I thought the Dean-a-Palooza article was particularly entertaining to read since it was written as a narrative of what the author witnessed on the campaign trail. My favorite quote was when he wrote that after the last 8 years of the unpopular Bush presidency the American people were willing to throw themselves behind anything that resembled a human i.e. Howard Dean. He describes Dean as sort of a rock star in appearance and in the way he drew crowds. I always thought that when it came to political reporting it was the fault of the reporter for not asking questions of substance, I didn’t realize that sometimes the reporter had to shout over or win the attention over half a dozen other reporters just to ask one question. I think the best example of that in the reading is when Taibbi tries to ask Dean a question about small businesses and is upstaged by a reporter inquiring whether or not Dean paints his own homes. I think Taibbi also made an interesting point writing how even when Dean gave the reporters an opportunity to ask meaningful questions like his stance on Non-violent drug offenders, the press core failed to respond. I believe American politicians are far from perfect but it is even more depressing that the press time and time again fails to ask the tough issue-based questions. We have already seen that politicians typically will not bring up controversial topics on their own for fear of offending people. So my question is if they won’t and the press won’t, then who will??