On the Net, even if only 100 people in the whole world are interested in something, they can get together and discuss it more easily than 100 people in Bloomington can do it live. Hugh Hewitt perceptively points out in the Weekly Standard that as a result, those 100 people on the Net can forget how tiny a minority they are.

The nuttiest 1 percent of the American electorate is going to number around 1 million voters. Gather those people in one place, let them talk to each other and cheer each other on, and they are going to begin to assume that their 1 percent is much more numerous than it is, much more powerful, much more authentic than the 99 percent not at the rally.

This appears to be happening among the Deaniacs. They believe themselves to be far more numerous than they are, and to think that their self- referential assurances of virtue and victory carry weight beyond their chat rooms.

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