NYTimes:The Ex-extemporaneous Howard Dean

[DJcairo]

REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK
The Ex-extemporaneous Howard Dean
By JODI WILGOREN


DES MOINES, Sept. 14 — The pins have already started to penetrate.

Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont, laughed off criticism by his competitors for the Democratic presidential nomination this week by saying that he felt like a pincushion. Then he quietly began making tiny alterations to his standard stump speech, measuring facts and assertions twice before speaking.
President Bush's tax cuts, denounced by Dr. Dean for months as "$3 trillion" or, sometimes, "$3 trillion, including interest," became a $2.4 trillion cut, plus $600 billion in interest, during a rally on Friday in Plymouth, N.H. The 91 percent of new mothers in Vermont who used to get home visits within two or three weeks now get visits "mostly in their homes, some in doctors' offices," within three or four. And when Dr. Dean told supporters at the Bektash Temple in Concord, N.H., on Friday that his campaign had 150,000 donors and the next-best number was 20,000, he slipped in a "that I know of," just in case.

The changes, perceptible perhaps only to the aides and reporters who trail him, show a subtle but significant shift for a candidate who sells himself as unscripted. After a week of accusations that he chooses terms carelessly or says different things at different times, Dr. Dean is now balancing his shoot-from-the-hip instinct with his place in a national spotlight where enemies and observers, armed with Internet research tools and digital video recorders, parse every word.

"If I can use precise language," he explained Friday, "I now do if I can."

Ouch, Another Pinprick . . .

Or, if he remembers to.

One of the sharpest pins yet came on Friday from Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, who compared Dr. Dean to Newt Gingrich, the architect of the Republican revolution in 1994, for assailing Medicare and Social Security in the 1990's. At a news briefing at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire, Dr. Dean called the comparison "a sad end" for Mr. Gephardt.

End of what? His campaign? His career?

But a statement issued at the same time from Dr. Dean's headquarters in Burlington, Vt., used the phrase "sad day" instead. An aide explained, "That's what he was supposed to say."

Supposed to? Turns out he had been prepped in a five-minute huddle with aides. He managed to hit the "politics of the past" line but muffed the "sad day" bit.

"I didn't know I said `end,' "Dr. Dean said. "From a Freudian point of view, you could have a lot of fun."
---
Dr. Dean retorted: "Where do you get that idea that I'm a strong supporter of Nafta? I didn't do anything about it. I didn't vote on it. I didn't march down the street supporting it. I wrote a letter supporting it."

At lunch on Saturday, he quibbled with another reporter, saying he was just a "supporter" of the trade bill, no adjectives necessary. But Dr. Dean was one of several governors scheduled to attend a White House signing ceremony on the trade bill in 1993 (he said he cannot remember if he made it), and in 1995, on the very same ABC News program, Dr. Dean said, "I was a very strong supporter of Nafta," according to a transcript.

http://nytimes.com/2003/09/15/politics/campaigns/15DEAN.html?pagewanted=2

[ProfessorPlum]

1. It's amazing how the scripts play out, precisely on schedule

Everyone said now that Dean is the presumed front-runner, all attacks would be aimed at him (from the press, from the other Democrats, from the Republicans) and lo and behold, it happens.

So much else is predictable, too - with Dean in the presumed front runner position, it benefits other candidates to try to juxtapose themselves with him (Kerry asking for a 1-on-1 debate) (just as Dean framed the race as really between himself and Kerry months ago, when Kerry was the presumed front-runner). And just as predictably, for Dean as the presumed front-runner that kind of pairing makes no sense; he has nothing to gain and everything to lose.

If the scrutiny tightens up Dean's speech, then that's a great thing and a credit to him for being able to meet new demands. It's similar to the way the other candidates are now aggressively bashing Bush, showing they can shift gears in response to Dean. I'm glad they can all learn from better examples.

[wtmusic]

3. 'Scripts' is an apt metaphor

One reason Dean appeals to so many is his off the cuff style. I'd actually rather see him get caught in a contradiction once in a while than speak in scripted cliches like everyone else.

[DrFunkenstein]

5. There Was An Article In The Boston Globe (Herald?)

Saying that all of this was a legitimate part of the election process, testing the front-runner's ability to handle intense pressure. I guess it is kind of like frat hazing (isn't that illegal these days?), but it also toughens up the competition for the onslaught that is $200 million dollars in Republican smear.

It's gonna take a thick skin.

[AP]

6. It's actually helping the others hone their messages in contrast to Dean

and, interestingly, giving them preparation for running against Bush by being confronted with a Democrat in the primaries who seems to have some of the same foibles, a (very) few of the same policies, and many of the same bullet points in his biography.

