Looking here, looking there …

On Baseball Primer's Clutch Hits, every month or two somebody posts something like "Miguel Tejada is better then Nomar Garciaparra; you have to see him every day to know how good he is." Thirty or forty posters then respond that to compare the two, you would have to see them both every day, or neither. It's a pretty basic human perception thing; I do it all the time myself, but it gets up my nose when someone else does it.

The Daily Kos did it recently when Kos more or less endorsed Gov. Dean. I don't object to the endorsement; but in it he says:

The formula to Dean's success is simple: He speaks like a Democrat, particularly the part about opposing Republicans. That resonates with those of us who saw DLC-types lead our party to disaster in 2002.
"Don't attack Bush!" say the frightened DLCers. "He's too popular!"

This (and other language) suggests that the other candidates are reticent about Our Only President. I don't know why, but I've noticed that most people who support one candidate or another seem to think that the other candidates are too reticent about attacking Pres. Bush. Bob Graham is certainly not reticent, as his home page has links to him "blaming" and "blasting" the president. Dick Gephardt talks incessantly about the administration's "failed" economic plans. John Kerry is starting an online petition to "oppose President Bush's plan for lower pay, longer hours, and unpredictable work schedules." Sen. Kerry is also scarcely reticent about other aspects of the administration's failure. Rep. Kucinich, Carol Mosely Braun and Rev. Sharpton are, as you would expect, frank and forthright in their opinions. The only candidate I would characterize as reluctant to criticize Pres. Bush is John Edwards.

This is not to denigrate Gov. Dean. Heck, I don't even know at this point whether I prefer the positive tactics of Sen. Edwards. It just struck me as a good example of the cognitive problem. If you are following Howard Dean closely, it likely means you are taking your eye off the others; that's fine, but then you should be cautious with your comparisons.

Redintegro Iraq,
-Vardibidian.