I went to see Dean speak yesterday. I wonder how many people who support him have. Then I stumbled across an essay I wrote in 1998, about the Vietnam War and Clinton, and how we got to this place where we elect people who are “Successively better airbrushed, more and more tuned to polls, fighting for the center, telling us what they think we want to hear, trying to nudge the numbers up, but not relying on the minds of the electorate. They were smart not to rely on our minds, because there was no evidence that we wanted to use our minds.” That was totally consistent what I saw with Dean last night. There were 150 people in the room, mostly it was about lies, bedtime stories, telling people what they want to hear. No minds activated. Some good lines, a glimmer that minds may have played a role in the Dean campaign at one time, but not today. Now they're trying to get elected, and I believe in doing so are guaranteeing that they won't. If you're looking for an airbrushed guy, Clark is much stronger. I don't know why people care how much money Dean has raised, that's just going to buy commercials. I'd love to see one of the pols use their money to solve some problems now, whether or not they get elected. Put some teeth behind the We Love The Internet and The Internet Loves Us.