Dean’s inarticulate yell may be costing him support. People were a bit put off by Dean’s adolescent screaming in Iowa Monday night and some supporters are beginning to waver.
Dean calls it a cry of passion. (Ugh, what an image.) But other people said it smacked of immaturity. Former Sen. Alan Simpson said: “He looked like a prairie dog on speed.” Even people on the official Dean blog were put off:
“Tonight, after the caucus results, Dean gave his speech to the troops. Yes, he was over the top, but he wasn’t speaking to America, he was speaking to us, the Deaniacs,” one writer penned. “Having said that, I feel I must say this. . . . He should never broadcast a speech like that again. Never. Ever. Again.”
Of course, the partisans don’t find anything wrong with it: “Bob Scipione, 66, a retired biochemist of Bedford and a committed Dean supporter, offered this explanation: ‘The man has to be out of control to beat Bush.’” Is that what we really want from the guy with his finger on the button? To be emotionally unstable?
What I find even more interesting is that the media are highlighting it. I think Dean is sinking and the field is more wide open than it’s been in months. Dean, Kerry, and Clark have to be considered equal now with Edwards waiting to pounce when the primary trail heads South. This should all be very interesting in the next few weeks.
In a conversation with two moderately liberal co-workers, they thought the incident as nutty as I did.
It’s easy to switch candidates so Dean better watch out, he’ll retain the retired crazy professors and homo-marriage advocates but most others will clear out quickly.
In an interview last night on Channel 7 with Andy Hiller he appeared heavily sedated to me.
As South Carolina rolls around watch for that key phrase “homo marriage” (hint, hint, hint: not so popular among Afro-Americans, Southerners, Christians and combinations thereof)
Hasn’t this guy always been shrill? I mean “passionate”? Why should last night be any different?
From [url=http://www.blogforamerica.com]http://www.blogforamerica.com[/url]
“That MSNBC poll out today is so far from the truth that it shouldn’t even be shown by broadcast media.
But that’s ok. The poll just stirs up a hornet’s nest of Iowa Deaniacs to work even harder to spread Dr. Dean’s progressive message of American prosperity across the state.
FELLOW DEAN SUPPORTERS. BE ENCOURAGED. VICTORY IN IOWA IS AT HAND.
Posted by Robert Gurganus at January 15, 2004 05:51 PM”
Be encourage, your candidate is a boob.
In reality, I think it’s the moment at which Dean illustrated for us what many people have been saying all along: that his over-the-top, Angry Man schtick was unpresidential and would turn people off eventually.
Dom:
Part of why I initially reacted in an unsurprised manner to the speech when I saw it live (I’m a night editor at a daily paper) is that, apart from the embarrassing Captain Caveman yell, there was *nothing* in Dean’s Monday night speech that was new—either stylistically or substantively—or contrary to how he got where he had been. If Dean flames out, this night will be cited as the reason—he fumbled a defining moment—the first caucus night—when the TV audience is more than political junkies and activists. In other words, his act had been playing to the choir but was revealed as not ready for prime time.
Victor:
I should clarify that by “saw it live,” I mean saw it on TV in real time, rather than seeing it in person.