Howard Dean's Media Landslide

Pundits Call a Winner, a Bit Prematurely

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 13, 2003; Page C01

It was standing room only for reporters yesterday as Howard Dean marched into a Mayflower Hotel ballroom in a purple union jacket and green union T-shirt, grabbed a black hardhat and waved to the wildly cheering crowd.

The made-for-TV tableau, with 10 cameras recording the high-decibel endorsement by three labor unions, perfectly matched the tone of the candidate's press coverage for the past week, which has cast him as the Incredible Hulk rampaging across the Democratic presidential landscape. Forget the fact that no voters have yet gone to the polls. Why risk frostbite trudging around New Hampshire? Dean is a slam dunk, a done deal, a shoo-in for the nomination.

<snip>

Some journalists defend the hype, particularly in light of Dean's decision to raise a boatload of cash rather than accept the restrictions that come with public financing of his campaign. "His money advantage is so prohibitive that it's a reasonable judgment to make to say he's a prohibitive favorite," said Mark Halperin, ABC's political director. To be sure, Halperin said, Dean is "a flawed and inexperienced candidate in many ways," but by the time the opposition unites behind someone else, "Howard Dean's rear tail lights might be off in the distant future."

<snip>

For now, two months before Iowa and New Hampshire, the race remains a blur of polls, fundraising, endorsements and gaffes. (Dean leads in gaffes as well -- as when he seemed to wrap himself in the Confederate flag while saying the party needed to appeal to Southern whites -- but the collective wisdom is that it hasn't damaged him much.) Reporters don't much care who has the most thoughtful health care plan. With nine candidates, who can keep all those proposals straight anyway? And every debate is scored according to who laid a glove on Dean.

<snip>

As Dean's media stock continues to rise, Sen. John Kerry's is sinking with Enronlike speed.

<snip>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34348-2003Nov12.html

only proves to me that they fear him the most!

For anyone esp. Dean to count out the General would be a huge mistake.

I can't remember the last time I saw her in the news outside the debate/forum events since she got the NOW endorsement.

I agree that Clark shouldn't be discounted by anybody, but to say that the lack of media attention is a result of "fear" is kinda silly...

:crazy:

candidate that the Pukes fear Chimpy having to face.

Call it "silly" if you will, but it's true. I am surrounded by Pukes here in TN... I can tell you from the conversations I've had with a lot of them, they don't even want to discuss Clark being our nominee.

Sorry, but I'll stick with calling that "fear". :D

...the Republicans fear Bush facing OPPOSITION. And anyone that will voice OPPOSITION is someone they fear, especially if they present clear alternatives. That's the key there, the GOP fears OPPOSITION and DISSENT more than anything, and several of the candidates are doing a fine job of presenting reason for them to quiver in their boots.

Well here's the speech Bush will give on 9/11/04 on the closing day of the Republican National Convention in New York City.

Remember that this is less than two months prior to the election. Historically, a convention tends to bumps up the positive percentage points of that party. We all know that the propaganda will be thick and heavy with Bush/Rovian speak.

The speech will go something like this:
(Imagine it with his bad tx southern accent)
We have been fighting this War on Terror three years exactly today. We continue to pray for those who perished on 9/11. We pray for their family and thank them for the lives of their brave sons and daughters. We pray for the firemen and policemen who's heroic efforts shall never be forgotten. We will never forget, and that's why we took the fight to the enemy. We are safer because the fight is going on over there instead of over here.

The Democrats want to be in charge on this War on Terror. Howard Dean, who has no foreign policy experience, and never saw military service, wants to take the baton from me. He said that he has as much experience as I did when I was first elected. After 9/11, is that who the American people want to take over the War on Terror?(Bush snickers with his imfamous smirk) Dean wanted Saddam to continue to torture and kill the Iraqi people. He didn't want us to uphold America's responsibility to the world. He thinks that Iraq was better off under the terroristic evil dictatorship called Saddam Hussein. You have seen the reports on the mass graves. Dean obviously didn't. Dean didn't want the terrorist to come to Iraq to fight. He wanted them to stay in America and kill innocent Americans again, just like they did on 9/11.

