A lot of Dean haters are now jumping on the bandwagon and pouring salt in the wounds of his supporters. Let me start out by saying I think their meanspirited attitude and actions are completely appalling.
But there is one thing that concerns me about some of the responses given by other Dean supporters. Namely the constant repetition that this isn't over and that Dean should stay in as long as he can.
On the one hand I think the thought is good-- the voters
should be given a choice. But, on the other hand, I don't think Dean should necessarily hang around once it's obvious he's not catching fire. Right now the anti-Kerry vote is being split. Kerry has picked up so much soft support that he can continually best the three others.
My fear is that Dean/Clark/Edwards will all hang in too long and continually fracture the vote of those who don't want Kerry. I know, this is going by the admittedly flawed theory that there's some sort of ABK vote out there (the same flawed theoray as ABD). But, I still think there might be some truth behind it. In the end, I'd hope it will come down to two clear choices: Kerry and someone else, so the voters can at least give one person their overwhelming stamp of approval.
I know Dean wasn't expecting to win tonight, but at the same time his showing was pretty abysmal. I'd hope that if he doesn't turn this around in WA/MI/WI that he will seriously consider dropping out. I know, some hardcore Deaniacs will object, but let's be honest: if he can't turn this around and win at least a couple states in the next week then his chances of the nomination are nil.
Dick Gephardt knew when to quit and so did Joe Lieberman. I hope Howard Dean has the honesty and integrity to throw in the towel when the time comes (even if it's sooner than we all hoped). The same goes for Clark and Edwards as well.