Democracy for America vs. Howard Dean

Yesterday Howard Dean came out against the Ground Zero mosque and, for his trouble, was criticized for throwing in his lot with Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, Assorted Evil Monsters, et al. Today, Dean's own grassroots organization has come out against him. The group Democracy for America (which was once Dean's presidential campaign, "Dean for America") just sent out an email from executive director Arshad Hasan. (I can't find it on the DFA's site yet.) Hasan doesn't mention Dean by name, but says that "Well-intentioned leaders of the Democratic Party are getting caught up in the fray as well, some of them seeking to find common ground with an implacable opposition. It's not helping."

Hasan then seems to argue that opposition to the mosque constitutes harassment of Muslims:

Frankly, this isn't about Ground Zero. This is about America. This is about freedom. This is about people and there seems to be no place that Muslim people can go without being harassed.

The harassment has to stop, and that starts with you and me.

I think most people agree that Muslims have the right to worship. But these efforts to harass Muslims are based in fear, prejudice, and ignorance. [emphasis in the original]

Dr. Dean must be bummed to find out that after martyring himself for the angry left and laying the progressive foundation for the movement that would power Obama's take-over of the Democratic party, his own organization thinks he's a bigot.

At least they're willing to cut him some slack for being well-intentioned. For now.