But more than that, Howard Dean also wants to raise your taxes. Yes, raise taxes on each and everyone of you. A Tax and Spend Democrat wants to do what they have always done; grow the government and waste your hard earned money.

Now I know that we have to win this war, to give what we promised to the Iraqis people. We have to give them freedom and democracy, that was our promise, and I intend to fulfill that promise. Today we have 100,000 Iraqis bringing security to Iraqis. We have to stay in there until the job is done, otherwise the Middle East will have only learned that our resolve means nothing. Howard Dean wants to cut and run. He wants to pander to the U.N. and make America look weak.
On the domestic front, do you want a President who has been making the tough decisions for the last 4 years or do you want Dean? The guy who comes from a state that has as many residence as this city of New York has people of Puerto Rican descent. 600,000 people folks. That's what he calls experience (Bush does his sinister snicker, the crowd laughs). I say to Howard Dean, Maybe if it was at least 1 million people that would give us some concern (another joke)! Does Vermont even have a National Guard?.(more laughter)...oh yea, I think there are six or seven guys over there protecting the borders from out of state attackers.(wild applauds).

(Bush gets serious and sober) I want to keep serving for the American people, for the brave folks that are serving in our military. Don't let them have died in Vain. Ms. Smith over there please stand up. Yes Ms. Smith lost her son in the war. She says that her son died for Democracy and Freedom. You are right Ms. Smith, your son died a hero to return humanity and dignity back to millions of Iraqi men, women and children (wild applause, Ms. Smith bows and sits down).

(Bush sobers off after beaming smiles and nodding his head to thank the crowd for their applause)The evildoers are on the run. We've got them where we want them. If we stop now, if we lose our resolve, who knows what will happen. Next, Iran will be developing Nukes and threatening us. So a vote for Howard Dean will not make us more secure, at home or abroad. (Bush squints and slowly says)Howard Dean doesn't know how to keep America safe, he'll have to learn. After 9/11, America can't afford a President that has to go to training classes.

Under my leadership, we haven't had another attack here in the U.S., and that says a lot about the great team that I assembled. We will win the War on terror for the sake of those innocent lives taken on 9/11 and for the sake of our children. We will win the war on terror for the sake of Freedom and Democracy. We will win the election because only we can make you safe.

The economy is looking pretty good. I promised you that my tax cuts really would work. We have a ways to go, but we will get there. Howard Dean? Well he wants to raise the taxes of each and every hard working American. He wants the big wasteful bureaucracy to decide what to do with your money. Can we afford that in America? As patriots, we have all already sacrificed much too much. Look at Ms. Smith over there. Should she be asked to add injury to pain?
As real cowboys have said, don't change horses in the middle of the stream. Especially if the replacement horse is a donkey.(wild laughter and applause).

Well folks, we are in that stream now. A nice a steady course will get us across.

God Bless all of you and God Bless America.

they're fighting trying to make Bush look good. While I don't think they "fear" any of the Dems, I do think that they realize that most of them have the ability to give Bush a run for the money. Who would they least like to win the Dem nomination?

My opinion (in no particular order):

Kerry: He has quite a bit of clout in the Democratic party and has a long history of responsible Democratic voting. Not TOO liberal. Plus, there's all of Teresa's money for position ads.

Clark: He has, possibly, the best "national security" credentials of ANY of the candidates (including Bush). He's also an outsider, with no real record to attack.

Gephardt: He has a long history of pro-worker activism, something that can't be discounted with current unemployment rates.

Dean: He came out swinging months ago and hasn't stopped. He's not rivaling Bush's money yet, but his campaign is the best money machine the Dems have. He has a certain charisma that turns some people off, but leaves most fiercely loyal.

The rest of the candidates aren't really a factor yet, IMHO, although that may change over the next 6 months.