[thinkahead]

7. Edwards is the son of a millworker

in case you hadn't heard, which makes him uniquely qualified to be President

[AP]

8. Clinton was the son of a dead man and single mom and he beat a Bush.

Don't underestimate the power and importance of the biography in the mind of the average voter (especially the average Democratic voter who doesn't believe that there's a class of people entitled to rule by the privileges of wealth and being well-born.

[renie408]

13. Yes, you are EXACTLY right

Because the son of a millworker who has the brains, the dedication and the balls to work himself through college and law school and then build a multi-million dollar law practice is a helluva sight more qualified than someone who was raised with a silver spoon in their mouth to understand what it takes for the vast majority of Americans to get through their day. And if you add to the fact that his father was a millworker that he managed to win a Senate seat against a Republican incumbent in a largely Republican state and that he has been sitting on the Senate Intelligence committee and that he has generated some smart, DOABLE plans for baling us out of the mess we are in both at home and abroad, then I think he is the MOST uniquely qualified candidate running. I realize that none of that is anything like running one of the smallest, whitest, wealthiest states in the country, but hey, it works for me.

[dsc]

15. Yea same bio alright

Dean and Bush were both born rich, lost a sibling, and had problems with booze. But lets dig deeper. Dean got into med school without his dad's help. His dad didn't even know he applied. The contrast with Bush is stunning. Dean quit drinking at 31 with no legal consequences (ie DUI's). Bush at 40 (supposedly) and he had at least one DUI. Dean actually won all his elections and had no political family to fall back on. Bush well not exactly. Dean worked a summer on a ranch with Cuban emigrees, had a black college roommate (his choosing), did residency in the Bronx (I think there were a few minorities there and a whole lot of poor people), tutored in inner city Hartford, and gave gays and lesbians more rights in VT than they have anywhere. Bush well not even close. So how are they the same again?

[ProfessorPlum]

17. I would love some of those links

dsc - I know alot about Dean but obviously not as much of the good stuff as I should. If you can steer me towards them I'd be much obliged.

[dsc]

18. Remind me via PM

I have to shower and go to work. I know the Cuban thing was on This Week, the Bronx thing was on K Street, and that there was a NY Times magazine article that profiled him which mentioned the black roommate, the tutoring, the residency in the Bronx. Again please remind me and I will try to find that this evening.

[Nazgul35]

37. lol....

duck!!!

:evilgrin:

[renie408]

12. Attacks

Are ok. It's hard to be President. If somebody isn't going to be able to stay on message and stand up to the kind of pressure it takes to make it through being a frontrunner, they aren't going to be able to make it as President. If Dean starts to crack now, then it is part of the weeding out process.

To be honest with you, I think it is an encouraging sign that he is learning to moderate his language. That has been one of my biggest issues with him. Bush 'shoots from the hip', I would prefer somebody who didn't really 'shoot' at all.

[arcos]

2. nevermind...

it is an article. I'm sorry. :hi:

[Old and In the Way]

4. Hey Jodi

Bite me.

You guys are not getting away with this shit again. When you start holding this moron who stole the Presidency to task for his outright lies and totally butchering of the English language, then I will get upset about minor nuances in Dean's or any other Democrat's speech.

[Andromeda]

9. Kiss my *ss...

Do you stay up all night trying to come up with bad things to say about Dean? Do you hold the other candidate's feet to the fire the way you do Dean's? If he wasn't the frontrunner would the fact that he made a contradictory statement bother you that much? I think not.

Most of us here want to get rid of that sonofabitch living in the White House. Maybe you should be directing your vitriol to him and not one of our candidates. Any one of them would be better than Bush.

Enough of this flamebait crap! I should have known better than to have gotten sucked into this *hit.

[chimpymustgo]

10. Why do you guys go apeshit over a slightly critical news story about Dean

Listen to yourselves. Man. Get a grip!

[w4rma]

11. Why do you guys latch on to every anti-Dean article?

Listen to *yourselves*. Man. Get a grip!

[deutsey]

16. Yeah, it's getting old

I honestly don't mind hearing criticisms of Dean (there are, actually, some legitimate gripes that I agree with); it's the apparent fixation some people here have with tarring Dean with any negative thing they can find that's so annoying.

