[lonestar]

I love Peggy Noonan but because I don't like Howard Dean, I don't want to like Howard Dean.

He is the "Damn Yankee" and my heroes have always been cowboys.

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[samtheman]

the Republican Party is never at its best when faced with a lame challenger.

I beg to differ.

Reagan vs. Mondale

They didn't come much lamer than Mondale, and there hasn't been a more successful second term than Reagan's.

Sorry, Peggy. The only thing that's lame around here is this idea you have that the country "needs" a strong RAT nominee.

[JimVT]

But Mr. Dean is not Mr. McGovern in a more important way.

....In more than one important way...

McGovern, a South Dakota preacher's son, was a 19-year-old college sophomore when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He immediately volunteered for service and less than three years later was piloting one of the big, unwieldy B-24 Liberator bombers. Completing 35 missions over Europe, McGovern went on to earn a Distinguished Flying Cross for his service.

[xsmommy]

He is not a happy warrior but an angry one. In the past I have thought of him as an angry little teapot, but that is perhaps too merry an image. His eyes are cold marbles, in repose his face falls into lines of mere calculation, and he holds himself with a kind of no-neck pugnacity that is fine in a wrestling coach or a tax lawyer but not in a president. We like our presidents sunny, easygoing and optimistic. They have access to the nuclear launch code, and we don't want them losing their tempers easily. Mr. Dean's supporters no doubt see him as optimistic, but optimists aren't angry

oh i love Peggy. an angry little teapot, indeed....

[xsmommy]

I hope something surprising happens in Iowa, and New Hampshire, and in the South. I hope it becomes a real fight on the Democratic side, and I hope that fight yields up someone who is serious, substantive, and thoughtful. But that's not what I see coming. What I see coming is a Dean nomination followed by a rancorous campaign followed by a Dean defeat

hey, i can live with that!

[TheGeezer]

His was the shrewdest, quickest read of the Democratic voter of 2004.

This was an insight, something I'd not realized or seen in print: Dean appeals to the most emotional, least rational component of the DemocRat core. I thought that was "rev" Al Sharpton, but I stand corrected.

A very good Noonan article. Thanks for the post.

[blue jeans]

re: Mr. Dean's forces used the Internet with great and impressive creativity, and not only in fund-raising

I'll say. Given what's been said lately about moveon.org, who knows 'who all' has funnelled 'how much' through that organization (of course indirectly benefitting him and the other 8). Shoot, with dollars being sent over web to him, makes you wonder if foreign funds he could be directly benefitting him.

Either way, I'm sure he's the favorite candidate outside of our borders.. and Peggy forgot to mention that. In fact, he's probably the horse that they're betting on.

[buffyt]

billorites! My COMPLIMENTS to you! I was going to post this and you beat me to it. Good going! Great article, huh?

[billorites]

"I have thought of him as an angry little teapot, but that is perhaps too merry an image. "

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

"I come not to bury Ceasar, but to praise him!"

[okie01]

Mr. Dean's people--and Mr. Dean--don't seem to have anything as coherent as an ideology. Instead they have attitude.

Perfectly put. As Peggy is prone to do...

[presidio9]

His background is eastern WASP--Park Avenue, the Hamptons, boarding school, Yale. But he doesn't seem like a WASP.

Peggy, I love you, but Howard Dean was born and raised a Catholic.

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

I hope something surprising happens in Iowa, and New Hampshire, and in the South. I hope it becomes a real fight on the Democratic side, and I hope that fight yields up someone who is serious, substantive, and thoughtful. But that's not what I see coming. What I see coming is a Dean nomination followed by a rancorous campaign followed by a Dean defeat.

I love Peggy Noonan, but for once, I wish she'd just shut up and let the RATS eat their own. 8^)

[Pokey78]

Peggy Ping!

[RichInOC]

Like Howie? I'd settle for being able to respect him, but I can't even do that. He's a punk. And he has one of the most unnerving smiles I've seen on a New Englander since Pennywise the clown from Stephen King's "It".

[isthisnickcool]

Step #1 - Find a urinal.

Step #2 - Get some tape.

Step #3 - Go here for Howard Dean cutout.

Step #4 - Tape results from step #3 to item in setp #1.

Step #5 - Drinks lots and lots of water.

Step #6 - See Howard for relief.....

[goldstategop]

Peggy Noonan's right in her conclusion and Dean's biggest problem, apart from his shortcomings, is that let's face it: he's an average guy. I am 5'7" myself and when you're up against a 6'2" President, its no contest. Americans will never vote for the smaller of two guys; its just human nature. And the reason I can't bring myself to like Dean has nothing to do with his politics. There's such a personal cockiness about him that simply has me repelled. And this isn't cause I'm a Republican but cause I am a human being who wants to like someone who has personal warmth and optimism. Dean projects neither and that's why he will lose in November.