HOWARD DEAN, MEDIA ANALYST: Today, Howard Dean says that an FCC inquiry over a football related television controversy is "silly":

Howard Dean, a physician and a Democratic presidential candidate, on Monday dismissed as 'silly' a government inquiry into whether indecency rules were broken during the broadcast of the Super Bowl halftime show when pop diva Janet Jackson's bodice was ripped to expose her right breast.

'I find that to be a bit of a flap about nothing,' the former Vermont governor said. 'I'm probably affected in some ways by the fact that I'm a doctor, so it's not exactly an unusual phenomenon for me.'

Setting aside the fact that Dean apparently doesn't understand that some people (such as impressionable young kids) aren't doctors and aren't used to seeing exposed, pierced nipples on TV everyday (not to mention women having their clothes ripped off by men in 50,000 seat stadiums), this is in direct contradiction to Dean's remarks near the start of the football season. Back on October 1st, Dean said:

ESPN should terminate Limbaugh's contract immediately, and send the message to its viewers and the nation that it holds commentators to the highest standard.

So questioning the biases of the media is grounds for being fired, but exposing nipples is silly. And Dean has no problem demanding that one TV network fire someone whose views he disagrees with, but thinks that the FCC has no business investigating another. And having "the highest standard" is important sometimes, but standards are unimportant other times.

OK. Glad we cleared that up!

UPDATE: John Hawkins also has some thoughts on Dean and Janet.

ANOTHER UPDATE: So does Tim Graham.