Nobody listened to Cassandra

I was watching Jon Stewart yesterday when I saw clips of Deans infamous "The idea that we're going to win this war is an idea that unfortunately is just plain wrong." It's already starring in a right-wing attack ad. I groaned. Hasn't anybody told this man that we live in an age of spin and triangulation where telling the truth too bluntly, as opposed to using what fact there are to your advantage and making up the rest, is deadly? Yes, I know he made his gaffe quite a while ago, I even blogged about it, but it never occured to me how bad it sounds until I saw the clip myself.

I know that many bloggers I respect thinks the fault lays not with Dean but with the way he is covered by the media. But in my opinion that's not good enough -- Dean should know by now the media environment he is up against and the inevitable rightwing spin. To misquote the ever-versatile Rummy, you go to war with the fourth estate you've got, not the fourth estate you wish you had. Branding is a real issue in politics whether we like it or not, and Dean just branded us as a party of Losers. Of course, the "defeat" we'll hand the American people would be a lot better than the godawful mess Bush will label a "victory". But like the way we buy our sodas, sometimes the way a product is sold is more powerful than what's in the bottle.