What the Republicans fear most is Bush's ongoing self-destruction. Next year, it will become clear that Bush will lose to anybody.

There is always a chance they will reconstitute the image, but that will take a new manufactured crisis or terror attack (which can backfire). And if that works, no one will be a threat to Bush. Any candidate will be smeared, utterly. And their ability to steal the election by whatever means will be all the greater.

But just keep pushing your Only Clark Can line...

...is that unlike CMB, Clark is actually leading, or second, in most national polls.

For a frontrunner, he doesn't get the ink.

But that'll most likely change soon enough. The media is usually slow to catch on to (or acknowledge) such things.

His hapless organization is pretty much doing that for us. I await the next "strategic" withdrawal from a race he cannot win. Will it be S. Carolina?

take. If Clark gets the nomination this will be Rove's worst
nightmare come true as Wes Clark will get many many Military votes
as well as many independent and non fundie rethug votes.

The balance will shift enough in our favour if it is a Clark/Dean
Ticket or Clark/Kerry ticket. imo

Every time this little whore opens his mouth, he proves his digestive system runs in reverse!

as when he seemed to wrap himself in the Confederate flag while saying the party needed to appeal to Southern whites

How in the hell is describing a segment of white southern males in the south "wrapping himself" in the flag???????????????????????????

Do these guys ever mention the real flag-wrapping...could it be the repukes who wear flag ties and pins everywhere they go? Could it be the Smirk standing in front of flag banners, flags by the gazzillion? Could it be the Ashcrofts and O'Reilly's who describe what patriotism REALLY is (in their warped view of it)? Could it be the SUV's DRAPED IN FLAGS?

Dean has not wrapped himself in the Confederate flag. If you really want to know what that looks like, c'mon down here to Alabama and I'll show you.

:grr: :grr: :grr:

Maybe even surpassing their teachers. It's a wonder, and a nauseating thing, to watch.

Could it be that's who Bush wants to face in Fall 2004? Yes.

Wolfe Blitzer: "Is {Clark} still on your list of possibilities {for vice president}?"

Dean: "Absolutely. Absolutely"

If the reight-wingers are so fearful of Clark, would it make sense for them to support a candidate who may very well select Clark as the VeePee nominee?

They hate Dean for one reason only. There aren't enough blacks in Vermont. See?

<no logic required>

You don't thin kBush would rather Braun or Kucinich win?

with the pundits' wrap up? He didn't "win" one debate, and showed poorly in a few of them. Kerry showed well in all of them, and won a couple while sharing wins in a few more. Yet, Kerry was never commended by the media.

Kerry gets the Gore treatment while Dean is given the Bush treatment. What happens to Dean's teflon when the media needs to switch it back to Bush?

With the "we elect a President not a staff". Not only that but Dean actually WALKED INTO THE PUNCH>

And yet Kristol says Dean won right afterwards...

2 staff dependent weaklings.

and Kerry had the two strongest performances, yet noone talked about it afterwards. The media was too busy telling the public that Dean was the only voice out there for the Democrats.

That's pretty much what Kerry's quip amounted to. Does Kerry realize that a president always at least consults the cabinet on major decisions? Or would Mr. "We Elect a President Not a Staff" prefer a Stalin like diktat with all power coming from a single source?

and having a Prez who's well informed on matters makes cabinet briefings a hell of a lot more productive than a teach-in for the ametuers.

Which brings me back to my question - are you a fan of such Stalinesque diktats?

It looks like Kerry is.

They called this from the start... it was Kerry with all his experience and wisdom who voted for this war.

A snide remark by kerry doesn't mean he won the debate... it is a debate not a game of the dozens.

I saw the wrap up of the Rock the Vote Forum and the CNN debate. In neither case did Dean get declared the winner. Care to provide anythign remotely resembling a link to back up what you are saying.

