inignoct wrote:
] You only saw a zombie for the past two weeks because you had
] already written him off as out of the political picture, zip,
] next issue.

The press was clearly making this a reality. I saw several news advertisements in which an announcer said something like "We'll be talking about upcoming the XYZ primary... Who is going to win, and who is going to loose." With Dean's face poping up on the screen during the "loose" comment. Once Dean had lost one primary it was all bandwagoning from there. The press deselected him.

] Not withdrawing from the race permits him to get on the stage
] at the convention and promote some issues that the front
] runner can't, or won't, out of political necessity... it'll
] allow him to put some fire back into the Democratic party,
] which is something John Kerry simply isn't capable of.

It will also mean that it not longer matters what he says. He gets to concede defeat, and roll up his expenses, and still have the pulpit. Quite a feat if he can pull it off. They might not allow him to do that though. Its possible to un-invite anyone from a presidential debate. They press runs those, and they clearly don't like him. A Dean in front of cameras who has no reason to avoid saying anything that he wants to say is probably not something they are down for.

There is a reason that Clinton and the like don't have a major presence as political commentators, and that is because they BELIEVE it will have a destabilizing effect on the nation. If the former President was issuing critical press releases on a regular basis people might just decide to follow him instead of the leader of the country. But for this same reason the press likes to focus on movers rather then commentators in general, unless those commentators are considered "objective" (read not a part of the process). The internet is going to melt all of these chineese firewalls away, for better or for worse.

(As an aside, the first comment that really slayed dean was the "rebel flag" comment. They tore him to shreds on it. Had he said "NASCAR Dad" instead he might still be in this thing. As it is, it was Bush in Daytona, and not the Democrats.")

] I'm not sure if what Dean proposes is possible...

It is inevitable but Dean won't make it happen. It is a matter of time. In the late 90's some people used the internet for organizing campaigns, but not for communicating with voters. In 2000 the Presidential Candidates used the internet for communicating with voters, but not for organizing campaigns. This time you're seeing both, in a combined fashion, but the internet as a social force is not yet powerful enough to supercede the media. When that changes the kind of presidents you're going to see are the kind that speak to what people on the internet really want.

I frankly get most of my information about the world from MemeStreams, as crazy as it sounds, along with a handful of other web pages that I read and meme from. I don't watch TV news. I hardly ever read magazines anymore, and certainly not political ones. Bullshit on TV doesn't influence my understanding of the world, and that understanding is very much under my control. I choose what I read and who I trust. You guys are my editors. You tell me what is important. And I trust you a hell of a lot more then I trust the editorial staff at Fox, or even NYT. How long will it be before I'm normal? Not too long yet.

Now what do people like me want? Details. Thats what it boils down to. You've got to have a real plan, rather then spin and sound bites, and I've got to believe in that plan. Probably by the next election the winner will be someone who masters the things that Dean has mastered.

RE: Dean throws in the towel