K Street Shuffle

Slate magazine founding editor Michael Kinsley made an interesting point today in his segment on the new NPR/Slate news program Day to Day. During last week's Democratic Contenders debate, Howard Dean said

If the minority percent in your state had anything to do with how you connect with African-American voters, then Trent Lott would be Martin Luther King.

Not a bad line - and it got him a good response at the debate, as you can hear for yourself if you listen to the story.

The problem, as Kinsley pointed out, is that last night's debut episode of the new HBO drama K Street, featuring Howard Dean as himself (in a guest appearance), had him delivering exactly that line, on a prompt from James Carville (playing himself, but as a recurring character). In other words, the line was not only scripted for him - it was scripted for him by a member of the HBO writing team for that fictional show.

Kinsley draws the conclusion that Dean is maybe not as smart as we had thought. I feel that's a bit harsh, but don't really have a better answer myself to the questions this incident raises. Namely, (1) What is Dean doing playing himself on a fictional HBO drama? This seems a recipe for trouble from the start. (2) What is Dean doing later, at the debate, when he repeats a line that (a) Is so dramatically not his own; (b) As if it is his; (c) When the line is not his even in the context of the fictional show that he copped it from? This is bizarre stuff.