From Detroit- First Kerry's brilliant answer and then Dean's stupid comment that not only left Kerry with the perfect opening but also highlighted Dean's Soft White Underbelly:


KERRY: Well, let me just comment, first of all, if I can, on General Boykin.
(LAUGHTER)
General Boykin has confused the heck out of the White House on all this talk about the Almighty, when he talks about the Almighty, the president thinks he's talking about Cheney, Cheney thinks he's talking about Halliburton...
(LAUGHTER)
... Cheney thinks he's talking about Halliburton, and John Ashcroft thinks they're talking about him. So they don't know where to go.
(LAUGHTER)
I also must say, as I listen to Governor Dean, I'm not sure, if I were he, I'd want to use George Bush as a reverence for a governor becoming president without foreign-policy experience...
(LAUGHTER)
... because what we've seen, what we've seen is a president who ran saying, "I'm going to have good advisers around me." Now, we had Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice and Powell. And look at the judgments they made.
We're electing a president of the United States, not a staff. And we need to elect a president...
(APPLAUSE)
... who has the judgment to do this.
(APPLAUSE)
.......................................................................................................................................................................................

And here's Dean's statement that was him basically walking right into Kerry's first:


Question: We are attempting to imagine each of you in the White House in the Oval Office, and in that spirit, Governor Dean, I have this question for you.

You have been unstintingly critical of this war, yet, with all due respect, you have commanded nothing more than the Vermont National Guard. You did not serve in the military.

How would you, as president, be able to exert any credibility, any command over a post-war Pentagon?

DEAN: Well, first of all, I have as much foreign-policy experience as George W. Bush did when he got into office.
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
And Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

Secondly, the important part of what you do as president of the United States is to have very good people, which I do, talking to me about issues and defense and foreign policy, and to use judgment and patience.

he make the best President of all of them.

yet Kerry with all his foreign-policy experience was dead wrong on the war issue and now finds himself losing because of his support for the IWR.

Kerry's little tactic of telling a joke then sliding in some shot will fool some people, because it does sound good... nice and sharp. But the fact is there's no substance and most people see that. Most people see that Kerry is the one who blew the big call, and Dean is the one who called it right from the start.

Kinda hard for Kerry to attack Dean's ability deal with Iraq, when Dean already has a better record on Iraq than Kerry.

then, that Dean supported Biden-Lugar and even said:

I've said about eight times today," he says, annoyed -- that Saddam must be disarmed, but with a multilateral force under the auspices of the United Nations. If the U.N. in the end chooses not to enforce its own resolutions, then the U.S. should give Saddam 30 to 60 days to disarm, and if he doesn't, unilateral action is a regrettable, but unavoidable, choice."

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/02/20/dean/index2.html

He gave the appearance of being anti-war to seperate himself from the pack, but when push came to shove he came out in favour of "unilateral action" if Saddam wouldnt "disarm" and the UN didnt "enforce its own resolutions".

Dean's "teflon" as you put it, is not the result of the media. Remember the media went after Dean just like every other candidate. They tried to paint him as the fringe left anti-war hot head... and it didn't stick. Despite Kerry's DLC trying hard to make it stick. Why wouldn't it stick? Because of us, the Dean supporters... because of the organization we've built and the work we've done.

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF US have made Dean the hot story for the media. We've spent months writing letters, organizing, and pooling resources for outreach in our communities. We've been working the media from the local affiliates to the networks and cable news with letters and e-mails and then we back that up with record breaking fund raising from average people.

We're the reason Dean is Teflon, BLM. We sent over 40,000 hand written letters to Iowa and NH so far... we're sending thousands of people to canvas and phone bank in other states. We’re winning because we're doing more than just spewing memes on message boards.

Dean’s Teflon isn’t going anywhere, because WE are not going anywhere.

Last summer I took part in a message board discussion inspired by an essay proposing that the powers that be would both support bush, and would chose the opposition. We collected links, turned over moldy rocks, and watched the horizons. Soros was looked into. Was he part of the greater good, or just one of the over lords. I decides neither, and nearly lost my digital head. The thread still exists to the best of my knowledge, but I found the object of the discussion led to more speculation than answers. It was a better exercise to watch for the signs.

