A case for Dean

Sullivan's take on the primary outcome:

"Most of the day, I thought that Edwards was going to be the un-Kerry from now on. Dean was too damaged after losing both Iowa and New Hampshire. But Edwards' disappointing fourth place showing - behind the nutcase Clark - after such a big win in Iowa has to make his candidacy more suspect. Dean did a little worse than the exit polls suggested. But his concession speech was easily the best of the night. It was authentic, uplifting, and red meat to the Democrats. It actually rang true to me as Dean's real view of the world. It isn't one I entirely share, to say the least, but it is genuine, represents a lot of people in this country and deserves a hearing. He seemed more affable than recently as well. He smiled more. He spoke more calmly but not ineffectively. He's real. Kerry is so fake, in contrast, I cannot believe that Democratic primary voters will continue to support him in such numbers. "

I don't like Dean, but as Sullivan indicates, he's real, and he deserved better than the orchestrated ridicule over the "scream" speech that really didn't sound like anything other than big-time motivation to me. Had the mike not been right at his face, he it would have sounded pretty normal in the circumstances. Not that I'll vote for the guy, but for some reason, the media got a little nasty with that one -- even the liberal media at the big three. Gotta wonder why.