The "Meet the Press" transcript is a virtual goldmine. Collected from NRO: (comments in brackets from the NRO site)

Dean's "Greatest Hits"

DEAN'S KNOWLEDGE OF FACTS

DEAN: When the Republicans were in power, they kept a much larger percentage of President Clinton's nominees to the bench. They didn't do it with the filibuster, they did it by bottling them up in committee and not allowing them to move forward.

MR. RUSSERT: The numbers are pretty similar actually.

DR. DEAN: OK. They're similar.

.....

DR. DEAN: Right now the Social Security tax is only on the first, I think, about $85,000 worth of wages. I saw an economic analysis the other day that said if you remove that cap entirely that Social Security will be solvent. [You think somebody discussing Social Security reform would know it's $90,000.]

DEAN, NOT VOTERS, SHOULD CHOOSE CONGRESSMEN:

MR. RUSSERT: Here's the Democratic National Committee Web site this morning. It is, in effect, a mug shot of Tom DeLay. You can see his height in the back with inches there, a serial number, 18821. Is that appropriate, a mug shot?

DR. DEAN: I don't think it's appropriate for Tom DeLay to be in Congress, Tim. I really don't.

DEAN THINKS THERE WERE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

DEAN: Some of the things that the president said on our way into Iraq, they just weren't true, and I don't think that's right. So...

MR. RUSSERT: Such as?

DR. DEAN: Such as the weapons of mass destruction, which we have all known about, but the...

MR. RUSSERT: Well, you said there were weapons of mass destruction.

DR. DEAN: I said I wasn't sure, but I said I thought there probably were.

DEAN THINKS BUSH IS MORE NUANCED THAN KERRY

MR. RUSSERT: When did the president ever suggest that Saddam Hussein was responsible for September 11?

DR. DEAN: He didn't. His nuance--his people suggested that. He suggested that in a nuanced way in many of his speeches.

DEAN THINKS WE SHOULD LAY OFF DELAY:

DEAN: We ought not to lecture each other about our ethical shortcomings.

DEAN THINKS ROE SHOULD BE OVERTURNED, AND ABORTION SHOULD BE A STATE MATTER:

DEAN: You know what I'd prefer to see, frankly? I'd prefer to see medical practice boards around the country, state by state--because people do believe different things about this in different states. I'd prefer to see medical practice boards around the country set ethical guidelines for abortion.

For the last one, I'm adding some more from the interview:

DEAN SEES NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SOCIALISTS AND LIBERAL DEMOCRATS

MR. RUSSERT: In your home state of Vermont, there's a vacancy for the United States Senate about to occur. Bernie Sanders, the congressman from Vermont, wants to run for that seat. He is a self- described avowed socialist.

DR. DEAN: Well, that's what he says. He's really a populist.

MR. RUSSERT: But is there room in the Democratic Party for a socialist?

DR. DEAN: Well, first of all, he's not a socialist, really.

MR. RUSSERT: He...

DR. DEAN: He hasn't said that for a while.

MR. RUSSERT: Oh, he has a--he wrote in his book: "Outside or in the House, I am a Democratic socialist."

DR. DEAN: Well, a Democratic socialist--all right, we're talking about words here. And Bernie can call himself anything he wants. He is basically a liberal Democrat, and he is a Democrat that--he runs as an Independent because he doesn't like the structure and the money that gets involved. And he actually has, I think, some good points about campaign finance reform. The bottom line is that Bernie Sanders votes with the Democrats 98 percent of the time. And that is a candidate that we think...

MR. RUSSERT: So you'd support him?

DR. DEAN: We may very well end up supporting him. We need to work some things out because it's very important for us not to split the votes in some of the other offices as well.

MR. RUSSERT: In 1996 you said you would never have voted for Bernie Sanders. Instead, you opted in recent years to leave the ballot blank.

DR. DEAN: Bernie and I have had our difficulties over the years. We've had our strong disagreements. He's a strong personality. We're fighting for the future of America, and a Bernie Sanders in the United States Senate is going to be a whole lot better than somebody who will vote to confirm right-wing judges, somebody who will vote to undo minority rights, somebody who will vote to kill Social Security. This is a battle where personalities and differences have to be put aside, and we have to do what's right for America.

MR. RUSSERT: You describe...

DR. DEAN: And Bernie Sanders will be a strong candidate.

This last is brilliant. Democrats will literally turn themselves inside out to avoid having the dreaded "S-word" applied to them, and Dean slides all over the stage trying to accomplish this. Yet he pretty much declares that there is no difference between a socialist and a Democrat. That a man who is an avowed socialist is "basically a liberal Democrat," and that a socialist will vote with a Democrat 98 percent of the time (would give a lot to know what that 2 percent is.)