Now I am watching what passes for a democratic process become completely subverted. It is sickening. I don't know why they have decided we should nominate Dean, but apparently, we have no say in the matter. I am shocked the left can be so blind, but here is the proof.

What is sad is how easily we are led. As Frankin points out in his excellent book, they lie to you in many ways. Clark is on ignore. So what if he is in first place nationally, they just soft ball Dean and they can change the polls. They have written our best candidates against junior and left us with our worst.

Truth in America goes to the highest bidder.

Do you think Dean supporters are sheep?

Has it occured to you that the reason Dean is getting media attention is becuase he has a burgeoning grassroots campaign going on; has collected more money than any other dem candidate; has more supporters show up at meet-ups than any other candidate; has the smallest dollar average per contribution than any candidate other than Kucinich?

Maybe the media is on to Dean because he's popular, and not the other way around.

Dean is popular- true, but why all the press? Perhaps the VRWC media is just "going with the flow".

You don't know "why all the press"? Mayb ebecause what Dean is doing is unprecedented? Nah, no need for press there.

Ever hear of a PRESS RELEASE?

meeing up for Dean every month, and growing by hundreds and thousands every day... of all those people, some are going to be working in the media. Agents, tv and radio people, writers, producers, reporters etc... who all have been using their knowledge to help do things like get the meida to focus on Dean.

A few of us make some calls and get a local TV station to cover the meetup, then later they cover Dean coming to the town and drawing a huge crowd for a speaking event. Then they cover a record breaking fundraising result that comes later. This happens in a few cities and the networks pay attention.

Dean is wining because there are a whole lot of us and we are busting our asses to make it happen.

We grow exponentially...

Tonight we were having our Organizer's Meeting (not to be confused with Meetup or the Working Group Meeting...we have a lot of meetings LOL) and we picked up potentially 4 new supporters at the next table, when we overheard them bashing Schwartzenegger. They got Dean fliers and buttons and a few window clings, and one of them put the button on right away (she already liked Dean, but hadn't gotten involved yet).

Next month we're doing a big outreach to the local business community.

We are constant action, and it is going to pay off big.

I'm wondering if there have been some actual newsworthy developments within the Clark campaign. I see some of his statements mentioned here but I don't hear any news to speak of.

Fundraising accomplishments. (I've seen his report mentioned on TV)
Big endorsements. (Saw recent report of individual endorsing Clark)
Getting attacked/attacking other candidates.(Edwards hires Shelton)

This is what the news covers. If your campaign doesn't make news it won't make the news.

If Dean hadn't gotten those endoresments yesterday, the media would not have been talking about him. If Kerry spent more time talking about Kerry, there'd be less Dean to talk about. If a couple of candidates who stand no chance of winning hadn't demagogued the "flag-flap" there woulda been a whole lot less publicity for Dean

Seems to me that some of the Dem candidates can thank themselves for all the free publicity Dean has gotten. Lord knows there are plenty of full-time Dean promoters here at DU-GD. On any given day you can scroll down GD and see Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean. Most of them are slam threads (like this one). It sure has done a lot for name recognition.

And lastly, how often I hear the media whores dutifully report the "some Democrats" fear a Dean candidacy becasue of a McGovern or Dukakis type election. hahahaha For loving Dean they sure go to a lot of trouble to plant that meme.

Julie

"If Kerry spent more time talking about Kerry, there'd be less Dean to talk about. "


And they wonder why the media coveras Dean Dean Dean Dean Dean Dean.


You're right... Dean is all the other dems talk about. Clearly then they must be part of the media conspiracy to keep Dean in the news.

Maybe the media should just let us decide. Sheesh, Iowa and N.H. are still 2 months away.

Only the most radically flawed - most inexperienced White House occupant in history!!

Give them a little time, they may recover their senses.