So, let me get this right about the Dean Scream.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

Howard Dean's giving a speech in front of a large, partisan crowd. It's a noisy room, so he gets louder to overcome the noise. Later, TV news runs the footage, cuts the background noise, so there appears to be no reason for the candidate's volume, and suddenly Dean's campaign is in the ditch. Who writes this stuff?
Did anyone hear Roger Ailes' comment on Fox's near-constant broadcasts of the tape. 'I guess we overplayed it a bit, as the public showed when they opted to keep him alive for another round'. Could that be more brazen?

[gWbush is Mabus]

1. It was a fucking assasination of Howard Dean

I urge all Dean supporters to donate to his campaign TODAY!!!

He needs us now more than ever.



The media conglomerates NEED to be broken up, or democracy as we know it is doomed.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

3. We've had a few days to analyse the whole thing, and it was a set-up job

Something is rotten in the state of TV news.

[sybylla]

15. Totally agree

Assination via media. I donated about half an hour ago and urge Dean supporters to do the same. We cannot let the media get away with this.

Been to many a rally and saw no different behavior than was played over and over again. No other candidate has been subject to this kind of scruitiny - yet. The time to stop it is now.

[theboss]

2. I saw it live

It was pretty crazy in the moment.

[Snivi Yllom]

22. you could not hear the scream in the audience

according to the ABC piece last night becasue the crowd was so loud and riled up. Dean's mic filtered out the crowd noise.

He was done in by the mic and the media playing the misrepresentative audio channel over and over.

[Skip Intro]

4. That's about it. I just wonder..

if it was the media's idea to politically assasinate Deans campaign, or if they were taking orders, and from whom.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

5. Maybe it's common practice to mute background sound on reports

from campaign events, but the coincidences are just piling up here. We're going to get coincindenced to death if we're not careful.

[NNN0LHI]

6. He came in a distant third place in Iowa before the "scream" n/t

[Screaming Lord Byron]

7. True, but what I'm getting at is a deliberate set-up.

It'll be your candidate next, then the next guy. This appears to be the new rules of the game.

[theboss]

9. Set-up?

The media made Dean lose his shit while they aired it live?

Look, I've seen hundreds of concession speeches. The only one that compares to Dean's in terms of "What the fuck?" is Nixon's in the '62 Governor's race.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

11. I've seen two versions of the speech, edited and unedited.

In the unedited, before the background sound is dropped - the real volume of the room, Dean is shouting to be heard over a loud crowd. In the edited tape, the crowd sounds are muted, and Dean sounds like he's ranting. The difference is profound.

[Tesha]

10. This, of course, is PRECISELY what many Dean supporters were saying...

True, but what I'm getting at is a deliberate set-up.
It'll be your candidate next, then the next guy. This
appears to be the new rules of the game.

This, of course, is *PRECISELY* what many Dean supporters were
trying to say here on this board as Dr. Dean came under unfair
attack after unfair attack. Many here, though, because the attacks
were hurting Dean and (by definition) helping their candidate(s),
chose to turn a blind eye to what was going on or even to help
promote what was going on.

But, as has always been the case, "what goes around comes
around" and these folks are about to be taught that lesson
in a very dramatic fashion.

Perhaps their too-late education will now be bought at a
too-dear price?

Tesha

[NNN0LHI]

12. Of course all the candidates will go through this kind of stuff

That is a gimme. The winner will weather the attacks and go on to be our next president. That is how it works.

Don

[Nazgul35]

16. considering how wishy-washy most Dems are...

and how loyal most Dean supporters are....

I don't think any other candidate could survive four months of what Dean went through, followed by the constant playing of the scream!!!

Good luck, cause between March and Nov....you are going to see such a shit storm unleashed...the Repugs are going to pull out all the stops...

1) Withdraw the troops and tell everyone it was a success...and they will believe it, cause the media will say so...

2) Manipulate the economy to produce false economic performance for the short term that will cost us in the long term...

3) Spend $500,000,000 all across the US to undermine the eventual Dem candidate (and the current front runner is a very juicy target for all the reasons thrown at Dean times ten!)

4) Manipulate the electoral process through BBV!!! After all, there were some weird results in NH and no one here gives a damn....so why should we when it gets done to us in spades in Nov.!

Unfortuiately, due to the focus of everyone who was not a Dean supporter on Dean, we now have three candidates who have not even approached the level of torching that Dean went through and we are sending them into the jaws of the machine untested!!! If anything, it is a testiment to Dean that he in fact finished third in Iowa, second in NH and is very close to Kerry in electoral delegates....

You need to ask yourselves would your candidate be in a similar position had they experienced the same level of attack...and be honest with yourselves....

I make an honorable mention to all you Clark supporters out there who have gone through, while not at the same level of Dean's attack, very similar and should the General succeed in the South, the shit storm will be coming your way!

May god have mercy on your souls!!!!!

[SlavesandBulldozers]

8. i was out of the loop

and only saw the video yesterday. Still trying to figure out what the big deal is. It seems those who wish Dean to fail miserably are really reaching. If this is all they can do, so what.

That being said, if emotion is going to be nitpicked by the media, maybe we should pick Kerry after all. Or we could just field a a very large rock.

[auntpattywatty]

13. PLEASE don't let the media choose our candidate - Dean has not done

ANYTHING bad. Stop and think about it - if we didn't get media hype, we would not have a negative opinion - again, stop and give it some real thought.

Anybody that has strayed from Dean, come back home. We need you, and our nation must have Dean if we want to win against Bush.

[ewagner]

14. It's even worse than you portrayed

The media is trying to pick our candidate for us.

