Dean: Bin Laden Is “Outrageous”

Moving to stop the bleeding from his interview with the Concord Monitor–see the Trunk’s post below–Howard Dean has issued another clarification in an interview with the Associated Press:
“In that interview, Dean was quoted as saying, ‘I still have this old-fashioned notion that even with people like Osama, who is very likely to be found guilty, we should do our best not to, in positions of executive power, not to prejudge jury trials.’
“Dean told the AP in a phone interview that sentiment doesn’t mean he sympathizes in any way with the al Qaeda leader. ‘I’m just like every other American, I think the guy is outrageous,’ he said.
“‘As a president, I would have to defend the process of the rule of law. But as an American, I want to make sure he gets the death penalty he deserves,’ Dean told the AP.”
So as President, it would be Dean’s duty to oversee a useless charade, the result of which he would only prejudge as an American, but not as the President. Apart from the incoherence of Dean’s latest clarification, I suspect that most voters would be uncomfortable with drawing sharp distinctions between the concepts of “President” and “American.”
On the positive side, though, Dean did get a ringing endorsement from Pravda: “Howard Dean Gets It Right Again.”