Xian at Edgewise surveys that memes about Dean that are circulating the blogosphere.#

Maybe this "angry red face" meme had to be exploded in a big way, and maybe Dean needed more of a narrative than "raised the most money via the Internet." For all the meme junkies out there, Dianne Sawyer even showed the Gennifer portrait. A key failing or weakness nearly bring our protagonist low but he grows through the adversity. Better story than "geez, he really is nuts" or "don't they understand broadcast media at all?"

I'm not saying Trippi (by which I mean the whole team around and including the candidate) didn't make a serious mistake in how they handled the TV moment. They did let Dean be Dean" and since that moment of misjudgement about how something would read to practiced TV watchers (something the Dean household is not) cannot be recalled, as you cannot unring a bell, the best way to deal with a raging bull is to seize it by the horns and leap over it like a Minoan.

Adam Curry, international rock star and playboy, writes about the Dean battle-cry.#

From where I stand (about 5 thousand miles away) this 'incident' is being misused by the media to crush the Dean campaign. Witness the Diane Sawyer interview, where Sawyer blatently predicts this will hurt the campaign.

Huh? Are American voters viewers that easy to manipulate?

A writer at Kuro5hin.org fact-checks and cuts the crap with "FileGate."#

In a statement on the matter, Sen. Hatch said, "I am mortified that this improper, unethical and simply unacceptable breach of confidential files may have occurred on my watch." A Republican staff member who read the memos claims, however, that there was "no hacking, no stealing, and no violation of any Senate rule".

It seems clear that the Democrat's IT services in the US Senate need to be more methodical about protecting their party's documents. Nevertheless, modern computer security laws say that it's wrong to access data to which you have no permission, regardless of whether there is protection on the data or not. The fact that the data was accessed from an unsecured shared fileserver which is used by members of the bi-partisan judiciary committee is irrelevant.

Jessica writes about her visit to New Hampshire to see John Kerry, Dennis Kucinich, and Joe Lieberman. I was with her for the last two.#

After he arrived, Kucinich walked around to greet people and shake hands. He's the first presidential politician to have shaken my hand this campaign (and maybe ever). He begins his talk by thanking the host and praises the white, upright piano. He doesn't seem focused when he begins to speak, then he announced that five more troops have died today, bringing the total number of dead to 512. He remembers how during the Vietnam War, he became accostumed to seeing the count every day. He worked as a copy boy at the Cleveland Plain Dealer for a while and told a story about getting a photo of a deceased soldier from a family during that war. He relaxed a little more as he talked about waiting as they went through their photographs (his story implied that someone else from the newspaper had already contacted the family to request a photo and he just went to pick it up) and how they finally selected the photo of a proud, young soldier in uniform from the top of the television and asked if they could have it back in time for the funeral so they could display it on his coffin.

He continued his thoughts on the current conflict in Iraq by reminding us of the 512 soldiers who have given their lives to this cause, the thousands more who have been injured, and all the Iraqis who have died or been injured also. Bush wants to run for re-election based on a lie, he claimed. Terror and fear embrace our every day lives. He stated that some of the candidates aren't in touch with this reality.

Michael Feldman posts a picture of Dick Gephardt's closed down office in Nashua, NH. (Michael mistakenly credits it to Manchester--but I know better, it's right outside my office window.)#

Michael at 2blowhards.com asks: "Is Bush a Conservative?"#

What exactly is conservative about George W. Bush? The question seems to be in the air. John Leo scratches his head here. Jonah Goldberg,here, points out that under Bush, "overall spending from 2001 to 2003 grew at 16 percent and discretionary spending went up 27 percent. That's double Bill Clinton's rate."

Marc Nozell saw John Edwards in Merrimack, NH.#

The girls had colored some homemade 'Go, John, Go!' signs and were in their pretty dresses, but the spent most of the time on our shoulders. We ran into a video crew from Germany and a photographer from Switzerland. There were a few college boys from Union College from outside Albany who were up for the weekend and another college girl from NYC said there were about 150 from her school up helping with campaigns (didn't catch which college or if they were only for Edwards.)

On the way out I chatted up a reporter from the Boston Globe about how the media seems to be covering NH as a Kerry/Dean horse race with no real coverage of Edwards or Lieberman and just a little of Clark. With Edwards surprise 2nd place showing in Iowa and Liebermans make or break in NH I'd think there should be more coverage of that.

ScrappleFace writes about Wesley Clark and Michael Moore.#

During the recent Democrat debate, Mr. Clark defended Mr. Moore's right to call the Commander-in-Chief a "deserter."

But today Mr. Clark said, "I thought Michael called the president a desserter -- you know, one who enjoys dessert after dinner. This, coming from Michael Moore, is a term of endearment. Like most people, there's nothing Michael likes better than dessert. I can assure you he meant no insult to the president. Michael is a patriot. He's as American as apple pie."

Dave Winer writes about Alice's Restaurant.#

Since the candidates have to avoid saying anything on TV, or showing any human qualities, they might as well go all the way and act crazy too. The challenge wouldn't be (only) to sound presidential or seem avuncular, or friendly, or dignified, or whatever it is the press values in a presidential candidate, but to mock the system so the voters know to go to your website to find out what you really think, what you really have to say. If all the candidates do it, or all the candidates who get votes, we've then reclaimed our political system. Could it really be that simple? Is it really such a wacky idea? Any wackier than the world we live in today?

The Left Coaster learns that Al Sharpton is being advised by someone who has supported and worked with George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and Richard M. Nixon.#

I have respect for genuine differences of opinion among the candidates, but this action of Sharpton's is completely self-serving. Sharpton's desire for power shows that he is willing to play into the hands of the people he claims to oppose in an effort to "rise to the prize" - even if it means the defeat of the party of which he claims to be a member. To be sure, that defeat is certainly the goal of the Rovian Confederate Fascists and their slathering Greedy Oligarchy Party.

In an effort to maintain the vast power this cabal has attained while the American people slept, the GOP has amply demonstrated that there is no trick too low, no person above being used, no principle that is inviolate. And Rev. Sharpton, blinded by his own ambition, equal in nature and intensity to George Warmonger Bush's desire for the appearance of a legitimate electoral victory, now demonstrates that he is willing to debase himself in his quest, which makes him just like they are.

Jessica went to see John Edwards and Wesley Clark.#

See didn't actually see Edwards:

After he finished, I noticed the press mobbing him as he was leaving the room. I walked up to try to get a glimpse of him, but all I saw was the back of his head as he walked out the back door.

I'm trying not to let my negative experience at the event color my thoughts of him, but I'm afraid my notes may reflect the disappointment I feel at how things were handled. I know nothing about Edwards and was hoping to learn something substantive about him as a candidate at this event. All I know is that he isn't happy with how the country is currently being run and that he thinks certain things are problems. He didn't talk about fixing anything or what he would like to do as president in the seven minutes he addressed us. I didn't see any campaign literature, either.

Michael Feldman deconstructs John Kerry.#

Will Middle America buy a preppy jock as President? Don't we already have a preppy jock as president? Good questions, both.

There are some eerie similarities between Sen. Kerry and the man he wants to replace. Indeed, outside the JFK Arena was a charmingly eccentric political activist in a huge sandwich-board sign on which was written "Bush and Kerry: Secret Fraternity Brothers in a Blood Pact to Defraud America" and making multiple references to the myriad connections between the Bush and Kerry families and the shadowy Skull and Bones bond they do share.