Darn you for keeping me honest, Trav

I was going to go off on a tangent where I make fun of my own analysis and academic analysis in general... actually, I still might do that later. I'll keep that in my pocket.

2b- Original I had "a liberal" instead of "the devil" but then I thought the 2nd comment was funnier. Part of the problem with my blog posts is that I can never quite decide if I want to say what I want to say or if I want to parody what I am actually saying. Really I want to do both at the same time, while explaining what I am doing (sort of like now) Anyhow, I think you are dead accurate when you say that its relevant that Karl Rove thinks that Dean is an easy mark. Either he's right or its hubris. Your implied point that Dean won't be able to do his job, might be right but overlooks some things which are important: Relative to the Republicians, the Democrats have been having a hard time getting people who felt apathetic about the major parties to associate with their party. This isn't a crazy idea at all. Most eligible voters, don't vote. More to the results of 2004: Kerry did a great job getting people who normally voted Democrat to actually get to the polls and vote for him. BUT... Bush did a better job in getting people who don't vote at all to start voting (for him). At least, that's the idea there.

2b'/2c- Your Dean quote practically makes my point for me. The head of a political party should be ideologically partisian and untroubled by notions that the other side isn't totally wrong. There is a (probably apocryphical) quote from Gingrich or Rove or somebody to the effect that "Democrats are the enemies of normal people everywhere."

2c- Just to be clear, the reason Dean is considered a "nut case" is that he tried to give a pep talk to his campaign supporters after coming in second in Iowa. He lost that mainly because he was fighting too clean or (if you like) was naive about the nature of campaigning. Anyway, he gives this crazy speach about how they are never going to give up (even though it was pretty clear to everyone that this was curtains) and with no rhetoric left to shout... he just shouts! Somehow Dean's shouting became the story and the punchline is that he's just "a looney." This is the sort of thing that happens when the press decides that someone is "over." However, the Dean supporters obviously didn't buy that he was crazy or over and Dean didn't buy it either. Just to confuse the situation with a historical parallel: there is a story (probably untrue) that when Churchill gave his famous BBC address on June 4th, 1940 (We shall fight them here, there, in a house with a mouse, etc.) he apparently said "off mic" at the end "And we will hit them over the head with beer bottles because that's all we will have left" I mean, yahoo! That's the spirit! Am I saying that Howard Dean is the Winston Churchill of our time? Um... damnit, I did it to myself again...