Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean - who readily acknowledges he hasn't yet received a single primary vote for the Democratic presidential nomination - isn't exactly making headway in uniting the party behind him.

According to the L.A. Times (free registration required), Dean said:

"One of the reasons I wish the other guys running for president would tone it down a little bit is that at the end, we're all going to have to pull together in order to beat George Bush. Even the Democratic Leadership Council, which is sort of the Republican part of the Democratic Party -- the Republican wing of the Democratic Party -- we're going to need them too, we really are."

Dean may have considered that extending an olive branch, but the Democratic Leadership Council felt thorns:

Maybe Gov. Dean should take his own advice and "tone it down a little" himself. He should know how it feels to be on the receiving end of the insulting charge of crypto-Republicanism, since it was hurled at him by self-styled Democratic "progressives" in Vermont throughout much of his tenure as governor.

It's a cheap shot not just at us, but at former DLC chairmen like Bill Clinton, Dick Gephardt, and Joe Lieberman, along with hundreds of hard-working Democratic elected officials around the country who are part of our movement. It also illustrates why we've worried about Dean's loose-lipped approach all along.

Our differences with Gov. Dean's campaign are substantive, not personal.

Another key member of the DLC, Dean rival Lieberman, had this to say:

"Howard Dean may think that you can conquer by dividing but in politics you win by uniting. The fact is, we Democrats will not beat George Bush by dividing the party or dividing ourselves from Bill Clinton's successes. That won't earn the confidence of the American people or lead our nation forward in these difficult days.

"We're having a good healthy debate here in New Hampshire and throughout the country about the direction of our party. But we need to have a substantive debate of ideas, not a shallow contest of name-calling.

Some observers may look at Dean's alienation of the conservative-centrist DLC - as well as his earlier remarks about attracting guys who drive pickup trucks with Confederate flag decals - as the same kind of "triangulation" that helped push Bill Clinton into the White House. Except Clinton never launched personal attacks against Jesse Jackson, Tom Harkin or Paul Tsongas. Clinton never wound up in Al Sharpton's crosshairs, like Dean has.

And triangulation only works when those on the right and left of you stay on the right and left. Sharpton and Lieberman have shown nothing but a mutual respect during debates and on the campaign trail. (Witness Lieberman's remarks regarding Sharpton during one debate: "Any time I come after the Rev. Sharpton, I always want to say, `Amen, brother!")

Dean should hope the two don't look at the former Vermont governor, assess the situation, and find common ground.