It sounded to me as though it was an “intentional slip”

Political Punch
16 August 2008

In an interview with National Public Radio on Friday, Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, referred to the Republican Party as the white party, seemingly accidental.

“If you look at folks of color, even women, they’re more successful in the Democratic Party than they are in the white, uh, excuse me, in the Republican Party,” Dean said, chuckling, “because we just give more opportunity to folks who are hard-working people who are immigrants and come from members of minority groups.”

The GOP jumped on the comments. “Howard Dean’s comments on race and gender today are disappointing and wrong,” said Republican National Committee chairman Mike Duncan in a statement. “His efforts to divide Americans are an insult to all our nation’s citizens and have absolutely no place in the national dialogue.”

Journalist Mike Kinsley’s aphorism about a gaffe being when a politician accidentally tells the truth — the truth as Dean sees it, at least — comes to mind.

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