I mean, I see negative reports on Kerry in the news, such as this one from this Dave Berry column:

http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/story/7414707p-8357884c.html

"I will support whoever is, even if it is Sen. John Kerry, who once came, with his entourage, into a ski-rental shop in Ketchum, Idaho, where I was waiting patiently with my family to rent snowboards, and Sen. Kerry used one of his lackeys to flagrantly barge in line ahead of us and everybody else, as if he had some urgent senatorial NEED for a snowboard, like there was about to be an emergency meeting, out on the slopes, of the Joint Halfpipe Committee."

Of course, I refrained from posting this, which just goes to show what a swell guy I am. :evilgrin:

[blm]

20. It's been posted several times already.

It doesn't matter to anyone that Dean has misrepresented the other candidates and his own record to get ahead?

You think the GOP doesn't have EVERY lie or misspoken detail catalogued?

[deutsey]

23. Sigh n/t

.

[dsc]

24. Oh really?

Care to find one time. I am a pretty avid reader of DU. If you had said it had been posted once or a few times I wouldn't be saying this. But you used several. I literally never heard of his. Incidently I find it irrelevant. But you claim it has been posted several times. I would like a cite of at least one time.

[deutsey]

31. It is irrelevant

I was trying to be funny (you know, about what a great guy I am for not posting Berry's snippet about Kerry, but posting it anyway), but it apparently didn't come across that way.

I think the incident Berry recalls isn't something in the normal course of debate that I would mention. I intentionally chose something from a humorist that was only really an aside in the larger column to show how some people are seeking out any little negative thing they can find and blaring it over this forum.

[blm]

35. Sure, here's one

and this wasn't even the first one I saw here. But, nice way to distract from the REAL point, which is that Deanies don't care about how Dean misrepresents himself and the other candidates as long as he steps on them to get ahead. How Republican.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=11129

[deutsey]

38. I did a search and I could only find three threads

including this one and the one you cite.

I did a search for "snowboard" and for "dave berry".

:shrug:

[blm]

43. His name is Dave Barry

.

[deutsey]

44. Well, now nothing comes up with a search

when I do one for "Dave Barry". Not even this thread. "Snowboard" comes up, though.

Well, now this thread does. :shrug:

[dsc]

40. Your implication

was that Kerry bashers had trashed the board with that nonsense. You it should be noted brought this up. You found one, someone else found three. I will conceed that is sort of several.

[renie408]

14. In the defense of the Dean supporters

They are probably on overload. The hits just keep on coming and I think that anybody would get jumpy after awhile.

[chimpymustgo]

19. Okay, Renie. There has been a lot of stuff out there.

But IMO, the Dean campaign is not dealing with it well, nor are his supporters.
Welcome to the big time.

[dsc]

21. You are an Edwards supporter, right?

I want you to honestly think for a long time before anwering this post. Ask yourself what the ratio is between your anti Dean posts and your pro Edwards ones. Think long and hard before answering that (BTW you are no where near the worst offender on this score). Then ask yourself what that ratio says about you, your candidate, and Dean as you evidently view them. Until Renie started posting them I have seen very few pro Edwards threads. Frankly that is a shame. There are more than a few others who need this question more but you happened to be first.

[DrFunkenstein]

27. Most Pro-Candidate Threads Disappear Quickly

Because no one wants to debate them. If you don't have a score of supporters bumping up a positive thread to cheerlead, it will die a quick death.

[dsc]

30. In GD I agree with you

but here I tend to make sure to go far enough back to see threads I missed. Unless I am off for several days that is a page or two tops. And I haven't really seen pro Edwards threads which is an honest shame. I don't know much about him and haven't learned much here either.

[DrFunkenstein]

34. I Posted One Last Night Actually

TNR had some really nice things to say about Edwards, so I started a thread.

[renie408]

42. Hold up

I post pro-Edwards stuff every day. E-V-E-R-Y D-A-Y. Ok, every day I can get on here. Some days I have the time to be here off and on for hours, others I can't get here at all. I try to make up for days I miss. Yesterday, I posted at least three pro-Edwards posts. Some of them die really quickly, though. I try to go back and answer everybody who replies to them to keep them alive. It is my own little effort to campaign for my guy. I know you mentioned that I was posting pro-Edwards, so you know about them. If you take time to read them, you can learn a lot about him.

[dsc]

45. If you are going to lecture people about reading

you may try doing so yourself. I specificly said execpt for threads by Renie etc.

[renie408]

48. Chill out

If you didn't have this whole "Me and Howie Against the World" thing going on, you would have read my post in the 'Aw shucks' way I meant it. I was responding to where you said that you didn't know enough about Edwards because there wasn't much positive stuff posted about him. I acknowledged that you wrote that you had seen my posts, but since you also said something along the lines of 'its sad that I don't know much good stuff about him', I figured that while you saw them, you didn't read them.

