Dean Update

I’m on Dean’s side on this one now:

Dr. Dean, the former governor of Vermont, turned to Mr. Sharpton and responded: “We’re not going to win in this country anymore as Democrats if we don’t have a big tent. And I’m going to tell you right now, Reverend, you’re right, I am not a bigot.”

Mr. Edwards, who was born in South Carolina, then bounded across the stage wagging a finger. “Unless I missed something, Governor Dean still has not said he was wrong,” he shouted. “Were you wrong, Howard? Were you wrong to say that?”

Dr. Dean responded: “No I wasn’t, John Edwards. Because people who fly the Confederate flag — I think they are wrong, because I think the Confederate flag is a racist symbol. But I think there are a lot of poor people who fly that flag because the Republicans have been dividing us by race since 1968.”

It seems legitimate to appeal to those with Confederate flags on their trucks, as long as you aver that they’re misguided racists and that you would like to bring them to the side of goodness — racially and politically. But good luck.

AB