August 29, 2003 -- The rise of an ardent, passionate, angry and engaged left is the most important political story of 2003

--John Podhoretz, NY Post Columnist (and son of Norman, and also Fox News contributor and also former Bush/Reagan speechwriter and also Washington Times contributor and also former William "Roll Em!" Bennett assistant and noted neo-con creature of many right-wing think tanks..)

It IS the blogs! (well, and Franken, and Howard Dean, and the economy, and the environment, and Iraq, and ....)

on howard dean... i was pretty excited about him until i heard him speak. he is nowhere near as bad as bush, but he is nowhere near as good as clinton (which is where he needs to be). he seemed unorganized and kind of jumped from sound bite to sound bite. thoughts? was this just a bad day or is this a real problem for him?

Problem, in my view. Could have been a bad day -- his stump speech is pretty solid. I think the candidate who wins will need to be Clintonian in energy and loquaciousness. Although Bush' 35-day-vacation-fueled poll collapse is opening the way. Latest rumor is a Hillary/Wesley Clark ticket. My brain can't go there, for some reason....