Dean on Meet the Press

Dean was on Meet the Press this morning. His problem: He talks too much, and too quickly. He doesn't know how to answer a complicated question with 30 words. When asked a question, he answers it with 5 minutes of a well-thought-out and complete answer --- which, politically appropriately, sometimes answers the question and sometimes does not. However, a long answer leaves the impression that you are trying to dig out. His responses were emphatic, pushed. The questions were not sharp, but they were pointed. Dean's responses made him look evasive, and ill-at-ease with his own answers. I know understand where the reputation of "angriness" for which he was unfairly crucified during the scream episode comes from.

However, nobody watches the Sunday morning programs -- they effect the opinion-makers, but that's about it. And, giving long and complicated answers permits him to get his ideas out there, without being quotable.

Dean's going to do badly in the democratic debates, because he does not project presidential reticence. On the other hand, he clearly has the fire to debate Bush head to head. Dean has a killer instinct, and when Bush makes innacurate statments, Democrats must have a candidate which stands up there and knows how to zing him with the "You're No Jack Kennedy" line, leaving Bush tharn, angry and speechless (or, hopefully, so angry that he talks himself into a hole -- which ought to be easy enough, since Bush responds to his emotions when he talks, which is a big mistake for a debater, and a major achilles heel for Bush).