‘Last Socialist Republic’: Howard Dean’s Odd, Misguided MSNBC Interview

The former governor of Vermont made another odd, gaffe-filled appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" today, attacking Gov. Romney for something he did not say and also announcing that the State of Vermont is the "last Socialist Republic in America."

First, the wrongly-focused attack on Romney.

The MSNBC segment opened with a news clips about Libya, including a short piece from Neil Cavuto's interview with Romney. Specifically, the GOP candidate said he hoped that a new government in Libya would send the Lockerbie Bomber, Dr. Abdelmaset al-Megrahi, to the United States to face justice. Romney never mentioned Gadhafi in the clip used on "Morning Joe."

The portion of the interview used on MSNBC was from :30 to 1:23 of this Fox News clip:

Dr. Dean must not have been paying attention. He wrongly believes that Mr. Romney wants Libya to send Gadhafi to the U.S. and uses his mistake to take off on another unwarranted attack on the GOP frontrunner. Nobody on the show (hosts or producers) caught Dean's glaring error during that segment or later. Dean just used the opportunity to bash the leading candidate of the opposition.

Watch Dean's gaffe:

To his credit, fill-in host Willie Geist did call out Dr. Dean on his foreign policy slam of Romney, making note of candidate Obama's lack of foreign policy experience prior to taking office.

Dean also made a curious statement when he declared Vermont to be the last remaining "Socialist Republic" in America... (the still frame appears to be the same, this short clip happened in the same segment):

The state of Vermont, a Socialist Republic?

Vermont is certainly home to a number of different-thinking Americans, but if the entire state became a Socialist Republic, someone needs to send out a press release or a Tweet.

The official Vermont state website says nothing about being a Socialist Republic. Bernie Sanders, one of the two U.S. Senators serving the state claims to be a Democratic Socialist (but he's registered as an Independent and caucuses with the Democrats).

As MSNBC's pool of Left-leaning hosts and experts are often heard quoting the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who gave us the classic line: "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but they are not entitled to their own facts."

I'm fairly certain that any minute now, Howard Dean will be apologizing to Mitt Romney and the state of Vermont.