Doonesbury Dean poll

Over on Slate Doonesbury has thrown up a straw poll to see how Dean is doing.  No, it's not the least bit rigorous, and it makes some silly assumptions (like that Dean is exaggerating when he calls out the right), but the results are interesting, and are in line with what I've been thinking about Dean's leadership for a while.

I haven't seen this mentioned in the diaries, but I really didn't look too hard...

They've got three available answers to the question, "What sort of job do you think Dean's doing?"  Answer "A" is "Bad, and that's bad."  "B" is "Good, and that's good."  "C" is "Bad, and that's good."  Then you self label as a Dem, a Repub, or an independent.

The results are fun.  Republicans chose A and C, while Dems and independents chose mostly B.

This reinforces something I've been thinking, which is: if they hate him, he must be doing something right.  I don't think this is always true, but in Dean's case, they're phrasing their hate as concern for our well being: "Dean's irresponsible rhetoric is going to cost the Democrats votes!"  

We know they don't really feel any compassion for us, what with all the talk of wiping liberalism from the Earth, so we know that concern is motivated by something else.

We talk about framing all the time.  Dean's got the GOP talking, at least a little, about what Dean wants them to talk about.  Every second they take to say, "Dean was very, very wrong to call us wealthy leaches that never worked a day in our lives," is a second they're not spewing hateful lies about us.  It's also a second for people to wonder, "ARE they wealthy leaches?"  

We let them scare us off Dean before.  I was never a Deaniac, not sure how I feel/felt about Dean as a candidate.  He wasn't around long enough to really get to know him (Damn you compressed primary season!), but he's been a consistently good fundraiser, and he's breathed some life into this old party.

Let's recreate the poll below: