Salon.com News | The media vs. Howard Dean

Without the Gore press fiasco as a backdrop it might seem as if Dean were simply wading through an inevitable rough patch with the press -- that pundits and reporters are practicing the usual baptism-by-fire, forcing the unlikely front-runner to earn his stripes. That's a legitimate, even expected part of any race for the White House. But watching the striking similarities between the way the D.C. press is covering Dean and how it treated Gore, and contrasting it with the way it has treated President Bush, it's becoming harder to avoid the obvious conclusion: that Democratic presidential front-runners and nominees are held to a higher, tougher standard by the Washington press corps. I've been waiting for this article. I'm sick of this dean can't win bullshit. EVERYBODY is after him. Rove says he WANTS to have Dean as his opponent. Don't believe it. Dean is galvanizing lots of people. I think the Democrats could activate many voters with this man. He speaks to all of us who use embarressed to have G.W. as out commander in chief-- all of us who want to be proud of this country again.