"Burned by the Spotlight." CJR interview with Dean about the media.

[madfloridian]

I thoroughly enjoyed this article. It is vintage Howard Dean. It is well done and fair.
http://www.cjr.org/issues/2004/5/hall-dean.asp

SNIP..."He seemed to swoop in from nowhere. But the unvarnished outsider named Howard Dean galvanized young voters with his antiwar message and Internet organizing blitz. By the Democratic primary season, the former Vermont governor had raised a record $41 million and emerged as the front-runner. And his unexpected success made him a media sensation.

Then the spotlight burned him. By February, the media were questioning his temperament. He was dubbed “prickly,” “hotheaded,” “abrasive,” and “arrogant.” Numerous articles questioned his electability....."

Q:"Why do you think your campaign caught fire with voters?
Was it your antiwar stance?

DEAN:"I think it was my willingness to say what I thought was right. My stance on the war got me attention, but it was also my willingness to challenge President Bush, to say the emperor had no clothes when all the other Democrats were making for the closet.

Q:.."The pundits were all saying that it was suicide to go up against George W. Bush, or to be antiwar. Isn’t that correct?"

DEAN:.."I don’t pay any attention to the pundits."

AND I remember this well:
DEAN:....:"The other day somebody asked me about the role of Al Gore in my campaign, and I said, “Al Gore’s endorsement turned out to be the beginning of the end because it gave everybody else the sense that we were going to win and they redoubled their efforts and started to work together to take us down.” That was played in several major papers as DEAN BLAMES GORE FOR DEFEAT!"

[MercutioATC]

1. And THAT'S why I voted for him in the primary...

"I think it was my willingness to say what I thought was right."

Damn straight.

[bigwillq]

10. That's why I came to love Dean

He had the balls to say what he felt.
His words and actions truly represented how I feel as a 20-something American.

Dean spoke the truth and Americans don't like the truth.

Many people say Dean made a lot of mistakes during his downfall.

I don't think he made any mistakes at all.

He stayed truly genuine throught his bid for the White House and for that I will always love, respect and admire Howard Dean.

[Eloriel]

15. And how I feel as a 50--something American

I do disagree with you though when you say "Americans don't like the truth." SOME AMericans can't handle the truth, but it's the media that doesn't like the truth.

I said from almost the very first time I ever saw him tht if the American people would be able to get his message mostly "unfiltered," he'd win in a landslide. Why? Because of his unbelievable common sense approach to things and his unvarnished truth.

However, that was not to be. The media not only filtered but "interpreted" and did their job of parroting negative talking points from others, including our own, oh-so-beloved jerk candidate, John Kerry. John Kerry can't carry Howard's shoes.

[fudge stripe cookays]

2. I love Howie.

He changed my life.

But I realized today why I haven't checked the blog since March.

I was a psycho blogger; even went to the Bloggers Breakfast in Iowa to meet all the friends I'd made (the last bit-- our drive got lost and we were late).

There are still diehard Deaniacs who hate Kerry and badmouth every chance they get. And they all hang out there.

I was heartbroken in Iowa with what happened. I had to take almost a full 2 to 3 months off to garden and relax because I was so crushed. But even with Howard endorsing Kerry and everyone trying to pull together to accomplish this, they're still bitching about this or that thing that Kerry did.

They still don't get the fact that Howard threw his hat in the race to get rid of Bush. This was all to get rid of Bush.

I've got better things to do with my time. And fortunately, I've been doing them. <flamesuit firmly zipped>

FSC

[madfloridian]

3. You don't think I am one of those, do you?

I hope not. We donated to Kerry, and we are going to vote for him. However our interest and money are mainly going toward DFA and congressional candidates they support.

I don't go to the blog much, and I did not post this to start controversy about the bloggers there. Most of them work very very hard for Kerry, BTW.

I would never flame you, but I thought this was an excellent article about a man who has given this party a soul.

We are having a huge influence in our local party now, and that is a good thing. Before Dean arrived on the scene, this area was dead to Democrats. We have challenged them, and they are waking up.

[fudge stripe cookays]

5. Oh no no no!

I hope you didn't take it the wrong way.

This was definitely an excellent article. I'm glad you posted it. And I love all the good work Howie is still doing, every day. He's the best thing to happen to this party in years.

Even the people I know who didn't support Dean in the primaries KNOW that what he's done was amazing and that they owe him a LOT.

We've given to quite a few of the Dean Dozen. As I said, he changed my life. He gave us our hope back.

I guess I was a little sad at my visit to the blog and needed to vent. I was annoyed by the selfishness I saw there, still, even after Dean has made his feelings clear.

