Dean's Derangement. The dreaded Weekly Standard weighs in on the little world the Deaniacs have built for themselves on line. I think there's a fair amount of truth to this article, but it really just scratches the surface. The idea of Dean as an "insurgent" candidate is ludicrous, he is in every way the candidate of the upper middle class white Left elite who, ever since '72, have maintained a stranglehold on the nominating machinery of the Democratic Party, mainly by rewriting the rules in their favor. Because of their geographical and institutional concentration, i.e. in the big universities and their environs, they have maintained a lengthy conversation with themselves since the McGovern campaign. They are, quite simply, incapable of conceiving that any other opinions except their own and, therefore, the fact that they are constantly losing elections can only be explained by the various wretched conspiracy theories we've gotten used to hearing from the type of people who are now handing over multiple $50 contributions to Howard Dean's campaign. The man is a poster boy for a bankrupt and illigitimate leadership which, had they not corrupted the party machinery to keep themselves in power, would have collapsed years ago as a result of their chronic inability to win elections.