Mike Sanders (whom I don't link to nearly enough these days) has been posting quite a bit about Howard Dean lately. The more I learn about Dean, the less I understand how he can possibly be considered a viable candidate for President of the United States. I've voted in eight presidential elections and I vividly remember the three before that. There's never been a major party nominee half as scary as Dean -- and, yes, I'm including Richard Nixon in that assessment. (But I'm not including Pat Buchanan.)
Mike's been focusing on Dean's anger. If you know Mike, that's not surprising. It's also very important. I've been increasingly impressed lately by how Dean seems to speak to people's baser instincts -- to rile them up and rally them to his cause, which cause seems to consist primarily of promoting irrational hatred of George W. Bush. Dean positively radiates loathing.
But I also know that stimulation sells. Hollywood knows it, too. Folks pays lots of money to be incited into a blind rage or frightened half to death at the movies. Whatever gets the blood pumping. They don't mind at all that they're being shamelessly manipulated, and I guess they shouldn't. But when it comes to real life, they damn well should. Like I said, really scary.
Especially because Dean's appeals often seem designed to bypass the rational parts of the brain, to stroke the pleasure centers with warm, fuzzy inclusiveness babble or to stimulate the pain centers whenever Bush's name is mentioned. I don't know. Maybe it's just me, but I have an aversion to being played. Politics as usual, you say? Maybe, but way beyond the envelope.
I do admit, I just haven't been paying enough attention lately. So I didn't know about the bike path. Or the Job snafu. I only barely picked up on this temper tantrum over the weekend. And I knew nothing about Dean's wife, nor did I particularly care. But there's something about this photo and the attitude expressed in the accompanying article that I find highly irritatating. Mike was particularly perplexed by this quote, and so am I.
Dr. Dean has spent, on average, just four nights a month here in Burlington, for nearly a year. Though Dr. Steinberg and their children are Jewish, he campaigned through Yom Kippur, and recited the Rosh Hashanah blessings via cellphone.
So I'm also wondering just what "Rosh Hashanah blessings" an ex-Episcopalian turned Congregationalist would find it appropriate to recite anywhere, let alone on a cell phone, regardless of whether his wife and children are Jewish are. Mike has some suggestions. I just don't know.
Am I going over the top here? Maybe so. Perhaps Dr. Dean has finally tapped into my inner outrage -- just not in the way he intended. Well, I still have my vote. I've been contemplating a party switch, hoping to make a minute contribution to the moderation of the Republican Party, as the Democrats appear to be increasingly hopeless. For now, though, I'll stay where I'm needed.
Vicky also had some observations about Dean's behavior over the weekend that are right on target.
Update: And Paul Jané, bless him, has this.