Sorry to hijack your thread, honestly.
FSC

[madfloridian]

7. That's ok. We feel the same way.

Everytime he appears on TV, my hubby gets choked up. He says he will never get over it. You know what it is, really. We really thought we could make a difference, but it will take longer.

We still will do it.

[fudge stripe cookays]

24. I know.

Talk to MoonbeamStarlight.

Her little girl was so upset when Dean dropped out that she decided to quit saying the pledge of allegiance at her school, thus opening a monumental bag of worms for our fellow DUer.

The way she told it, it was a funny story at our DFW dinner out back in May, but also pretty poignant when you think about it.

There we were, 3rd place, waving our little streamer sticks and screaming our hearts out, only to get back on our bus to Texas a day later to find that the world had tilted on its axis, and nothing was the same as it had been a few days earlier.

FSC

[Eloriel]

16. Yeah, but ya know what, fudge stripe?

I'll betcha Dean doesn't feel the same way you do about them. He has said so many times that the fact that HE is supporting Kerry doeesn't mean that he would be able to get his supporters to do the same, which I thought was SO incredibly respectful and Dean-like of all of us. He knew some of us would never be able to accept Kerry wholeheartedly. For some of us, the BEST anyone can hope for is our vote.

Maybe you're not real clear about this, but Howard isn't our candidate thanks in large part to Kerry's campaign dirty tricks. I'm not sure I can ever forgive him (or Gephardt or Edwards or Kucinich or Voinovich or Shaheen or the DLC or even the DNC, for that matter, along with a number of others) for how they brought Dean down, but if you can, terrific.

Yes, the important thing is beating Bush and isn't it a damn shame that that's the main (if not only) thing OUR candidate offers?

[fudge stripe cookays]

19. I realize that. And yes, I AM real clear about what happened.

I was a Texas Ranger. TWICE. Why do you think I had to take all that time off after Iowa? I was there at the speech-- and I saw what happened in the preceding days leading up to it.

I know about the push polling, and the other nasty stuff that Kerry did. I was utterly destroyed. It took me a long time to get over it, but I HAD to get over it. And yes, I wish with all my heart it was Dean, but it's not.

The fact is, beggars cannot be choosers at this point. I understand the nasty circumstances that got us to this point, but what is our alternative right now? Some semblance of normalcy in our country, or complete fascism? I know which one I'll pick.

We have to walk before we can crawl. This election has woken a LOT of people up. People who will never go back to being complacent, ever again, because we will be bringing this nation back from the brink of a cataclysm if we succeed.

We all have a lot at stake. For me, if we lose (ie, they CHEAT), it will involve uprooting my entire life and moving to Canada, which is not something I'm overly enthusiastic about doing. This is my home. But I will not stay and watch that fucker destroy what is left of it. At least up there my tax dollars will not be going to support this war and the rest of Chimpy's evils.

As the saying goes, "Right now, I'm Kerry's best friend. After November 2nd, I'm his worst enemy."

Peace.
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[Eloriel]

27. I think I'll hold you to that

"Right now, I'm Kerry's best friend. After November 2nd, I'm his worst enemy."

:evilgrin:

Thanks for being a Texas Rnager -- twice.

[fudge stripe cookays]

28. Deal!

You're welcome! :hi:

[Cha]

6. I know...I feel the same!

I was for Gore, then Dean, and now Kerry! And I look at it as an evolution in politics.

You don't see Dean standing still and living in the past of what shoulda, coulda, woulda! This is the now, baby and we're going to win with Kerry/Edwards!

[Cha]

4. "I don’t pay any attention to the pundits"!

Nor should any of us!

"DEAN BLAMES GORE FOR DEFEAT!"

I've learned not to believe anything the media says. They are worse than the National Enquirer.

"I believe you were quoted as saying you’d like to break up the media monopolies.
I would. I’ve heard ninety percent of Americans get their news from eleven corporations.

I think that the biggest problem is that the enormous pressure on the bottom line affects editors’ judgments. And it doesn’t take too many forced revisions of reporters’ stories to teach them that they shouldn’t be writing anything that isn’t fascinating and scintillating and somewhat scandalous."

I believe Kerry said he was going to do this too! No wonder the media was after Dean and now Kerry!

"Let’s talk about the infamous scream speech after your loss in the Iowa caucus. You say the incident didn’t happen, at least not the way it was reported.
That’s right. I was in front of 1,200 screaming kids who couldn’t hear the speech, and the cable networks ran it as a speech with a directional mic — no crowd noise and no pictures of the crowd. So it didn’t happen at all the way it was on television."

