From Skippy: look for the union label...somewhere else

as if the ad nauseum repetition of his energizing rallying cry (as some sort of proof he was crazy) wasn't indignity enough, dr. dean suffered the embarrassment of having one of the key labor unions withdraw their support of his candidacy.

He links to the San Francisco Chronicle story on the AFSCME union defection then adds:

we refrain from pouring salt on any of the people-powered howard campaign's wounds. dr. dean did at least energize the democratic grass roots and helped national democrats remember where their spines were. now, if they can just find their balls...

Too true. And a shame really. Had Dean recognized two things he'd still be able to see the brass ring.

1. His pivot point was a month before Iowa zero hour, that's when his heat needed begin shifting to warmth. Base secure outside Iowa, he needed to transition. (Hindsight prophylactic: I said the same in October over at Calpundit). Anyway, I'm half english and I've learned that passion's a dodgy thing in this country, mid-western Americans (I'm married into a gaggle of them--SD, NB, IA, KS) regard it with suspicion, as do many everywhere, especially in business. TV only distorts it, hence,

2. It's Kabuki. I was shocked at Dean's lack of awareness and savvy on scream night. That was his national Star Search moment. No matter how much Dean wanted to change the system, he should have used it. His pre-primary opponent was the press a much as Bush and he didn't co-opt them, he lumped them in with the bad guys. True enough in many cases, but they're reactionaries, not progressives. They view everything win-lose and his novel means of ascension meant their decline in influence. William James:

The most violent revolutions in an individual's beliefs leave most of his old order standing. The point I now urge you to observe particularly is the part played by the older truths . . . their influence is absolutely controlling. Loyalty to them is the first principle; for by far the most usual way of handling phenomena so novel that they would make for a serious rearrangement of our preconceptions is to ignore them altogether, or to abuse those who bear witness for them.

[posted this on skippy's comments also]