[dsc]

50. fair enough

I did see and read your threads though. I still though know less about him than any of the four leaders and Kucinich as well. It isn't all him as I don't live in his neck of the woods and he has a short career.

[renie408]

51. I think

that with all of the candidates, at this point we have to LOOK for the information. I wouldn't know much about the candidates unless I kept having to backtrack all the stuff I read here to check it out. And I still have some pretty glaring holes, like thinking that Kerry's loophole stuff sounded like it came from Edwards.

I am sort of working at this backwards from some of the rest of you. I was not politically interested, other than to vote the opposite of my parents for awhile, until Edwards caught my eye. From my interest in him, an slow interest in national politics as a whole is developing. So while I know a good bit about Edwards, I am a little spotty on everybody else.

Speaking of which, I keep forgetting to start a post asking where Clark is on the issues.....

[dsc]

52. lots of luck

I have tried that (Clark). I think we will have to wait until after his announcement to get his postions on issues instead of those of his supporters. He says good things but they are mostly platitudes and I want some details.

[renie408]

53. *wink*

Yeah, I know.

[chimpymustgo]

32. Heavens, it's not even close. I post lots of Edwards articles.

I have posted ONE Dean thread ever, as I recall, though I do jump in to some of the discussions - usually not the more inflammatory ones, because the wrath of the Deanies (some, not all) is more than I can bear sometimes.

I posted a lot on Dean since the debate last week, after his lie about being the "only white politician talking about race to white audiences."

That was an affront to Edwards, who has made race relations and equality a central theme of his campaign. And Dean is really setting a pattern of shooting from the lip - and saying things that are patently untrue.

But to point them out, is to be called a Dean basher by some. To suggest that Dean is not the savior of the Democratic party is to be considered a Dean basher by some.

There are numerous Dean threads on this board, because of his popularity here at DU. It's going to cut both ways. But Dean has to be able to stand up to the light of day - and to criticism.

[dsc]

47. If our wrath is so bad

how come virtually no Dean trashers, but by the admitence of a very pro Kerry poster, several Kerry bashers have been thrown of DU? I keep hearing that we are this evil cabal who run DU but again I can think of very few Dean bashers who have been banned and several Kerry ones who have.

[renie408]

49. I guess its like Funk (?) keeps trying to convince us

That Kerry is such a wild man that he must attract those wild, biker, fringe types.

Isn't it Funk that posts those "Scary, wild man Kerry" posts?? I get such a kick out of those.

[DrFunkenstein]

22. Dean Supporters Are Extremely Thin-Skinned

I dealt with months of bashing Kerry on IWR. Do you know how many times I've heard Kerry called pro-war?

Something I've noticed is that angry people in general tend to be thin-skinned. There is a difference between anger and indignation that I don't think alot of people around here observe.

Learn to deal with adversity, folks.

I have much more respect for the Kucinich people who know they are battling impossible odds, deal with constant attacks about relevancy, and keep fighting strong for what they believe in. They don't expect DU to look like a Kucinich blog. I don't expect a Kerry blog. In fact, I stay here instead of the Kerry blog precisely for that reason.

This is not a Sacramento Bee article. This is from the NYTimes, the most read newspaper in the world. I'm sorry if you feel this doesn't merit a thread, but I think it does.

<>

[deutsey]

26. No we're not, you @(*U$#)((%$_@!

:evilgrin:

I'm not thin-skinned at all; I can't speak for others here on DU, but the Dean supporters I know from Meetups etc., are energized to organize and to get people to vote. We, of course, want to let people know why we support Dean, but our main concern is to get people to register to vote and then to vote.

In fact, one of my Meetup people this weekend was flyering at a county fair, and giving out voter reg. forms as well. She was excited that so many people wanted to hear about Dean, but she was even more blown away by Republicans wanting voter forms so they could change their party affiliation and by people who weren't registered at all wanting to register (and register Dem, of course).

That's why I take a lot of the stuff posted here with more than a few grains of salt. I get exasperated and snippy at times, but for the most part my head clears when I get offline and do the real legwork of democracy out in my community.

It's a great way to thicken your skin, especially the skin of your feet (lots of standing around handing stuff out and all that).

[DrFunkenstein]

29. Absolutely Agreed

I think the Dean people have done an excellent job of organizing grassroots. Many of them need to work on dealing with people that disagree, but they have really been outstanding in getting the message out.

