Anna is right about Jake Tapper being hit or miss. Just a few days ago, he implied, in a different Salon piece, that George Bush had actually bested Al Gore in their three debates. I guess Tapper and I were watching different debates. His tone in this current Salon piece was slightly sour, probably because a Dean staffer could not walk him into a private gathering. It's amazing how much coddling is required by so many members of the media.
The important thing I took from this article was that Dean is starting to make waves among the traditional larger donors to the democratic party. Let's all hope that Judith Hope and others like her can deliver the message that Dean has the support of an enthusiastic, capable, generous and young group of people who are excited by Dean and might not otherwise get involved as activists in the race. I know that I am extremely excited by Dean and I would be heart stricken if the large donors ramrod one of the "Bush Lite" dems into the race because of fear.
I wish I knew Judith Hope's email or addy so I could write her a letter letting her know how much we appreciate the support and how write she is to observe that Dean is the real thing and he will win!
BTW, I think a great way to support Dean is to write all the left leaning syndicated columnists in the major newspapers and let them know that a large and enthusiastic crowd of young people are backing Dean this early and they should take note!
I've already written to Robert Kuttner for his wonderful article in the Boston Globe today titled 'Bush benefits from decay of democracy' and let him know that the answer is on the way: Howard Dean! I suggest we start a new challenge directed at the syndicated columnists asking everyone to write a letter to all the columnists like Richard Kutter and Arianna Huffington and so on telling them of our large and growing base of support for Howard Dean.
If he criticizes the war on Iraq, he's a one note candidate...
If he focuses on other issues, he's backing down...
There's just no way to win with some people.
Tapper, in my opinion, is one of the better journalists we've got. I don't think attacking him will do much. He's critical, but he's critical in the way that only friends are, and that's admirable.
welcome back Anna, you've been missed 
left - tapper is certainly better than most. i agree with ya. sorry if "hit or miss" came off as an attack. i was merely being flippant because, well, it's that kind of day. =)
thanks, aziz. =)