Doing Dean A World Of Good

Richard Cohen, a columnist with the Washington Post, writes today on what has been observed here at Dean Nation for months: the more the establishment attacks Gov. Howard Dean, the more his supporters rally around him and the better he does. Cohen writes, "The more Dean's opponents attack him, the more he is adored by his supporters and the more it enhances his anti-Washington credentials. Every time they give him the kiss of death, it amounts to mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He revives and comes out fighting." We saw it with the DLC, and as Cohen points out, we saw it again recently with the Confederate Flag issue.

This happened just recently when Dean's opponents cuffed him around for saying he wanted to broaden the appeal of his campaign to encompass "guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks." It was not the most felicitous of political statements, and Dean, after insisting he would not apologize, did so. That supposed debacle was quickly followed by two critical union endorsements, the raising of another $5 million and Dean's decision, applauded by his followers, to reject federal matching funds and finance his own campaign. Another "bad" week like this and he'll be choosing his running mate.

Cohen also writes on the possibility that the attacks on Dean will not help Kerry, Lieberman, Edwards & Associates; rather, it may be Cheney, Rove & Bush who claim the spoils of war.

The conventional wisdom is that Dean is George McGovern all over again. I do not quibble. But if that's the case, the trick for the anti-Dean candidates is to stop beating up on him in the hope that the pounding will take a toll in the later rounds of primaries. The trouble with that strategy is there may be no later rounds, and the seeds that Dean's opponents are sowing now may well be reaped by Karl Rove in the spring.

Dean stands on the verge of a knockout -- a winner not only by virtue of his own prowess but by his opponents' swinging hard at him, missing each time and hitting themselves hard on their own glass jaws. They are the supposed heavyweights, but Dean, more and more, is looking like Rocky.