As everyone in the Western Hemisphere is painfully aware by now, Howard Dean had a "Thorazine moment" as he spoke to his supporters following his coming in third place in the Iowa caucus.  For several days now, every media outlet has had something amusing to say about his screaming the names of states, red-faced and harsh-voiced, while punching the air in punctuation, finally breaking into a manic cry of "Yeeeargh!"  Every radio talk show and late-night tv host on the planet has had a field day with it (and becoming the butt of endless Tonight Show jokes is a sure sign of impending doom).  Along with many others, I've laughed out loud every time someone finds a new way to "spring" that wild bird-like scream on me all week.  I even downloaded the Dean Scream Remix from the great James Lileks.

But now, having had our fun, I say: let it be over. I've decided to chalk the whole episode up to Howard Dean's exuberance, and to try not to dwell on it.  Why on Earth would I want to do that, you might ask?

Simple.  It's because I don't want Dean to lose too much of his support, because this latest in a series of embarrassing moments makes it almost certain he'll never get the Democratic nomination. That's right: because.

I believe that Dean's supporters, bless their fanatical little hearts, will never let his Presidential bid die, even when he gets passed over for the Democratic nomination.  It's my hope that they'll either refuse to vote for anyone else, or try to run him as an Independent candidate.  Either way, the Democratic vote will be hopelessly split, or many will stay home.  Even if the Democrats manage to hold the party together until the election, a win for President Bush (which is extremely likely at this point, even against my projection: a Kerry-Edwards ticket) will cause an ideological rift within the Democratic party that will be almost impossible to heal, taking years at least.

While in the long run, a two (or more) party system is a good thing for America, the current Liberal-controlled Democratic party shouldn't be one of them.  Any American political party ought to have America's best interests at heart, or at least consider them more important than a pat on the head from France.  The Democrats need to divest themselves of their radical Left-wing puppeteers before they can truly claim to represent more than a fringe element of Americans again. And if it takes tearing the party apart and rebuilding it, then that's what they should do.