It can’t be a matter of national security. It can’t be something that would be sensitive regarding the Pentagon, the CIA, NSA or the FBI. But Howard Dean, presidential candidate who harps about the "secrecy” cloaking the Bush Administration, did something that he contends is routinely done when one reaches the level of state governor, he sealed nearly half of his official papers. This means that the public will not be able to know what they contain for at least a decade. The question here has to be, what could be so sensitive that Dean would feel he would have needed to seal them in the first place?

Dean, who initially asked that the records be sealed for 24 years, told Vermont Public Radio before he left office last year that he wanted a longer grace period stating "we didn't want anything embarrassing appearing in the papers at a critical time in any future endeavor." What could be so embarrassing that one would need to keep it secret for 24 years?

Joe Lieberman, issued a statement saying Dr. Dean "took an extra long walk from straight talk" by arranging to seal the records for longer than the six years granted his two immediate predecessors. Again I find myself agreeing with Lieberman when it comes to his Democratic counterparts.

The arrogance level is high in the Dean camp. That is evident by the lack of knowledge they have on the issues. Dean is running on a "Hate Bush” platform. That is really all he has to offer. When one really looks at his record as governor of the State of Vermont, a state that has under 700,000 people living in it, one will see that in the end he raised taxes to an incredible level and succeeded in doing nothing more than setting himself up for a run at the presidency. In the end, he may be a fiery speaker but all he is actually saying is that he hates George W. Bush. While that is his right, it doesn’t map out any qualifications for his bid for the presidency.

The last thing that we need in the oval office is someone who wants to seal records for a quarter of a decade simply because he wouldn’t "want anything embarrassing appearing in the papers at a critical time in any future endeavor."

Dean has proven by his past actions that he is not fit to be President of the United States. He assails President Bush about his secrecy yet he sealed his own state records. He condemns the president’s tax cuts while his past shows that he raised taxes in his home state, a state of less than a million people, by a margin never seen in any state before. He contends that the President of the United States doesn’t understand foreign policy when what he brings to the table in that area is absolutely nothing but conjecture, theory and not a shred of practical knowledge.

Regarding his knowledge of foreign policy, he recently let everyone in on one of his plans for eliminating the possible threat that the nation of Iran may pose. His plan consisted of paying nations that would do business with them not to. In other words he would use American tax dollars to "bribe” other nations not to do business with Iran. As disturbing as this idea may be it doesn’t even take into account the fact there are governments in the world that would take the bribe money and sell to Iran clandestinely. We have seen it happen with France, Germany, Russia, North Korea and China. They did illegal business with Iraq while Iraq was under trade sanctions by the UN Security Council. What makes Mr. Dean believe that they would treat his "bribe” any differently?

If that isn’t eyebrow-raising enough, while he was mapping out this grand plan he continually referred to Russia as the Soviet Union, a nation that hasn’t been in existence since the Berlin Wall was felled. With this kind of adept foreign policy it would be more likely that Mr. Dean would start another Cold War instead of alleviating a potential national security threat from halfway around the world.

I won’t even begin to think about what the Democrats would have done to George W. Bush had he made that faux pas.

At best, Howard Dean is a sideshow. All those who fall for the smoke and mirrors, all those who believe in his hollow rhetoric, all those who find him attractive as they view him through their "beer-goggles” tonight, will wake up in the morning starring at someone far less attractive than what they remember. They will regret everything that they have said, proposed and agreed to. In the end, Dean supporters will end up feeling used and cheapened simply because they were taken in by the rhetoric of a political charlatan.

Want to dispute this assertion? Get Dean to unseal his records. Let’s ask him to be honest. After all, we do expect honesty from our presidents, don’t we? Or did Bill Clinton make it okay to ignore the truth?

Frank Salvato is a political media consultant and the managing editor for The New Media Journal.us. He is a contributing writer for The Washington Dispatch, GOPUSA, OpinionEditorials, Men’s News Daily, Canada Free Press & AmericanDaily. His pieces are regularly featured in Townhall.com. He has appeared as a guest on The O’Reilly Factor, The Kevin Matthews Radio Show (Chicago) and The Brad Messer Radio Show (San Antonio). His pieces have been recognized by the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention and are occasionally featured in The Washington Times and The London Morning Paper as well as other national and international publications.