[babzilla]

46. Now that you mention it, where are the Kerry people?

I know that you are a Kerry blogger so maybe you can explain why his campaign hasn't organized more boots on the ground. What I want to know is where are the Kerry people out in the real-world? I have tabled for Dean at a couple of events and the only other candidate with a presence was Kucinich.

It seems that the Kerry campaign has failed to realize that a lot of states have moved their primaries up which means that the traditional campaign cycle has been moved up as well. Why haven't the Kerry people adjusted their strategy to reflect this?

[deutsey]

54. As far as I can tell, we (i.e., Dean camp) are the only Dems organizing

in my part of Maryland (Eastern Shore). Other Dem candidate groups may be here, but we haven't seen them yet. I did hear that the Greens are trying to make inroads around here as well.

Dean groups are also active in Annapolis, Baltimore, Montgomery County, Frederick, Hagerstown, and Glen Burnie. They have large Meetup groups and lots of volunteer involvment in flyering at fairs and other community events/places. Voter registration is also a big emphasis of my group.

We're hoping to flyer/voter reg. this weekend in Ocean City at Sunfest, but Hurricane Isabel may have other plans.

[dsc]

28. I looked at every post in this thread

There are at most three which fit your description above and I would definately dispute one of those. Seems you are over generalizing as you often do. Note I haven't uttered a word about this thread. I think the story is trivial and I think post 6 is more directed to the NYT than to the poster. I find it hard to believe this is one of the couple hundred (at most) most important stories of the day.

[DrFunkenstein]

33. This is The Politics and Campaigns Forum

So in general the "most important" stories are going to be whatever the major media are saying about the candidates. This is not Adam Nagourney, it's just an editorial, but it still merits attention. I don't think that every editorial merits a thread, but I think stuff from the NYTimes, the Washington Post, and the National Enquirer deserve some extra consideration.

[dsc]

41. Maybe I need to be clearer

My problem is with the NYT not you. I think the NYT which maybe prints two hundred stories a day should use better judgement.

[Rose Siding]

36. The NYT printed the Kerry cheesesteak piece too

I even wrote them about it. Any Kerryans going to bat for Dean on this one? Ha!

This article has nothing original in it. The lazy author is using the same nitpicky, parsing from the last few news cycles. We've seen this tactic used before against Dems. I remember, anyway. If the entire body of "offenses" rose to the level of any one of the dozens of Bush offenses, it might be a concern.

This crap is hardly worth a skim but once several lazy journalists get it going it's all they'll know how to talk about among themselves.

How does this make ALL of us losers? Well...what will the public learn about your candidate? Are there national reports of what your candidate is doing today? The direction of his campaign? How about the others?

It is a gossip fest and nothing more.

[ProfessorPlum]

25. The argument could be made

(in fact, has been made) that the "attacks" on Dean are actually a good thing, in that they will strengthen him as a candidate.

If someone attacks him with a falsehood, we get to see how Dean and his campaign respond to a false attack, before the GOP starts making them.

If someone jabs him with a pointed policy question, we get to see how he does with that.

If someone dredges up a 30-year-old issue about his past views versus his current views, we get to see that also (Karl Rove no doubt has people working on that right now).

Already it seems that Dean is tightening up his language, which has been a big complaint about him that some people have. By showing he can respond to new challenges, Dean is showing he can rise to them, so unlike the cynical spin in this author's article, I see it as a good thing. If Dean couldn't rise above his shortcomings, change his behavior as warranted, modify his campaign as problems arose, then he would be a bad candidate to go up against Bush.

I won't go so far as to say the Lieberman and Kerry campaigns are deliberately doing Dean a favor by attacking him - they are, after all, ready to step into the lead should Dean falter - but I would argue that the PROCESS itself is a healthy one and makes our eventual nominee stronger.

If Dean's response to the pressure turns people off, we want to know that now, before Rove starts going after him. I think he will do fine, personally.

[kang]

39. I totally agree

I read that NY Times article this morning and I didn't think it was anti-Dean at all. After all, it's been discussed quite bit out here that as a result of Dean's admirable straight talking he sometimes forgets to take a second and fully think through his answers. I'm guessing that getting asked millions of questions on hundreds of positions every day takes some getting used to and it's encouraging to know that he's evolving as a candidate.

It only helps him with undecided Dems that he is sharpening his message and increasing his ability to avoid stupid "gotcha" Russert-type attacks that we all know Rove will try if Dean gets the nomination.

For good news about Dean, TNR noted that he's been a real leader in mental health care reform. http://www.tnr.com/primary/

Of course, they've been slamming him for the last week on other stuff, but everybody's has gotten their licks on that site.