I'm no Deaniac by any means -- he wasn't my first choice for DNC Chair, even -- but I'm appalled by the rancor of such attacks on Governor Dean. Forward's E.J. Kessler has the story:

A Jewish Republican group greeted Howard Dean's election to chair the Democratic National Committee this week with an ad campaign seeking to depict him as a supporter of terrorism.

The group, the Republican Jewish Coalition, placed full-page advertisements in the Washington newspaper Roll Call and in Jewish weeklies around the country, featuring a large picture of Hamas members decked out in costumes resembling suicide bombers. Above the photo, referring to a long-recanted September 2003 quote from Dean, is the statement: "DNC Chairman Howard Dean Says, 'It's not our place to take sides.'"

Beneath the photograph, the ad features 2003 quotes from Democrats, including Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who criticize Dean's remark.

[...]

The anti-Dean advertisement is the latest in a series of apparent Republican attempts to link Democrats to terrorists and terrorism supporters in hopes of weakening the party's overwhelming Jewish support. During last year's presidential campaign, the Republican parties of Florida and Ohio sent mailings to Jewish households with a picture of John Kerry between pictures of the late Yasser Arafat and former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohammed, who is known for his antisemitic speeches. "Two infamous foreign leaders have stepped forward from the shadows to endorse John Kerry," the mailing said.

In Florida, Republicans printed and displayed stickers and banners claiming, inaccurately, that "Arafat endorses Kerry." The then-ailing Palestinian chairman never had expressed a preference for any candidate, but his aides had criticized President Bush for inattention to the peace process and expressed a wish for a different administration.

The strategy of linking Democrats did not appear to influence Jewish voting. Exit polls indicated that Jews in Florida and elsewhere gave about 75% of their support to Kerry this past November.

These people are shameless. Have they no sense of decency?