Will ObamaCare cover memory loss? Howard Dean better hope so. On today's Meet the Press he seemed to suffer a serious memory lapse, claiming he had said he would "vigorously" support Pres. Obama's re-election [H/t reader Melody]. Problem: we have the video of Dean on Morning Joe of December 17th saying just the opposite: that he would "not vigorously" support PBO's 2012 re-election bid.
So noteworthy was Dean's "not vigorously" declaration at the time that it caused a gleeful Joe Scarborough to burst into laughter and repeat it. Not a decibel out of Dean to dispute what Joe had heard. As I reported at the time, here was Dean on December 17th:
HOWARD DEAN: Look, here's the thing: every politician says this and I hesitate to do it because they all say it, but sometimes the country's more important than either party.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Amen.
DEAN: I'm going to support President Obama when he runs for re-election. Not vigorously. I'm going to vote for him.
Scarborough can be heard bursting into laughter off-camera.
DEAN: I am, I am.
SCARBOROUGH: "Not vigorously." Boy, I can almost feel the confetti falling on my head here!
Now here's Dean from today's Meet The Press . . .
DAVID GREGORY: Given your own fight within the Democratic party, indeed wtihin the Obama administration, do you intend to stay in the Democratic party?
HOWARD DEAN: Of course! Absolutely. I've said I would vigorously support the president's re-election in 2012. I have every intention of doing that.
So who was that impostor on Morning Joe, Dr. Dean?