Why on earth would Howard Dean adopt the phrase? I thought he was all about “framing”?

Here’s the opener of that Post piece (I got through Nexis):

The Democratic National Committee has minted a catchy new phrase for some of its most faithful voters: merlot Democrats.
The phrase is intended to encompass Democratic voters who are affluent and secular in their cultural values, and not particularly anxious about “pocketbook” issues. A rather high percentage of these liberals apparently are oenophiles.
DNC Chairman Howard Dean has relied on the merlot description several times recently as he travels about the nation talking to Democrats. In mid-September, Dean spoke to some deep-pocketed Democrats from the island of Manhattan. Afterward, a Democrat wrote a memo sharing highlights from Dean’s talk.
“The DNC has identified four critical segments of the U.S. electorate,” this attendee wrote. “1. Merlot Democrats: We are the base.”
Dean mentioned three other categories in this talk: “Patriotic Democrats,” who often leave the party because of the Republican emphasis on moral values and the war on terrorism; “Regular Republicans,” which is the other party’s base; and “Backlash Republicans” who are troubled by the direction of the country and would, perhaps, vote Democratic.
No mention was made of other political subsets, such as “Dewar’s Libertarians” and “Organic Syrah Greens.”

Me: Seriously, someone from the RNC should send Dean a thank-you-note.