The media vs. Howard Dean (Salon)

[dajabr]

Democrats haven't voted yet, but reporters have got the story: The former Vermont governor is angry, gaffe-prone and unelectable. How do they know? Republicans, and anonymous Democrats, told them so.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Eric Boehlert



Jan. 13, 2004 | When the Washington Post introduced readers to Howard Dean in a long Page 1 feature July 6, part of a series of "meet the Democrats" candidate profiles, the paper went for the jugular, literally, with a cartoonish, unflattering description to open the article: "Howard Dean was angry. Ropy veins popped out of his neck, blood rushed to his cheeks, and his eyes, normally blue-gray, flashed black, all dilated pupils."

Six months later, an extended version of that campaign narrative, polished by Republican talking-points memos and echoed day after day by the mainstream media, remains a constant of the campaign trail: Dean is a sarcastic smart aleck with foot-in-the mouth disease, a political ticking time bomb. The former Vermont governor remains the front-runner among Democratic voters, but he's gotten increasingly caustic treatment from the media, which has dwelled on three big themes -- that Dean's angry, gaffe-prone and probably not electable -- while giving comparatively far less ink to the doctor's policy and political prescriptions that have catapulted him ahead of the Democratic field. Newsweek's critical Jan. 12 cover story, "All the Rage: Dean's Shoot-From-the-Hip Style and Shifting Views Might Doom Him in November," achieved a nifty trifecta that covered anger, gaffes and electability, all three of the main media raps against Dean.

More: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/01/13/dean_media/index_np.html

Edit to Add: Recommended further reading

Media madness
Everything the press has said about Gore, down to Christopher Matthews' spittle-flecked call for him to concede, has been wrong.

http://dir.salon.com/politics/feature/2000/11/08/media/index.html

The Press vs. Al Gore

How lazy reporting, pack journalism and GOP spin cost him the election

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/newsarticle.asp?nid=14976&cf=78439

[AP]

1. Who needed to tell them? I've been saying that Dean is too angry

since I watched his Bryant Park rally. There was a months long lag before anyone in the press began to state what I think is obvious.

Gaffe-prone? This is a new spin? DU'ers have talking about his gaffes for months.

[dajabr]

Wow, you read the whole artilcle and supporting links within...

In 2 minutes. I'm impressed.

[KissMyAsscroft]

2. Wrong...

His passion is being spun as anger. His passion is what has made him the front-runner, and your candidates lack of passion is what is getting him left in the dust.

[AP]

5. PM me in July and we'll talk about what worked and what didn't work.

Dean's entire campaign is filled with metaphors for violence. I've written about this extensively before (after the Bryant Park rally). Get me a transcript and we can do competing readings.

[Hoppin_Mad]

22. VIOLENCE ? This is a baseless smear !

[AP]

43. Get the transcript and prove me wrong.

[dajabr]

48. The transcript of what?

Nice non-answer.

No mention of violent rhetoric here: http://www.johnmccrory.com/wrote.asp?this=70

Or here:

The reason 10,000 people gathered in Bryant Park -- and it's hard to imagine a tenth of that many gathering for any of the four candidates now serving in the Senate -- is because Dean looks and acts like a normal human being who just happens to be smart, well-informed and passionate about changing the political system. His establishment opponents, like Joe Lieberman and Dick Gephardt, often seem programmed or pulseless. His left-wing opposition, Dennis Kucinich, seems to have a heart rate of about 350 beats per minute.

Dean spoke cogently and confidently without notes. He only pandered a bit, and demagogued only a bit more. He ran on issues, not just a biography of having served in Vietnam or grown up the son of a mill worker. He drew big applause whenever he criticized Bush, but stayed well within the lines of political decorum and the ground rules he announced early on when he said, "We're going to have some fun tonight at the president's expense." More important, he added that the speech would be about what he was for: vastly expanded healthcare coverage, affirmative action, environmental protection, broadband access for rural communities, restoring the world's respect for America, and more.

http://www.newamerica.net/index.cfm?pg=article&pubID=1343


There's a bunch of first hand accounts of the Bryant Park rally - want me to post some more?

[AP]

58. The transcript of the Bryant Park speech.

That's great that you have some first hand accounts. Where's the transcript?

[dajabr]

59. Sorry, you'll have to take it from here.

Til then, we'll just have to rely on the first hand accounts. Which seem to put your take in the minority.

[AP]

64. No, you don't have to rely on first hand accounts.

You can go look it up at Dean's web site.

