It should be apparent to every one of us Kossacks what can happen to a person when the media dogs (piranhas?) smell blood and focus on you. What has happened to Dr. Dean in the last week has left him bloodied and the butt of jokes across America.
Even before this happened Democrats across the country wondered "is Dean a viable, electable candidate?" While Kos has argued that "electability" is an overused and worthless term, establishment types have argued that a Dean nomination would spell disaster.
I am not one who generally agrees with the DLC and their wing of the party. I am a true liberal and everything Dubya has done in office has pissed me off as much as any of the Deaniacs out there.
I read or listen to a Dean speech and I nod in agreement. I love his fire, his anger with Bush. He's right.
But what I've overhead in conversations in the gym, in the supermarket, at work has convinced me... Dean is done. He's become the punchline of a Jay Leno joke before he's even got his feet under him at a national level. He's been tagged by middle America in a bad way and to everyone who isn't a political activist he's a joke.
Finally, it's OK to support you candidate to the end. All you Deaniacs have been amazing and without you Howard Dean probably would not still be in this race. But when it's all said and done, and the nominee is finalized, it will not be Dean.