He was polarizing, before changing his name from Howard to Bozo. The so-called Dean scream derailed his 04 campaign. He was interviewed by Tim Russert a couple of years back. When Russert asked him for Democrat solutions to the issues, Dean responded, "We are not the party in power. It is not up to us to come up with solutions".  Does anyone even pay this guy any attention these days?

Atleast his speechs while he was on the campaign trail, where entertaining, in a train wreck kind of way.

He is polarizing, but in a laughable sort of way, unless you are a small animal.

Once upon a time, Howard Dean had original ideas and was out of the establishment until he got corrupted by the Democratic Party.

This is a no-brainer. Howard Dean is polarizing (just like Mel Martinez of the Republican Party is). It's his job to be a polarizing politician because he is the chairman of his party, as abichara brilliantly indicates, or else he shouldn't have been tapped as chairman. Dean controls everything for the Democratic Party, from fundraising to grassroots networking- and in short, serves the purpose of motivating Democratic (and some Independents) voters to the polls. Essentially, (like Mel Martinez, to an extent, because George W. Bush as President is the leader of his party) Dean is arguably a cheerleader and a coach for his party. And from all indications thus far, Dean has done a good job.

UPDATE: Now that he has been honored by the Democrat Party for running such an honorable and competitive presidential campaign, with hardly a single public primal scream, it seems appropriate to ensconce him as Party Chair, because there's not enough partisan whining, name-calling demonizing and hatred at the grass-roots level, now we need it at the executive level. What were the republicans thinking, electing someone as non-confrontational and soft-spoken as Ken Mehlman to oppose the Deaniac? And Dean has not disappointed, elevating the national rhetoric to name-calling and unfounded criminal accusations. That should lower the polarity and apparent hatred between the two primary American political parties. Think 2000 and 2004 were ugly campaigns? Think Clarence Thomas's confirmation hearings were embarrassing? Wait 'til Rhenquist retires. Howard is just getting warmed up. It's funny what's called a centrist today. ORIGINAL COMMENT 8/4/2004: The only reason he doesn't rate a 5 is because of the idiotic shallowness of his statements. He accuses the President (we have boots on the ground in combat) of playing politics with the threat of a terrorist attack on our homeland. He better hope we don't get one or his press conference will be played over and over, and rightly so. This pansy-ass ran for president? Sadly, his views are much more in line with the views of the delegates at the Dem. Nat'l Conv. Imagine if he were giving the Thursday night speech, the electricity in the arena. Yikes.

Certainly Dean is polarizing, that's why he was tapped as Chairman of the Democratic Party. He has control of the parties fundraising and grassroots networks and will probably be instrumental in setting the direction of the party for the time being. However, a cursory examination of some of his views places him as a solid centrist, even a bit to the right of the national party on some issues like gun rights and budgetary matters. His views on two issues; gay rights and Iraq made him popular with the left. I don't think Dean was suited for the Presidency, his candidacy was too high octane and simply burned out. However he made an impressive political comeback by gaining the chairmanship. At the end of the day, it was he and not John Kerry who turned out to be the most influential within the party. Dean's challenge now is to try and fill the intellectual vaccum that is now taking root within the Democratic Party. He needs to move Democrats beyond oblique views and offer substantive proposals to counter the Republican party. The appeal doesn't have to be left wing necessarily, but he needs to offer a solid and workable contrast. Dean might just be what the party needs, fire to wield new ideas. The Republicans should take note.

This guy is way too far left for the American people. I am hoping so much that he becomes head of the DNC!! I wonder how long it'll take the Democrats to figure out that the reason they'll be losing every single race is because of his left wing agenda.