I'm serious about this. If you want to prove me wrong, give me the linke to the speech and I will listen to it, or I will read the transcript, if I can't find quotes supporting my argument you win.

however, I've done this before. I quoted from it once before, a long time ago. I've made my argument about it.

[dajabr]

68. Here's the thing AP...

I KNOW how you are going to interpret it. What I'm looking for is independant analysis.

I've brought some to the table. Will you?

[AP]

My analysis is independant.

Where's the transcript?

(As I said, nobody pays me for my opinion, and I don't stand to get a job from any of the candidates. How do you think I chose my candidate? Psst. Independant analysis.)

[dajabr]

72. When you're done stalling...

PM me and I'll see what you've decided to contribute to this discussion.

Until then, we'll just be satisfied in the revelation that you've convinced yourself. Good going!

[AP]

77. Here you go. I'm going to go look for the transcript. Check this space....

...later. (ie, no PM. It'll be here if I can find a transcript.)

[AP]

78. First thing I found:

(not the transcript, but interesting nonetheless)

KLEIN: Well, I think that it may be -- quite often, a politician's greatest strength is often his greatest weakness. And in Dean's case, his greatest strength has been his righteous anger and his willingness to say what comes to his mind in the plainest possible terms.

I think that, on a number of occasions, especially when it comes to national defense, he has overstepped and he has made some really serious mistakes, like saying that America might not always be the strongest military in the world. You just don't go around saying those sort of things if you're running for president or if you want to be a viable politician in this country.

So I think that those are the kind of things that he has to watch out for. And he has to really begin to deepen his positions on a lot of these issues. He's very flippant. He can be kind of arrogant at times. And I don't think that he knows quite as much as some of the others in the race, who have been legislators, who have been senators, who have had to really study these issues, which, so far, has been an advantage for him.

http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0308/27/se.11.html

[AP]

81. Found it.

From CSPAN -- http://www.cspan.org/search/basic.asp?ResultStart=1&ResultCount=10&BasicQueryText=bryant+park&image1.x=0&image1.y=0

My next post will be the time codes and brief comments. In the archives, I've written more details.

[dajabr]

84. "In the 40-minute speech, I never saw Howard Dean the bomb-thrower"

Follow-up: MSNBC brings us this great summary of impressions from the Bryant Park rally, from the perspective of a previously undecided Democrat in the audience.

In the 40-minute speech, I never saw Howard Dean the bomb-thrower, but did see the emergence of Howard Dean the giant-slayer. This speech wasn’t about mindless attacks on the president (he left those to Congressman Owens), but about pointing out that the country is going in the wrong direction on peace in Iraq, preserving clean air and water, balancing the budget and health care. He’s Bill Clinton without all the lower-lip biting and all the pain-feeling.

http://henzi.blogspot.com/2003_08_01_henzi_archive.html#106195832639293738

[AP]

87. "giant-slayer" -- violent imagery.

[Nazgul35]

88. Nice bait and switch!

In your second post, you claimed that Dean's statements were full of violence....

Dean's entire campaign is filled with metaphors for violence. I've written about this extensively before (after the Bryant Park rally). Get me a transcript and we can do competing readings.

But you three previous posts are nothing more than someone else's interpretations of the events...which does nothing but support the idea being written about in the Salon article....

Since you made the statement that Dean's own words are full of violence, it is on you to support that argument with actual facts....not for us to disprove statements that are unsupported by any evidence....

And if I were you, to avoid any future embarrasment, I would take a look at your own candidate's words before you make statements like the one above, otherwise you risk being hoisted by your own petard!!! And we wouldn't want that!

I await the quotes taken out of context.....

[AP]

91. Psst. That's what I'm doing. I'm listening to the speech right now.

See below.

And, given that the defenders were only telling me what other people were saying, I think it's fair to note when those people used violent imagery too. You'd prefer that I ignored the obvious?

[AP]

86. Imagery in Howard Dean's Bryant Park Speech, by AP

The speech starts at 38 minutes.

While I listen, I'll write some general comments. I'll interject things from the speech as they come up.

The thing that struck me the most about this speech the first time I heard it was the way it is, generally, a list of things Dean doesn't like about Bush. It seemed like a sentence didn't go by with out invoking the name "Bush" or "Aschcroft." Very awkwardly, there is a moment when Dean says that "they...

