"How to handle Hecklers" (Dean's "gaffe" is Clark's bon mot)

[mistertrickster]

How to handle hecklers

Congratulations Dale Ungerer, Iowa retiree. You're responsible for Howard Dean's dismal third place showing in Iowa. At least that's what some pundits are saying.

Ungerer is the card-carrying Republican who, just days before the caucuses, stood up at a town hall-style meeting and lectured Dean on being "pompous" and too hard on President Bush. Dean answered him, but Ungerer continued his harangue. When Dean told the retiree to "sit down," his supporters cheered and Ungerer scurried out with a large press contingent in tow, anxious to detail the mysterious man who had tapped into Dean's much-talked about anger.

This morning in the Wall Street Journal, both John Harwood and Fred Barnes pointed to the Ungerer episode as a telling example of how Dean turned off Iowa voters. Harwood called Dean's action's "graceless," while GOP-friendly columnist Barnes insisted candidates Sen. John Kerry, Sen. John Edwards or Rep. Dick Gephardt might have simply ignored Ungerer's outburst. Interestingly, Barnes didn't mention Ret. Gen. Wesley Clark, although a nearly identical episode happened to him recently; a Bush supporter lectured Clark, and Clark told him to sit down and be quiet. The press never made a peep though, because there is no established narrative about Clark being "angry." The anecdote was of no use to the political press corps.

<http://salon.com/politics/war_room//index.html>

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Good analysis in that last paragraph about how were getting the choices the press WANTS us to have.

[Jack_Dawson]

1. Plus Clark is a Badass

And the media does NOT want to piss off The General.

[gWbush is Mabus]

2. or maybe they know dean can beat bush but clark cannot

[ihaveaquestion]

3. Sorry, but Clark has the better chance.

Dean turns off too many of the right. I'm really sure about this!

[Jim Sagle]

4. How do you know?

:shrug:

[Cassandra]

5. The "right" ...

are voting for Bush anyway.