Howard Dean says it's too early to judge Bin Laden:

Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean says it's premature to recommend what penalty Osama bin Laden should face before he's been legally determined to be guilty of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Asked whether bin Laden should be tried in the United States and put to death, Dean told the Concord Monitor: "I still have this old-fashioned notion that even with people like Osama, who is very likely to be found guilty, we should do our best not to, in positions of executive power, not to prejudge jury trials."

But back in 2003, the right went after Howard Dean for saying that Bin Laden shouldn't be "prejudged" and should be subjected to a trial to demonstrate our support for the rule of law.

Powerline:

Is Howard Dean only figuratively out of his mind? This AP story has me wondering: "Dean: It's premature to convict bin Laden." How many symptoms of utter blinking derangement can you count in the two lead sentences of the story?

Jonah Goldberg:

Can you imagine FDR declaring he didn't want to "pre-judge" Hitler? The comment was a parody of conservative complaints about the Democratic Party's approach to the war on terror; they see it as a pesky law-enforcement problem.

Little Green Footballs:

It’s an indicator of how loony the base of Howard Dean’s support is, that he thinks it’s a winning position to treat Osama bin Laden as a common criminal who deserves a fair trial (maybe even by Europeans who have no personal stake and won’t impose a death penalty), instead of as an enemy of the United States.

Brendan Miniter in The Wall Street Journal:

Mr. Bush wants bin Laden "dead or alive," leaving clear his preference. But apparently Mr. Dean sees the war on terror not as a military imperative to chase al Qaeda members to remote corners of the world, but as a police action in which infamous terrorists are given all presumptions of innocence even while they're still at large, presumably planning new attacks on American civilians.

And the RNC went even further in their talking points, twisting words to say Dean didn't think that Bin Laden was guilty of his crimes:

Gov. Howard Dean (D-VT) Said Osama Bin Laden Not Guilty. Dean: “I Still Have This Old-Fashioned Notion That Even With People Like Osama, Who Is Very Likely To Be Found Guilty, We Should Do Our Best Not To, In Positions Of Executive Power, Not To Prejudge Jury Trials.” (“Dean Not Ready To Pronounce Osama Bin Laden Guilty,” The Associated Press, 12/26/03)

But Fred Thompson is Reagan Reincarnated, so nevermind!