David Brooks delivers a fascinating column on the many faces of Howard Dean. However, he seems to go off the rails in attributing Dean's variability to the Internet:
Everybody talks about how the Internet has been key to his fund-raising and organization. Nobody talks about how it has shaped his persona. On the Internet, the long term doesn't matter, as long as you are blunt and forceful at that moment. On the Internet, a new persona is just a click away. On the Internet, everyone is loosely tethered, careless and free. Dean is the Internet man, a string of exhilarating moments and daring accusations.
Huh? I thought even main stream journalists were waking to the realization that the world is subjected to constant fact-checking by means of the Internet. In fact, here is David Brooks himself, in the same column:
There is a parlor game among Washington pundits called How Liberal Is Howard Dean? One group pores over his speeches, picks out the things no liberal could say and argues that he's actually a centrist. Another group picks out the things no centrist could say and argues that he's quite liberal.
Does he really think that game is restricted to Washington pundits? And how does he suppose folks get access to the many Dean speeches and statement - the public library?
Jeff Jarvis and Andrew Sullivan have more.
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