Nasty Column,

almost as nasty as some of my remarks, from Jimmy Breslin about the Mouth and the awful Bryant Park speech.

Some choice bits:

"Dean came on the large stage in a striped shirt with sleeves rolled up. He had both hands in the air. The crowd cheered and waved signs.

"Then he spoke. He was unexciting. No, he wasn't even that...

"Dean had the subjects. He spoke against the war in Iraq, which was his personal and thus immensely profitable stand and now is becoming crowded as the war turns into the early Vietnam. Dean also spoke of job losses being the worst since Herbert Hoover. The deficit is monstrous, he pointed out. If these issues are around next fall, Bush can be beaten by any aluminum-siding salesman.

"But he said this in language made of wood. He spoke without saying one phrase that would inspire. And the cheers of the crowd seemed forced. The crowd out there was young and as white as the candidate. I walked through them for some time and there was no electricity in the whole place..."

Such honesty in this media is a rarity.