WRONG METAPHOR FOR DEAN: Ryan Lizza reports:

A Dean event is like a Grateful Dean concert, where the faithful show up and groove to their favorite hits. There is a knowing, insiderish connection between the fans and the musician. The applause is boisterous yet perfunctory. There's no expectation of hearing something new. (For all those Dean fans who think this analogy stereotypes Dean supporters as hippies, please direct your complaints to Dean media adviser Steve McMahon, who coined the Grateful Dead comparison in a conversation with me Saturday night.)

McMahon is way off base, though not because he's calling Dean-lovers hippies (which is probably untrue, but I have no information on that.) It's because Dean himself is about as far from hippieness as you can get. The only cultural precedent for Dean's combination of loyal fanatics, arrogance, manic intensity, and honest-to-god talent is......RIC FLAIR. WHOOOOOOOO!

I mean, the telling off of the 67-year old man was pure Flair. The speech he gave last night was an amazing pro wrestling promo, and Flairesque in the way Howard practically lost it near the end (the strange noise mentioned below.) The combination of arrogance and ability was a shtick Flair perfected and one that Dean is now borrowing, either 1. on purpose (and I would love proof of this) or 2. the Flair style has finally percolated out of the pro wrestling underground into the mainstream cultural matrix/zeitgeist dealie. And Flair fans just love to see Flair work, even if he's doing the same stuff every time. HEY--just like Dean!

And Flair's been rumored to be running for governor for years in North Carolina. Which is a springboard to the presidency. And I would vote for him (God help me) for president. Which means--logically--I would vote for Dean for president. Soooooo....there you go. Dean in the 2-00-4. Cue up the Also Sprach Zarathustra.