As Twitchy reported Monday night, Howard Dean suggested in a tweet that Donald Trump’s sniffles during his first face-off with Hillary Clinton could be attributed to some illicit “debate prep” backstage involving a line of coke or two.
In the tradition of the weasel-like Harry Reid, Dean didn’t accuse Trump of doing coke; rather, he wondered aloud if that was the case. After his tweet lit up social media, though, Dean doubled down on MSNBC and suggested that Trump needed to answer the “charge.”
JUST IN @GovHowardDean stands by cocaine tweet & says Trump needs to answer charge, no apology @MSNBChttps://t.co/V7HfQtfXTy
— Kate Snow (@tvkatesnow) September 27, 2016
Simple enough; just claim the sniffles were due to seasonal allergies and move on.
The backlash started soon after Dean issued his tweet, and it didn’t come exclusively from conservatives: it seems Democrats have bought in to Michelle Obama’s myth that when conservatives go low, liberals go high — no pun intended.
Former Obama staffer Tommy “Dude!” Vietor was among those who were strongly encouraging Dean not to go the tough guy route on a baseless charge.
This is not the part of the debate we should be focused on. Baseless charge. Dumb politics. Come on people. https://t.co/dMazfEtvdY
— Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) September 27, 2016
He has a point; never mind that all the media could talk about after the Obama/Romney debates were bayonets, Big Bird, and binders full of women.
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https://twitter.com/joshgreenman/status/780861941774442497
Howard Dean doubling down on coke user tweet on @msnbc. So weird.
— Evan Smith (@evanasmith) September 27, 2016
Spit-balling an explanation… Dean's on LSD? https://t.co/V2eNFZ6dzi
— Jim Geraghty (@jimgeraghty) September 27, 2016
That’s ridiculous. When has Howard Dean ever exhibited the signs of someone having a bad acid trip? Well, except for that time. And that other time.
This is 2016: It's OK if Dean insinuates Trump is a cokehead because of all the awful stuff that's been done to Hillary. Sorry. No sale.
— Jon Ralston (@RalstonReports) September 27, 2016
If Hillary was sniffing and howard dean said she was using cocaine he'd be cast as fringe whacko. Dean has really gone off deep end
— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) September 27, 2016
Howard Dean is a medical doctor and cocaine addiction is a serious issue. He cannot treat this like a tabloid. He took an oath
— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) September 27, 2016
Not untrue, esp. considering hits docs speculating on Clinton took. Really surprised me that Dean went there. https://t.co/ealkuTr0Zu
— (((Kampeas))) (@kampeas) September 27, 2016
https://twitter.com/RQA/status/780861310577893376
https://twitter.com/molratty/status/780866309093556224
Has Clinton come out yet to disavow Dean?
Every reporter will demand that Hillary answer the question of whether she stands by Howard Dean's statements right?
— Chris Barron (@ChrisRBarron) September 27, 2016
Dean’s sticking to his story, and he might as well, if he’s ever going to be known for anything other than the Dean Scream™.
Howard Dean is so low on the totem poll these days that he's the "floats cocaine use" guy. https://t.co/o4k8zvs05u
— Brian (@Briligerent) September 27, 2016
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