In the Democrats’ weekly radio address, Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean slammed Sen. John McCain by closely associating him with two things many Americans want to see gone: the poor economy and President George W. Bush.

Dean said McCain’s recent remarks about the economy sounded like the “same Republican policies” the nation’s seen from President Bush:

“If you want to see more of this Bush economy, if you want to see our troops in Iraq for a long period of time, we can stay the course with Senator McCain. But the Democrats have a different vision for America’s future. Both of our candidates for president have a plan to get us out of Iraq responsibly so that we can invest in the American people and American jobs.”

Dean’s comments echo a common, and perhaps effective, strategy that both the Clinton and Obama campaigns have used to link McCain to a president who recently earned the record of 39 months without a majority approval rating.

It seems Dean jumped on McCain following the Arizona senator’s comment Thursday, in which he said:

“I think if you look at the overall record and millions of jobs have been created, et cetera, et cetera, you could make an argument that there’s been great progress economically over that period of time. But that’s no comfort. That’s no comfort to families now that are facing these tremendous economic challenges.”

Sen. Barack Obama wasted no time extracting and criticizing McCain’s “great progress” comment, despite what he said immediately after about it being “no comfort” to families feeling the current economic strain. He fired this at McCain on Friday: “Only somebody who spent two decades in Washington could make a statement as disconnected from the hard times we are facing all across the nation.”

However, ABC News reports that Obama said essentially the same thing as McCain earlier in Eerie, PA, commenting, “Our economy actually expanded over the last seven years, that’s true. But here’s the thin: that was the first economic expansion where average incomes went down, not up. That’s never happened before.”

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds quickly criticized Obama’s tactics, saying, “Obama is guilty of deliberately distorting John McCain’s comments for pure political gain, which is exactly what Senator Obama was complaining about just yesterday.”

After Clinton’s Bosnia debacle, Obama’s “bittergate” and now McCain’s “great progress” slip-up, it’s clear that the candidates must watch every word they say in a time where a single sound bite can make or break you. Just ask Howard Dean.