It's part of a pattern
Dean was not quoted in the story directly calling the GOP evil. He told fellow Democrats, "This is a struggle of good and evil. And we're the good."
Oh, that's completely different.
Try and imagine the outrage if the head of the RNC had said this.
Add this to "I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for, but I admire their discipline and their organization," and we start to see how Dean's mind works.