It's nice to be nice...

...I suppose, but sometimes there's just no point, as Paul Krugman points out in a new column.

"One of the problems with media coverage of this administration," wrote Eric Alterman in The Nation, "is that it requires bad manners." He's right. There's no nice way to explain how the administration uses cooked numbers to sell its tax cuts, or how its arrogance and gullibility led to the current mess in Iraq."

The dishonesty and incivility of the Bush administration and their Congressional co-conspirators inspires various degrees of anger, dismay and distrust in Democrats generally, and the rank and file especially. That's really the fuel that drives much of the Dean machine - he has a knack for sounding as pissed off as many of us justifiably feel.

The problem, though, is that Krugman sees it, I see it, lots of you see it, but just the same, about half the country swallows the Republican line whole, and a good part of the remainder just isn't as pissed off as I agree they should be. Discontented? Sure. Willing to consider an alternative? OK. But fully realized self righteous and well deserved anger? I don't think there's an electoral majority available on that basis.

We need to tell the truth on the fools in power, and call their outrages outrageous. There's no doubt about that. But we need to do it in the context of real alternatives and real leadership. We need to send them a President, not just a message, in the '04 general election.