MORE ON DEAN'S DISAPPOINTING DUPLICITOUSNESS: What was most disappointing to me yesterday about Dean's MEET THE PRESS performance was his waffling. As one who has accused his fellow Dems of spinelessness, he seemed shockingly devoid of lumbar support himself. Here's how I remember him on the issues, after yesterday's show:

ON IRAQ: It's actually great Saddam is gone. But it may not be that good for the Iraqi people, or for us. Who knows? But it's tremendous.

ON THE DEATH PENALTY: I'm against it. Well, I used to be. Now I don't like it most of the time, but sometimes I am for it. Sure, innocent guys could be put to death, but letting those guys...err, letting bad guys kill 12-year-old girls would be worse. So I started being sort of for it in 1994, now I'm even more for it, even though I'm not really that for it.

ON BUDGET DEFICITS: They're bad, but you don't have to cut anything to fix 'em, you just need to stop raising things. Oh, and maybe raise the retirement age a year. That's it, that's what I'm for, raising the retirement age, maybe.

ON GAY MARRIAGE: I support the Canadian law, unless lawyers say I can't. What do I believe in? Oh. Ummm, I believe we should grant people equal rights, but not necessarily have the government make laws to that effect, unless the Canadians do it first and then our lawyers say we should follow suit.

ON THE MILITARY: It will take a long time for an alliance of lesser powers to come together to challenge the United States. That is, unless George Bush keeps doing what he's doing, and then it could happen faster. Under a Dean presidency, I'd make the military really strong, the strongest, but not so strong that we threaten other countries into forming an alliance against us. But I would definitely do it different than the current Administration, for sure, except insofar as I would make us strong, like they are doing, but just not quite as strong.

ON TEMPERAMENT: I did not apologize to those other Dems. I might have said, "I'm sorry," but I never said, "I apologize."

Look, I latched onto Dean early because I thought he might be a Dem version of McCain. After yesterday, I think he's looking like Slick Willy II, minus the charisma and the skill.