Howard Dean - Too Short to be President

Looking at Howard Dean in last night's debate, a terrible thought struck me like a thunderbolt from beyond. This man is short! Not only is he short, he seems to be openly short. He strides around as if to say 'look! I lack a decent height and I have no shame!'. The same goes for Wesley Clark. He may be a documented War Hero but he's no six-footer is he? Electing a short man is just the tip of the iceberg. You elect a short man, and before you know it, you're invading Russia, taking over Europe, purely to compensate for your leader's ungodly lack of stature. Where will this end? Will we elect a bald man, next? A man with unnaturally large hands? This is America God damn it!.

(this is about the only candidate bash I haven't seen in GD yet, so I thought i'd pre-empt them, yeah it's a joke)

Not sure how tall Dean is but I think is probaly around the same height.

go Dean!

Right, Truman was 5'10", but Dewey was 5'8". So, the post-war rule stands - the taller candidate always wins, with one exception. Yep, you guessed it, Al Gore is the sole "taller" candidate to lose since Truman defeated Dewey in 1948. I suggest we scrap Dean and find someone taller than Bush. At least it would be a coherent strategy.

:evilgrin:

Nothing else matters, I tell you, nothing!

See #10

.....he's thin.

America has great economic fun with Presidents who have, shall we say, a little extra poundage. (President Clinton and his flabby thighs, jogging off to McDonald's, comes to mind.)

President Bush the elder -- thin. Shitty economy.
Junior -- thin. Shitty economy.
FDR -- nice big squishy fellow. Probably gave great hugs. He turned a bad economy around.

See what I mean???

Why don't we just dispense with the formalities and go right to the penis measuring contest- for chrissakes...

n/t

and I would be a good Prez.

Problem?

DDQM

Wouldn't want to set any precidents! :)

of the hair club for men lol

Not quite as bad as Dwight "Captain Picard" Eisenhower, though.

To make him look taller. Maybe that's why he walks so funny.

I once read somewhere that since the advent of television the taller candidate always wins presidential elections.

Assuming this is true, is Gore taller than W?

ON EDIT: Here's the answer: http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/116hhfif.asp

true fact (As a six-footer,I have no complaints with this phenomenon)

He's actually shorter than Kucinich, which shocked me when I noticed that last night.

I am not familiar with this term. Please advise. :D

Going by supposedly true statistics only... most Presidents have been large men, but then who can tell how much lying has been done over the years! (Hell the public didn't even know FDR was in a wheel chair so who knows!)

I've met them both personally - Dean is taller.

I believe Dean is about 5'8", although someone in a Politics & Campaigns thread insisted he was closer to 5'9", after meeting Dean in person. Kucinish is easily our shortest male candidate, although a few inches taller than Moseley-Braun.

The proper question: "Is Howard Dean too short to be ELECTED president?" We have had some serious discussions about this in P & C, although not recently.

My father was a sociology prof for 40+ years, and I have looked at numerous studies on the influence of height, including employment and politics. To dismiss this factor is foolhardy, especially since the range we are looking at -- 5'11 Bush vs. 5'8" Dean -- is the critical area of above-average vs below-average. A 3 inch gap would be much less important if both were significantly above or below the norm.

I'll never forget how instantly or loud my then-girlfriend howled when Dukakis walked out to shake hands with Bush 41 at the beginning of their first debate. "What is he, 5 feet tall?"

I thought you'd be more interested in whether he never said "Separatists Rock!"

Perhaps they're both members of the same diabolical brood of evil midgets. Montreal's not that far from Vermont, y'know.

And that is when its important.

I knew Spiderman, I worked with Spiderman, and I can tell you, Howard Dean is no Spiderman.

For whatever it's worth... I just saw Clark in person the other day and he is probably close to six foot.
In person he looks very fit (as opposed to very thin)

For whatever reasons Clark looks smaller on TV than he really is (seriously... and I know that is odd )

I would venture that Clark is probably about the same height and size as Herr bush (and I agree with whoever said chimp wears lifts)

Dean desn't look that short to me on Television but I have read that he is around 5'8".

I think in the end it's all going to depend how kind the camera is to these people when they are standing on a stage next to the resident!

at 5'0". My best friend of 30 years is fond of saying, "What she lacks in height she makes up for in attitude."

It's all in the 'tude, baby. B-)

got no choice really at 5'7''

Look at him now! :D

Lincoln, of course, at 6'4" was the tallest. Other tall presidents (pretty much in descending order, although I could be wrong): Johnson, Washington, Clinton, Jefferson (all about 6'2" or better). Monroe, Taft, George H.W. Bush among the others. More useless information crammed into my brain.

(Seriously, I do get the humor of your post ...)

:grouphug:

:hippie:

:hi:

BTW, I've seen Dean in person, and he didn't seem short to me. Just average height.

Kerry's head must have the highest height to width ratio I've ever seen.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Never hesitating to plumb new depths

Why I oughta give you a DLC sandwich!

;)

then what the hell happened with Bill Bradley? Man's a former basketball player, for cripessakes!

All generalizations are false. Including that one.

(and yes, I do understand it's humor.)

And only blocked 65 shots in his 10 year career.

(I know, they didn't start counting block shots till 1973 but still!):)

Has unnaturally large hands.