{40:00 "The Bat" -- Dean never played organized baseball. Why a bat? What do you do with a bat? In the UK nobody plays baseball but they sell more baseball bats than cricket bats. Why? Because guns are illegal.}

...say that you can't win without telling them what you're for." However, he says this dismissively. He has said the same thing more recently, but he uses a different tone now. In any event, he listed maybe two things -- home healthcare visits was one -- which didn't seem all that weighty.

OK. I'll post this...and continue in another post...

[dajabr]

89. Yes, we know you are sensitive to Dean's word choice...

But, the first hand acounts of other people (posted above) seem to indicate that you are in the minority about this coming accross as anger or negativity.

We KNOW what you think. Please, please try to post something other than your own opinion that supports your statements.

[AP]

92. Paying attention to the actual words should be a compliment.

Thank you for the compliment.

[dajabr]

94. Being sensitive to the words does not mean you...

Were paying any more or less attention to them than anyone else.

I used the adjective to describe your interpretation, not comprehension.

[AP]

90. CONT'D

48:38: won't hesitate to send troops, "But" wont' send soldiers to die without telling people the truth about what he's sending them.

(That's a fair comment, it's just the phrasing that was interesting...that isn't a "but" kind of statement.)

50:00: We really do have a naitonal security problem because Bush isn't spending money to protect us. Again a fair comment, but it's selling fear.

And we're into a ten minute list of complaints about Bush. He's just listing the reasons he's mad at Bush. He's angry. No fresh ideas yet.

[AP]

95. CONT'D

58:00 - Still talking about Bush. move over Bush...send Bush back...stop doing this to me Bush...etc.

I'm not saying that's not cool. I'm saying that you run and win by being better than the other the guy. Defining yourself by reference to Bush isn't going to work. And defining

59:50 - "We're going to win because of this bat." That has a double meaning.

The crazy logic starts:

1:02 -"you're going to have to decide for yourself if I'm a liberal" (implying that he isn't, or that you should get your hopes up) ... but if it takes a liberal to balance the budget..." end of sentence. So are you a liberal or not?

1:03 - We're going to win the south by talking about race. We're going to talk to white people about their health insurance, schools, and what they got from voting Republican. Ie, he's going to talk to white people about things other than race. (Throws in imagery of natsty looking white people intimidating black people at the polls.)

1:05 - I want a campaign based on hope not fear. Mostly, he's been telling us why we should be afraid of Bush.

[Fleshdancer]

67. If you make the accusation, isn't the burden of proof on you?

Seems odd to me to make claims and then tell someone else to look it up for you. Are you okay with that?

[AP]

70. If I were getting paid to do this,

I'd spend more time on it.

But I'm not.

However, if this subthread gets too long I'll either search the archive for my orignial argument about this, or I'll search for a transcript.

I just thought people here who like Dean would be more familiar with the facilities for searching for things Dean says.

Over at the Edwards site all his speeches are available. Don't know what Dean's site is like.

[dajabr]

73. "Don't know what Dean's site is like..."

Doesn't sound like as much independant analysis occured in choosing a candidate as you claim above.

[AP]

79. You're kidding me, right? Don't I get credit for listening to entire...

Bryant Park Speech and thinking hard enough about it to make an argument about it citing EVIDENCE in the speech in coming to my conclusion (which I'd like to do again).

[bitchkitty]

82. Prove yourself right.

[AP]

83. All I need is a transcript to that Bryant park speech or a link to my post

last time I talked about this from the archives, and I'm searching for both and can't find either.

A little help, anyone?

[Clark Can WIN]

Passion?

"Howard Dean was angry. Ropy veins popped out of his neck, blood rushed to his cheeks, and his eyes, normally blue-gray, flashed black, all dilated pupils."

[AP]

75. Any fool can see that Howard Dean has decided that anger towards Bush

is going to be organizing principle in his campaign.

His metaphors, imagery, everything, employ or refer to anger.

In the last couple weeks Dean has said that it's not anger, it's passion, and he's been calling it hope. I could call confusion "hope" over and over again and it would be as logical.

I just think it's absurd to get in a debate over WHETHER he does it. I think it's stretching reality to rephrase it as passion and hope, but I have more respect for someone who makes that argument than for someone who says there's no anger at all.

The real important debate here is whether anger will work at all. My argument is that US was the closest to becoming a fascist state during the FDR administration and FDR knew that you can't fight fascism with anger and fear. If you do that, you're only creating the atmosphere within which fascism thrives. Hope, as FDR (and John Edwards, more than any other candidate) knows, destroys domestic fascism more effectively than ANYTHING.

