I guess Howard Dean is now on a whirlwind ‘No, I Am Not A Screaming Maniac, I only Play one on TV” tour:
Senior aides to Howard Dean took several steps on Wednesday to overhaul his candidacy, including softening the tone of his speeches and eliminating high-voltage campaign rallies in favor of dignified appearances where he would present himself as a mature ex-governor with a command of health care and the economy.
The moves came as senior advisers expressed concern in interviews that Dr. Dean’s candidacy was imperiled after a third-place finish in Iowa and a roaring, raucous concession speech that many opponents have held up as evidence that Dr. Dean is unfit to be president.
I only have one thing to say to that- YEarGagEh!
Seriously, though- shouldn’t we consider Deans previous umpteen hundred gaffes and bizarre policy positions as more important pieces of evidence that he should not be President?
Sean
if you think dean ‘gaffes’ a lot, check out wes clark….and realize half of dean’s ‘gaffes’ are correct, just unpopular at the time he says them (war bad, not safer without saddam, iowa caucuses retarded, etc)
and bizarre policy positions making one unelectable, i’m not sure which positions you mean, but have you checked out the current guy in the oval office? abstinence education, marriagegoodbutnotforgays, athletic supplements, aid to taliban, lets go to mars, whatever that immigration plan was, the abortion gag rule, etc etc etc…
talk about someone who must be unfit to be president
Dana
I think his handlers are hoping most caucus-goers haven’t been paying attention.
HH
Yelling at senior citizens and validating as “interesting” the idea that Bush learning that Sep. 11 was going to happen from the Saudis will soon be seen as popular sensible positions, you see…
drew
Dean is done. Kerry is climbling in New Hampshire. Edwards will probably win South Carolina. The man is toast.
HH-
Dean never said Bush knew about Sept. 11 specificly. He was refering to a possiable intelligence failure. It was a gaffe that came out wrong.
HH
He said such a theory was the “most interesting” one.
HH
He said such a theory was the “most interesting” one.
Mito
Most of the world seems to be unable to decide if Bush is retarded or a lunatic. He can’t even speak his mother tongue.
I doubt Dean getting upset occasionally comes anywhere near that.
Slartibartfast
“Most of the world seems to be unable to decide if Bush is retarded or a lunatic. He can’t even speak his mother tongue. ”
For a retard, he managed to get better grade than the last Democrat he defeated in election. Perhaps he’s (and this was a theory often put forward by Alabama football fans in the mid ’90s) only playing as well as he needs to to win.
No, not serious. But then again, neither were you.
Myria
When are the Dems going to learn that this whole “if you disagree with us it must be because you’re stupid, evil, or both” thing isn’t going to win them any votes? Go ahead, convince yourself that Bush is a moron if that makes you feel better as you lick your wounds, but believing that the rest of the country (and world, though what the rest of the world might think is wholly irrelevant) agrees with you? That requires insanity, stupidity, or both.
Huh, maybe that does explain it. Projection is one of the most common of psychological tendencies.
Myria
AnswertheQuestion
I like Dean’s views on the Soviet Union. But I’m still not sure if Saddam’s capture was a good thing. I suppose it was…
Mito
“When are the Dems going to learn that this whole “if you disagree with us it must be because you’re stupid, evil, or both” thing isn’t going to win them any votes? Go ahead, convince yourself that Bush is a moron if that makes you feel better as you lick your wounds, but believing that the rest of the country (and world, though what the rest of the world might think is wholly irrelevant) agrees with you? That requires insanity, stupidity, or both.”
Actually I’m not a left winger, I just think Bush is an idiot. I don’t believe people have to support a bad representative of their political leanings.
Andrew Ian Dodge
Well Dean has done one decent thing. Jobs & Apple should thanks the man for giving everyone a kick in the arse to try their new Garageband application (including in iLife). Lileks song was done using, as were several others. It was a great excuse for me, as a reviewer, to finally fiddle with the program.
I really hope he stays in the race for a while at least. The one thing you can’t call Dean is boring.
Ksec
Dean never said Bush knew about Sept. 11 specificly. **
Wonder why Bush is blocking the 911 investigation so stridently. Either he knows something or hes protecting his Saudi Buddys. If its the Saudi thing then he has to explain why he let the bin ladens fly home on 912 when the air was off limits to all traffic. He also needs to explain why he was hunting with the Saudi Prince a few datys after 911. If he attcked Iraq for ties to 911 then why would he be good freinds with the real enemies? This is really fuked up. Our President is in bed with the terrorists while pretending to ight them. Contact your congressman and ask them questions, this is soooo fkin wrong!!!
JPG
“Go ahead, convince yourself that Bush is a moron if that makes you feel better as you lick your wounds, but believing that the rest of the country
– I may actually agree with the assertion that Bush may not be a moron. In any case, it’s irrelevant given his unbelievable attachment to business corporate interests. The result is the same.
“(and world, though what the rest of the world might think is wholly irrelevant)”
-ummm, that is the kind of statement and rhetoric that has gotten us into our current position of being at odds with the rest of the world. Actually, it matters a great deal. The arrogant assupmtion that the US does not need allies and friends displays a rather outdated understanding of international politics.
“agrees with you? That requires insanity, stupidity, or both.”
– Nice. Actually, a great deal of the country does feel that way. It’s even fair to say that there is a think, polarizing line between this country’s increasingly divergent halves. I can only hope (and I do believe) that the scale tips in the direction of reason and gets rid of Bush, because he needs to go.