Reply #29: I'm guessing two reasons:

[AP]

- one is that much of the internet strategy is probably coming from the top down. Obviously the Dean campaign is using the web to get the message out, so, of course, the Dean campaign isn't going to acknowledge the reality that the media loves Dean so that it can leave him after the nomination. (And imagine what the media will do if he doesn't get nominated? They'll STILL use him to divide the Demcorats.) Some of what you see at DU from Dean supporters is a filtering down of the campaign's messages.

- the second reason is that it's the nature of how the Dean appeal is formed in the first place. I don't doubt that the worst apsects of Bush are being emphasized, and exaggerated, and magnified and discussed ad nauseum to encourage a certain kind of democrat to get nominated -- one that responds to Bush, rather than puts foreward his own strong message (and responds to Bush on the one issue they want to be the focus -- Iraq). So, the same red meat that drives Dean's campaign in the first place (hatred of Bush) makes people feel justified in ignoring Dean's worst qualities (including the fact that the media wants him to win). Ie, it's become such a cult of personality, that people think there's a higher purspose that makes it OK to ignore the truth before their eyes.