[tigerbeat]

97. quoting the washington post.....really?

repeating right wing spin on dean? is that really what you want to do?

i like both dean and clark, but i really can't see how using GOP talking points helps any of us.

[RetroLounge]

6. Not DU'ers. just newbies with an agenda.

Sorry, the truth hurts...

[dajabr]

18. I was at that rally...

But I left my Anti-Dean agenda at home.

The man FILLED Bryant Park with Anti-Bush people of all stripes. Festive, happy, determined, focused.

You and I did not see the same thing.

Let me know when Edwards will fill Bryant Park and I'll meet you there to see the un-angry man.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

56. Watch the video of Bryant Park.

http://www.c-span.org/search/basic.asp?ResultStart=11&ResultCount=10&BasicQueryText=howard+dean&


Nothing angry about it. The better word might be hope.

10,000 people interested in getting rid of Chimp can't be all bad.

[TheMiddleRoad]

20. It's the right wing media

I think most candidates are gaffe prone.

It's just that the media overlooks gaffes for some and publicizes the gaffes of others.

From that perspective, I don't think the gaffes really matter. Even if it's Clark, they will find some way to slander him and make him look foolish.

Those who doubt me, remember what happened to Al Gore. Remember Al Gore the liar. Al Gore who:

1) Invented the internet
2) Was a tobacco farmer
3) Dressing like a farmer
4) Changing his image every 5 minutes.

I'm pissed because I watched the Sunday Morning news programs and believed this horse shit. Lies, Lies, Lies, Lies Lies.

Al Gore is intelligent, articulate, engaged, pro-active, responsible, everything you'd want in a president. Still they found ways to portray him as a babbling, chameleon, lying fraud.

I'm angry. Democrats are angry. Veterans are angry. Minorities (unless your an illegal alien) are angry. REAL CONSERVATIVES are angry. Environmentalists are angry. Shouldn't Dean reflect that anger.

Dammit, I think he should be angry 100% of the time. After all, this is how Republicans took both houses of congress. Pure seething hatred and anger pulsing on radio stations 24 hours a day.

The difference is that Dr Dean is intelligent, well thought anger. But he does need to learn how to take a deep breath and talk a little slower.

[dajabr]

49. Won't get fooled again!

Most of the mainstream analysis of Media Gore-ing came after the selection. We need to make sure this does not happen to the eventual nominee again!

Great post!

:toast:

[bitchkitty]

80. Right on cue.

[Dagaz]

3. Now it's where is Mrs Dean?

Is it important to see the candidate's wife? Traditionally the wife has always supported her husband as candidate but does this play badly if Dean's wife doesn't?

[AP]

7. You'd sort of expect that the people who know you best and are closest to

you are enthusiastic about your dreams.

[dsc]

9. Yeah god for fucking bid

that his lady who went to school for a dozen years to get to be what she is, who has hundreds and hundreds of people depending on her for their health, actually do the job she sacrificed for. What a selfish bitch. How dare she?

[AP]

15. Whatever.

You'd just think she'd share her husbands dreams and keep them with her own.

Also, she could hire someone to work with her and look after some of her patients.

And it isn't about money. She and her husband and her kids are probably going to inherit more money then they'll ever make.

[dajabr]

21. I'm interested...

In why you want to run her life? Leave her alone. Go help Edwards pick out a Channel dress for his old lady and leave Judith and her family be.

[dsc]

27. Has it occured to you she might like being a doctor?

I know it is hard for some people to belive that women might actually enjoy their jobs and have a right to work at them but some do. I am not married, nor likely to be so soon. But if my husband wanted me to quit in the middle of a school year and go campaigning with him I wouldn't do it. I make a commitment to those I teach. I take it seriously. Presumedly Dr. Dean takes her commitment seriously too. Guess in your world women aren't allowed to do that. How sad.

[AP]

29. It's impossible to do both? To be a doctor and do something, anything

to make it look like she shares her husband's dreams?

[dajabr]

31. Moving her practice to DC so she can be First Lady.

I'm satisfied with that.

[dsc]

32. She attended his announcement speech

She has written at least two fundraising letters. She has granted interviews. The first and third are matters of public record.

[dajabr]

11. And subjugate their own to yours?

What century is this?

[AP]

19. If you think it's impossible to be supportive withou subjugating yourself,

let me introduce you to 40 million Americans who are able to do that every day.

[dajabr]

24. If you think Judith is not supportive of her husband...

Let me introduce you to reality. Staying out of the public eye means not supporting Howard. Give it a break!

