''He speaks!''

Dick Polman, who writes about politics for the Philadephia Inquirer and is syndicated by Knight Ridder, offers this sample of mainstream journalistic thinking about Dean's MTP remarks: "Howard Dean, so loquacious as a presidential candidate in 2004, has largely dodged the national limelight as Democratic chairman in 2005. But in his 99th day on the job, the pugilistic darling of the liberal wing finally resurfaced on national TV Sunday - and promptly buttressed his reputation for lobbing rhetorical grenades."