OK, I have a confession to make. I've come to love The Scream. There was some point last night (maybe during the Sawyer interview, at least by the end of the Top Ten list), where my political mind shut off and I began to feel a deep-down, full-body amusement. The whole thing is just so damn
funny.
In fact, I never actually saw it until last night (surprisingly to many, I watch only slightly more TV than Judy Dean), so I never saw the big grin on Dean's face when he did it. So that was part of it. But even more than that is the fact that Howard Dean has now become some sort of pop culture phenomenon.
Now, I'm not arguing that this is a good thing for the candidacy of Howard Dean. You could argue that being a pop culture phenomenon is a good thing (hey, got Ahnold and Jesse elected); you could argue that it has killed (or will kill) his candidacy. Hell if I know. But watching Dean do the top ten list, I know one thing. The whole thing has moved off of just being a political event and moved fully into the realm of pop culture, where normal rules are suspended and things get really bizarre.
And, for some reason, to me, that's where things get really, really funny.
I'm going to NH this weekend to check it all out . . .