[HFishbine]

63. What is Elizabeth Edwards' career?

Just curious.

[AP]

66. Lawyer till her son died.

Then she started the charity and ran it, then she had two more kids, and now she's full time helping her husband win and raising her two kids.

If her son hadn't died, she'd be a lawyer still, probably.

(Notably, her husband also quit being a lawyer for six months after their son died, so it's something they both did. He went back and tried two more cases before he decided to commit himself to running for the Senate.)

[Dagaz]

14. II'm still open on the subject but...

Not even one appearance? Sure she doesn't have to campaign but it seems abnormal to not even see her in Iowa for a dinner or two. Shouldn't women be heard?

[babzilla]

33. here is one appearance at his official campaign announcement

and here is where she can be heard if you are interested.

Interview with Judy Dean
For all of Howard Dean's political life, his wife Judy has maintained a private profile. VPR's Bob Kinzel interviewed Judy Dean in Fall 2003, as her husband was establishing a strong position in the Democratic presidential race. Dean discusses why she doesn't participate in Howard Dean's political campaigns, how she feels about the former governor's presidential bid and the importance of her medical career.

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/vpr/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=540619

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/vpr/news/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=541062

[Cha]

4. Yeah! And if you believe those

kind ...I have a bridge in Arizona to sell ya! }(

[Rose Siding]

8. Wow. Salon noticed.

I am *so* glad you ran across this and took the time to post it.

*just how close did that WP reporter have to get to Dean to see his "dilated pupils"?!

[dajabr]

13. Read the links too...

The memories coming back are sickening...

Boehlert's best line:

But watching the striking similarities between the way the D.C. press is covering Dean and how it treated Gore, and contrasting it with the way it has treated President Bush, it's becoming harder to avoid the obvious conclusion: that Democratic presidential front-runners and nominees are held to a higher, tougher standard by the Washington press corps.

Too true! :mad:

[AP]

17. I listened to NPR today, and it was still all Dean all the time, and ...

...not being negative.

[dajabr]

26. Great!

The other 99% of Media Share went to Rush, hannity, FNC, MSNBC, and CNN.

You didn't have much company.

[AP]

28. Rush hates Dean now?

Wasn't it just yesterday that he was trying to give Dean helpful campaign advice.

I can't believe Rush has now turned on Dean.

[dajabr]

30. Please go play games elsewhere.

This is a serious issue for all the candidates. Take your petty comments somewhere else, please.

Let people who want to talk about this do so without your drive by flames.

Thanks!

[JNelson6563]

62. no place else to go

few boards would tolerate such a steady stream of flame-bait.

;-)

Julie

[AP]

65. What are you talking about?

I made an argument that NPR was nice to Dean today which contradicted the argument that the media has been hostile to Dean. I supported my argument with actual references to the text (something other DU'ers might consider doing) and with an argument.

The counterargument to that was that Hannity and Limbaugh are negative on Dean.

I used humour to point out that that is an absurd statement. Who expects Hannity and Limbaugh to compliment a Dem, and who considers that a measure of whether he's getting Gored. Gore got Gore'd by LEGITIMATE media. That was the problem there.

But, it's even funnier that Rush is cited as evidence because Rush WAS actually enthusiastic about Dean because he thought he'd never win once. Looks like they have no faith in Bush, so Rush might have changed his spin, but, as I argued -- supported by EVIDENCE -- it doesn't look like NPR is changing its spin.

[Nazgul35]

93. not too up on stats...

one piece of evidence is called anicdotal...not contradiction, for that you would need data.....

[AP]

100. Thesis: NPR is NOT hard on Dean today. Evidence: 3 of 4 stories mentioned

him. 2 of 4 FEATURED him. 0 of 4 said ANYTHING about the criticisms of Dean. The 1 of 4 which didn't mention Dean was simply audio clips wiith an introduction naming the person speaking, which is the LAMEST form of NPR coverage.

Those stats aren't good enough?

[dsc]

34. flat out bs

I listened to fresh aire and all things considered. The first had not one word about Dean and the second a mostly negative report about him in Iowa. He was described as exhauseted fatigued and shell shocked at the debate.

[AP]

35. All Things Considered did a segment on Iowa, and

Michelle Norris focused the questions on Dean, and they talked about how people want someone who can take the 'fight' to Bush, and how that's Dean, and they did the counterspin on the Sharpton thing.

If you had a transcript, I would bet that Dean's name was mentioned 3-5 times more than any other candidate and was mentioned.

