Dean isn't liberal enough?

We knew it would happen eventually - Dean would be critiqued for not being hammered enough. In the Media Note this week, Howard Kurtz mentions a criticism of Dean by Craig Crawford, columnist for the Congressional Quarterly :

"Dean likes to call himself the champion of the 'Democratic wing of the Democratic party,' a line rival campaigns insist he stole from the late Sen. Paul Wellstone.

"But Dean fails to mention he flunks a leading question on any liberal's litmus test: gun control. He gets an 'A' rating from the National Rifle Association. He argues that this makes him stronger against Republicans in a general election, especially in the South.

"Even Dean's primary claim for liberal support comes with a caveat. He boasts to Democratic interest groups of his victory as governor of Vermont to allow civil unions for gay couples. But gay rights lobbyists note that Dean refuses to endorse similar changes at the federal level, rendering his support irrelevant to them.

"Dean also irks advocates of drug law reform for successfully opposing a Vermont bill to permit seriously ill and dying patients access to medicinal marijuana."

We are going to see more of this - it's as blatantly misrepresenting of Dean's views as the RNC attack points released earlier, and it's Dean's weakness regarding domestic policy. It's actually somewhat amusing (in a grim sort of way) to read these charges side by side with the RNC's points. Yes, they are actually talking about the same candidate!