Nutty Howard Dean blames Bush for "Kelo" decision

CNSNews.com reports that Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean continues to show that he's a taco short of a combo plate (emphasis added):

[Dean] said the president was partly responsible for a recent Supreme Court decision involving eminent domain.

"The president and his right-wing Supreme Court think it is 'okay' to have the government take your house if they feel like putting a hotel where your house is," Dean said, not mentioning that until he nominated John Roberts to the Supreme Court this week, Bush had not appointed anyone to the high court.

Dean's reference to the "right-wing" court was also erroneous. The four justices who dissented in the Kelo vs. New London case included the three most conservative members of the court - Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Associate Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was the fourth dissenter.

The court's liberal coalition of Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer combined with Justice Anthony Kennedy to form the majority opinion, allowing the city of New London, Conn., to use eminent domain to seize private properties for commercial development.

"We think that eminent domain does not belong in the private sector. It is for public use only," Dean said.

How can we even parse this?

Angle #1: The fact that Dean considers the court majority to be conservative tells us a lot about where he is politically, and it tells us a lot about a political party that would choose him as its standard-bearer.

Angle #2: He has no idea which justices voted to uphold Kelo, and just assumed that liberal justices would never be the author of an opinion that provoked such a negative public reaction. Again, this would tell us a lot about Dean, and would tell us a lot about a political party that would choose him as its standard-bearer.

Either way, it doesn't look good for Dr. Dean and the Dems.