I'm glad Dean agrees with me on this and I with him..I was debating a person on du the other week who said the media did not manipulate the scream ..and I said they did.

"I think it reflects worse on the press than it does on me. Playing the scene 600 or 900 times on cable television doesn’t leave you with much respect for the medium. Essentially they figured out a way to take an event out of context on television."

Yes, it reflect bad on the press ..but what are we going to do about it??

"You want to name some names specifically, people who were covering you?
I may do that in the book I’m writing, but I’m not going to do it right now."

Dean, Kicking Ass and taking Names! }(

Thanks, madflor, for this..I was, for some reason, jonesin' for some Dean News!

[mandyky]

8. I feel that Dean got ganged up on

by the media and the other Dem candidates. I hope Dean runs again in 2008.

BTW (obligatory) - I will be voting for Kerry/Edwards.

[Disturbed]

9. The Plutocracy hedges it's bets.

The deemed Dean a threat the status quo so they had the Mas Media and the right wing of the Dem party assasinate his bid. J. Kerry is a safer alternative but the push is for Bush.

[mandyky]

11. What ticks me off is that even Air America still plays

"the scream" over and over. It is bad enough corporate media and RW hateriots did their thing. It seems like even the Dems want to keep it in the forefront.

[Cha]

12. How strange! I'm not an Air America listener..

I only listen to one radio show and that's Guy James..It's just cause I'm not that big on radio.

[fudge stripe cookays]

13. You know what, mandy?

When Randi plays it (I haven't heard the other shows do it, so can't speak to them) I think what she's tried to do is to claim the scream as our own, as a liberal battle cry.

I think she does that because she is fond of Howard, and she's doing it affectionately. At least that's how it seems to me. And I was a definite Howard supporter.

FSC

[Cha]

14. That's good to know!

That would make sense..and if someone just heard it(like you Mandy)and didn't know the background they might think it was a diss.

[mandyky]

23. I understand

But what they do is play it when they are frustrated or when shrub has done something outrageous. And they do it almost daily.

Dean's scream was not an expression of anger, and them playing it repeatedly questions Dean's mental stability, etc, whether it is meant that way or not. I personally think it is funny but I also worry about unintended consequences. Because I want Dean to run again!

[Cha]

29. Yeah, I see your point, too!

[Eric J in MN]

21. "The Al Franken Show" and "The Majority Report" don't play

the Howard Dean yee-haah.

[kohodog]

17. What would the polls be like today if Dean was the nominee?

I have no clue, but I find it harder to donate time and money to Kerry. Don't get me wrong, I will vote for him and persuade as many people as I can to do the same. But my pasion is more anti Bush than Pro Kerry.

Howard Dean, however, a different story. I'd push like hell to elect him.

[madfloridian]

18. Interesting comment on reporters on campaigns....good ideas here.

Q:"If you were to say to the media, “Next time, let’s do it differently,” what would be your prescription?"

DEAN .."First of all, I’d probably do more rotation of reporters in the plane. They get sort of jaded. And I’d switch them back and forth between candidates so they would have a broader perspective on the campaign and make more apt comparisons. Secondly, you’ve got to find a way to empower reporters to stand up to editors."

SNIP..."I think at least half the problem comes from editors who push back on reporters and want them to write the story in a different way, having no knowledge of what the story is really about....."

I agree with him a lot about reporters having to answer to bosses. This is really a problem now with such right wing ownership.

[Rabelais]

20. "other Democrats were making for the closet."

HAHAHAH
Man, I love Howie.

[kaitykaity]

22. That song from Sister Act is flashing in my head.

"I love him, I love him, I love him, and where he goes I'll follow, I'll follow, I'll follow. He'll always be my true love, my true love, my true love, from now until forever, forever, forever."

That's how I feel about Dr. Dean.

[KoKo]

25. Dean had huge support amongst all ages...not just the young. The press

STILL makes it out to be some "kid" movement with legions of screaming "Deaniacs" waving signs and posting and raising campaign money on the internet.

It really pisses me offwhen the media portrays him as an "internet phenomenon." Frankly, more politically aware and active 40 something and over folks preferred either Dean or Kucinich. It's my experience here in NC, anyway.

[madfloridian]

26. You are so right. Most of our group here are over 40 at least.

I don't know where they get the "kid" stuff. It irritates me as well.

[NoPasaran]

30. I'm glad someone finally brought this up

In Austin we have our share of the young folks, but lots of us are in our thirties or forties or older---many of whom were Perfect Stormers in Iowa. But we can still shout and wave signs with the kids, make no mistake!