Speaking of Howard Dean, Jeff Miller posted a hilarious parody of a Billy Idol song based upon Dean's primal scream. That being said, I'm gonna stand by my previous comments that Dean is the guy to beat in the dem. primaries. Clark is a close second.
Yeah, I know, conventional political pundits are counting these two out right now, and I think this is a mistake. Dean and Clark are the only two major candidates who realize that the traditional dem base is not gonna get them elected. So they're trying to reach into other constituencies. There's gonna be some rough sailing in so doing, as we've seen this past week, but given the media's short attention span, it isn't the end of the world.
Dean put a pretty good spin on things yesterday when he was on Letterman. His Arnie impersonation was excellent. His primal scream will likely make him a stronger candidate once this blows over since it, to a certain extent, immunizes him from future criticism for his over-the-top behavior much like the Gennifer Flowers situation immunized Slick Willie from the Monica Lew[d]insky affair. It is also the wakeup call the Dean people needed to tone their guy down. We're now seeing Dean 2.0, namely, the balanced-budget and quasi-libertarian Dean.
Hopefully, Kerry and Edwards will stay in the game with Clark and Dean long enough to insure a badly damaged dem candidate in the fall election.
The various techno/hardcore remixes of Dean's rant -- including one by Lileks -- are funny too: see Victor's blog for links to several.
Hate to disagree, Peter, but, "stick..., fork..., done." Momentum all gone. Fundraising drying up. Widespread public perception of mental instability. Short of John Kerry being found in bed with a dead girl or a live boy (or Hilary getting into the race at the last minute), the nomination is Kerry's.
Tom,
The only way Hillary is going to get into the race now is as a VP candidate or if the convention cannot nominate one of the seven dwarves. It's too late to run the normal way.
I'm with Tom. Sometimes the perception really *is* the reality, and people perceive Hodean to be nuts. He'll get a prime-time convention speech, but little else. The Dean 2.0 release is too late.
Plus, I saw that Letterman segment and it seemed like he was just going through the motions so people would think he regretted his outburst. He doesn't seem like he has a sense of humor at all, especially about himself, and that's another thing Americans seem to like in a president. The sine qua non of this was President Reagan, whose self-deprecating lines could fill a small book.