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Oh, I agree completely that your example of (mis)using dashes is quite horrible. I'm not certain that I could have brought myself to create it!
I think it was the late William Allen White who advised would-be writers to always replace "very" in their manuscripts with "damn" -- because in his time editors would conscientiously delete the latter, but might not do so for the former. His point was that neither was necessary in most writing. Despite my example a few lines above, I think the same rule applies to the use of dashes!
@Hitch: Gregg's original question doesn't really provide enough context to let me determine whether it was seeking generic guidance, or extremely specific comments. Had I been answering it, in isolation, I would have said simply that the first version, with two commas, was my preference.
Were I a member of the grammar police, I would have muttered dire things about "comma fault."
With the later explanation that it was part of an internalized monologue, but with no knowledge of the character's persona, culture, or background, I would not have been able to offer meaningful comments. That's why I suggested the link to the "Grammar Blue Book" site as the most useful reference I know.
You can see that it's a much more complex problem than it appears at first glance! It's much more important that a character be self-consistent, than that his or her internal thought structure confirm to any specific set of external rules. A strict grammarian should be internally strict; an uneducated drifter might never follow accepted rules.
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