Democratic presidential front-runner Howard Dean blew his stack at an Iowa voter on Sunday who had asked him to end his "slam, bam and bash" rhetoric attacking President Bush.
"Please tone down the garbage, the mean-mouthing of tearing down your neighbor and being so pompous," said Dale Ungerer during a question-and-answer session initiated by Dean after he had delivered his standard stump speech at the Oelwein Community Centre on Sunday.
Dean's response was calm at first, telling Ungerer, "George Bush is not my neighbor."
But when the Iowa Republican stood and tried to interrupt, Dean shouted: "You sit down. You had your say. Now I'm going to have my say."
According to Reuters, Dean railed, "George Bush has done more to harm this county right here with unfunded mandates, standing up for corporations who take over the farmers' land, making it impossible for middle class people to make a real living, sending our kids to Iraq without telling us the truth first about why they went."
Then, in a particularly ugly sound bite, the Democratic front-runner added, "It's not the time to put up any of this 'love thy neighbor' stuff."
"I love my neighbor," Dean insisted. "But I'll tell you I want THAT neighbor back in Crawford, Texas, where he belongs."
The episode marks the first time that the short-fused Democrat has lost his temper in public during the campaign, although last month he admitted he sometimes gets so angry he needs to be physically restrained.
"If someone punches me I am apt to chase them down, and I need to be restrained by the people who know better and have been in the game longer than I have," Dean told MSNBC.
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