“We have to be pushing our version of the facts because their version of the facts is very unfactual.”

So said Howard Dean at a fundraiser on Monday. The point of this speech was that the vast, evil GOP has made the poor-but-virtuous DNC hide out in corners and caves of the earth (perhaps only occasionally garnering a wee bit of blanket coverage by the kind and completely unbiased mainstream media). Why, some of those humble souls have begun to despair of even calling themselves Democrats, as if they couldn’t be proud to belong to the party that brought us abortion, welfare handouts, hiring quotas and experiments with socialism.

Howard’s answer? Push their version of the facts. Yep, that’s it. How many times have we heard it since the 2004 election — the entire problem was that the Democrats weren’t mean enough and shrill enough. Howard’s got plans, baby. Howard’s got strategy. He’s going to be a Vermont Napoleon, moving little battalions of gullible, earnest foot-soldiers around. Howard’s got books and books full of fretful, clotted accusations against the Republicans for ruining everything, everywhere. Howard’s got everything … except a single, solitary idea. He hasn’t quite gotten around to that yet.

He’s got it wrong anyway. The GOP isn’t their worst enemy; good tub-thumping Dems like Howard Dean might be.