They are doing the hatchet job to others also (I won't get into who because I want to remain objective.) The point is the "news" media is narrowing our field for us and I don't think it's happening by coincidence.

[cthrumatrix]

21. bingo...!

[MercutioATC]

17. Personally, when they pull the same thing with Kerry, I'm gonna LAUGH...

Seeing how his supporters here have been so eager to pick the bones the media left, I'm going to have zero sympathy when Kerry gets the same treatment.

That aside, I still support Dean because I feel he has the best chance to make substantive changes.

[deutsey]

26. It isn't going to be a laughing matter, but Rove's gonna eat Kerry alive

I'll bet you anything they're going to smear him with this photo of Kerry with Daniel Ortega (as we've learned from the "scream" speech, context means nothing to the media or the public):



And they're already tarring him as a "Massachusetts liberal":
http://www.gop.org/News/Read.aspx?Id=3412

I for one won't be laughing at all when they go after Kerry. Assuming he'll be the nominee (and I'm not conceding he will right now), I'm hoping he'll be able to fight back hard against crap like this. Bush and Rove knocked McCain out (and this man was a POW, for God's sake).

I hope for all of our sakes that Kerry, should he get the nomination, will be prepared to deflect the garbage that the GOP is going to throw at him.

[MercutioATC]

27. I don't think they even NEED ammunition. Kerry can't really attack

them on anything except the economy. He's not going to attack them on education after his NCLB vote. He's not going to attack them on civil liberties after his Patriot Act vote. He's not going to attack them on the war after his IWR vote. He's got the economy. Period. I don't think it's enough to win.

[deutsey]

28. I agree

And I heard economists on KPFA recently saying if Democrats are hoping to run against Bush on the economy, they may be surprised to find they don't have an issue when the economy most likely continues to improve.

[sinkingfeeling]

18. ABC has done a story to 'retract' the video...seen it about 3

times, from last nights's World News to GMA this morning. They have tapes from the floor with all of the noise and shouting and you can't even hear Dean on these!! Anyone who would change their opinion of Dean based on this deceit had better think again. I'm still undecided, but have been defending Dean's 'yell' all week!!

[Doctor_J]

19. From a Clarkie

The moment looked very un-presidential to me. Howard was my third choice behind Clark and Edwards. Now I don't even have a third choice.

As you know, the modern national political campaigns are approx. 75/25 style/substance. I had the creeping feeling before IA, and it was borne out that night, that Howard does not present presidentially. I agree with him pretty much right down the line on issues, and LOVE his spirit, but no amount of mental gymastics enabled me to picture him looking comfortable in presidential situations - state dinners, press conferences, tours and meetings in foreign countries. I just find him to be lacking in gravitas or whatever you want to call it.

Anyway, the current resident of the OO is a whiny, drunken, illiterate moron - the least presidential person I can think of - so this may be off base, but my main reason for working/spending for Clark is that I find him the MOST presidential of our candidates. They're all good on policy, would all be at least 100 times better than Rove, but I, and I think alot of Americans, want someone of whom we can be proud when he's in public. IMO, that's where Dean comes up short.

[ShimokitaJer]

23. I think that's the point

The way the clip was broadcast made him look less presidential. In fact, ABC News has admitted that the portrayal was biased and made Dean look worse than the reality of the situation.

This isn't about whether Dean or Clark is more presidential. This is about the media focusing on deceptive footage that makes a candidate -- ANY candidate -- look bad. It's not about style over substance... it's about manipulation of the "style" by the news media.

[Snivi Yllom]

20. ABC did a piece on this last night

Sort of an oooops, the mic was too loud, sorry about your campaign.
Bastards.

[Rhiannon12866]

24. I think the coverage of Dean's scream was way over the top

He yelled, so he is not electable? This is just nutty. I am a Kucinich supporter, more's the pity, but I think that criticizing Dean for this is just silly. We need to find a candidate who can defeat George Bush*, period. Dean's scream is certainly more defensible than the lies we have received from the Bush* administration for three years and I would vote for Dean in a heartbeat over Bush*, given the choice.:shrug:

[NewYorkerfromMass]

25. So where was the graceful concession to Kerry and Edwards?

That's what was missing. Dean had an opportunity to look 'Presidential' and he missed it.

What could have been a moment to win new support turned into a high school pep rally. Dean says he was doing it for all the kids in that room, but that shows his lack of proportion and foresight. He impusivley reacted to the environment he was in, instead of projecting the air most people want to see in a President. Apparently most all Dean people saw the man they know and love on that Iowa stage, but as the polls show, that is nowhere near most Democratic primary voters.

[foo_bar]

29. why would they broadcast background noise?

No one could listen to a rally on an omnidirectional mic. Dean knew he was wired, unless he forgot, and there's no "off the record" in journalism.

[DjTj]

30. It was FUNNY!

...Personally, it didn't change my opinion of Howard Dean, because it was completely in line with the shouting, "You have the power!" at the end of many of his other speeches. He fires people up, and that's his greatest strength.

However, you have to admit that the way it was portrayed was pretty funny. I don't know how you can not laugh when you see what the late-night shows did with that clip.

I don't see any vast conspiracy. It makes me laugh and it made a lot of other people laugh too. The votes came back in NH; the change in votes there has more to do with the Iowa results than the scream. If anything, it got more people paying attention and I don't know if I could say there was a positive or negative in terms of solid votes.

(as an Edwards supporter, I like to complain that Edwards got almost no coverage in the week leading up to NH because the stories were 1. Dean Scream and 2. Kerry won Iowa)