Dean’s Scream
Posted by Jim at January 25th, 2004
Mid-afternoon yesterday my daughter Rebecca (age 19 months) said something that we hadn’t anticipated. Kristen and I were talking about Dean’s much repeated speech to his volunteers. The one that included the yelp heard round the world (I heard it on the BBC about an hour after hearing it on NPR).
In particular we were talking about dance mixes of the speech, sometimes quoting it and laughing. “…And Michigan,” we said. “And then we’re going to Washington D.C. to take back the Whitehouse!” we said.
“Yeagh!” we said.
“Yeagh!’ Rebecca said.
It was then that I decided the media was probably paying too much attention to this.
You know, I heard the media buzz about it before hearing the speech itself, and it was incredibly anticlimactic. I expected something much more… I dunno, weird, dramatic, newsworthy?
Ed
You’re right.
It was just a typical speech. Dean was addressing people who had worked for him during the campaign. He was trying to help them feel a bit less let down by his 3rd place finish.
When you’re rallying the troops, you need to be fired up yourself.
When the tv clip of you doing it is shown without that context being understood (and shown to an electorate that’s been given examples of a temper that you may or may not have), you tend to look like you’re rather unhinged.
Especially considering his disappointing finish.
Jim Zoetewey