Former Democratic National Committee chairman and one-time presidential hopeful Howard Dean ripped a pair of conservative media outlets on Thursday, calling National Review a “a right-wing conservative nutcase” and The Daily Caller “propaganda organization.”
Dean’s harsh words came during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” after co-host Mika Brzezinski read an excerpt from a column written by Rich Lowry, the editor of National Review, who blasted Attorney General Eric Holder. The former Vermont governor dismissed Lowry’s argument, and accused National Review of mischaracterizing some of his recent comments on the attack in Benghazi, Libya.
“National Review is just silly,” he began his rant. “Who is going to take them seriously? It’s a right-wing conservative nutcase. Let’s just be blunt about the National Review, right? They claimed last week that I said that the death of four Americans in Benghazi was a joke. What I said was that the investigation was a joke. This is crap. Who gives a damn? This is why I don’t read editorial pages ’cause I don’t give a damn what these people think.”
He was referring to a piece by National Review’s Andrew Johnson, who led his article by noting that Dean “considers the controversy over Benghazi” to be a “joke” and “silly.”
Those comments prompted this missive on Twitter from The Daily Caller’s Matt Lewis:
Time for Howard Dean to switch to decaf.
— Matt Lewis (@mattklewis) May 30, 2013
After the hosts shared that tweet with Dean, he fixed his gaze on The Daily Caller, which he labeled as a “propaganda organization.”
Tucker Carlson, editor-in-chief of The Daily Caller, offered a snarky response.
“Howard Dean is still alive? Where is he?” Carlson told the gossip website FishBowlDC.