Dean’s dangerous tweet

Here’s another test for the Democratic Party: Howfirmly can it reject the irresponsible accusation by former Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean that Donald Trump was sniffling during the debate because he was using cocaine?

Dean tweeted out his claim on Monday night and then stuck with it on Tuesday.

More is at stake here than one might think. The temptation to embrace or tolerate irresponsible attacks is a con- stant for all political parties. And, contrary to what many liberals believe these days, there’s nothing about conservatives that makes them uniquely susceptible to conspiracy-mongering.

Go back a decade or so, and you’ll find plenty of liberals and leftists who trafficked in conspiracy theories about voting machines, to cite one example.

It’s especially tempting to indulge in such behavior when partisans see the other side doing it and, it seems, being rewarded for doing so. Dean may feel

that the rumor-mongering about Hillary Clinton’s health that the Republicans and the Trump campaign have participated in makes it necessary to fight fire with fire. Yet whatever the short-term rewards, the long-term consequences to both party and nation are dangerous.

Just look at the Republican Party. For decades, its leaders have worked to train rank-and-file voters to think the media lies to them. This drumbeat has promoted any number of wild fabrications. In the last few years, we’ve had the “birther” lie, the false claim that Barack Obama can’t speak without a teleprompter, the list goes on.

Not all Republican leaders participated in promulgating these myths, but plenty did, and very few in the party challenged them. This decades-long effort to train Republican voters into believing things that weren’t true is one reason the party wound up with Trump. This strategy nurtured the dysfunction in the Republican Congress as well.

I don’t believe Hillary Clinton has an obligation to denounce Howard Dean. But she would be wise to do so.