Finally! I've been scratching my head for days now about the uproar over Howard Dean's now infamous Iowa concession speech.
"The screams of a lunatic," the media proclaimed. And that "YEEEEEEAHHHHH!" is already destined to be included in the 2014 edition of Trivial Pursuit.
Huh? What's so new about yelling to work a crowd into a frenzy? Isn't that the M.O. of any pastor worth their salt? Or any coach trying to whip his team into action? (Dean's Iowa speech actually reminded me of Sid Caesar as the hapless coach who attempts to inspire the Rydell High bonfire crowd early in "Grease.")
Yet the discussion hasn't been about whether or not Dean went nuts. No, the discussion has been about how Dean Gone Nuts might affect this campaign.
I thought I was simply missing something here, until I surfed by Mark A.R. Kleiman's site. Kleiman, who notes that he's not a Dean supporter, has been similarly confused by all the uproar. After viewing the speech, he calls it a "pure pep-rally speech: not a form of oratory I especially admire, but not a scandal, either."
After all, he notes, Dean is smiling as he yells out which states he plans to conquer. Even if he has a temper, this wasn't an example of it.
Now, I haven't exactly made up my mind on Dean. Like many (including the media -- yes, I've been brainwashed. As have you.), I'm just not sure he has a shot at beating W in November. But it just strikes me as crazy that his campaign might be derailed by some silly noise he made one night in Iowa.
Meanwhile, Brian Flemming spent the weekend splicing this video, comparing the Dean footage with the video of a drunk W circa 1992. Who's more presidential, he asks.
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