paid nothing? That?s why I?m against right-to-work laws.