I'm willing to review the transcript to see if I'm wrong, but I had it on for 10 minutes in the car and thought about how it wasn't at all critical the way DU is critical of Dean.

[dsc]

36. They did one story on Dean and another on Gephardt

both were nagative in tone. Neither featured the voice of the candidate. It is your theory go find your own transcript. I listened to the story and stand behind what I said. There was one short story on everyone else.

[AP]

42. See below: 4 stories about Dems. Dean FEATURED in two, central to a third

and not mentioned in the fourth which was literally a minute long and was only audio clips with no commentary at all, which I've noticed they do with Edwards frequently. He probably gets the commentary-less audio clip 4 times as often as he gets the commentary.

[dsc]

45. Of course you didn't bother to read my post

(not shocked) or you would have seen that I mentioned the clip story. I also mentioned the Gephardt story. I only left out the story on the polls and the internet, which was a true stright news story.

[AP]

47. You were off by 100%. There were four stories about the campaign, not two.

And two of them featured Dean. One used Dean as a positive example. The fourth one was one minute long and was merely audio clips without any commentary other than an ID of the candidate speaking. If someone told me I had to talk about all the candidates today and I wanted to talk about Dean mostly, I would have done exactly what NPR did.

[AP]

39. "flat out BS"? Today's ATC:

- Study: More Turn to Internet for Political News: "Howard Dean has moved to the front of the pack...in part due to skillful use of internet."

- Dean Narrowly Leads Gephardt in Polls: Guest speculates that Dean is leading by more because Dean supporters have cell phones rather than land lines. So he's doing even better than we think.

- Reporters Hit Campaign Trail with Candidates: they only follow two candidates. Guess who? Dean is the first one they talk about. No matter what happens Dean will be remembered for...revolutionizing caucus with internet. How's he doing in person? He looks tired and weary. Uhm, that's what we all said here. Conspiracy? The reportes says he's remarkably resilient, but he's testy because he wants to move on to the next phase, implying the next phase is inevitable. Norris says people want a guy who takes fight to bush, so do voters care that he's weary? They still love him, even though some of the questions by opponents are filtering down. Dean will be on tour touching as many as possible.

- Democratic Candidates Focus on Iowa: very brief Kerry clip. brief Edwards clip. brief Kucinich clip. Nothing more.

So, 11 million American hear a few compliments about Dean and a allusion to criticisms, but absolutely NO explanation of what those criticisms might be. Hard on Dean? I'm going to say, no. And the piece on the use of the internet is the thing that really tips the balance in Dean's favor on NPR.

[dsc]

40. so they should have lied?

they shouldn't have mentioned the internet nor discussed the poll? Should they have said Edwards was ahead in it? I mean really, just what should they have done?

[AP]

41. I'm sorry. I thought you said NPR was all negative on Dean today.

It seemed to me that they did a nice job of mentioning his name as much as possible without mentioning a single detail of any of the criticisms you see at DU.

[dsc]

44. I didn't say all negative

you said they were all positive and that was bs. This was in one half hour, and a second half hour at that, and was more negative than positive. Other than that, they should be his press agents.

[AP]

46. I made my argument about why they were mostly possitive.

Firstly, the said his name alot. Secondly, I repeat what I said above. Thirdly, I repeat again for emphasis, if you listened to NPR only you'd have no idea what Dean is being criticized about. You'd think he was tired. But you'd think it's just because he can't wait to the next stage. What's that you may ask? His inevitable nomination?

Mostly positive. Mostly helpful.

Prove me wrong. Make an argument. Quote from the stories.

[kerryistheanswer]

10. How about the media vs. John Kerry

He's aloof, stiff, washington-insider, bush-lite, poor campaigner, and indecisive. It's not only Howard Dean that's being labeled by the media.

[dajabr]

12. Wrong thread for that discussion...

Please don't hijack this one.

[silverweb]

16. Dean's Da Man!

Righteous anger against the BFEE is a virtue, not a vice. Declare it loudly and proudly: I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it any more! I want my country back!

"Gaffes" are mountains made out of mole hills - twisted words taken out of context that are easily corrected - of little significance, especially when loudly compared with B*s endless, bumble-mouthed bloopers (to say nothing of endless, gigantic lies).

Electability is certainly not an issue among those of us who want, above all, to get rid of the current evil and corrupt gang of reTHUGlicans in office.

Once we officially have our nominee and all the petty nastiness of the Dem circular firing squad is put behind us, we can kick this campaign into high gear and give B*s sorry ass that one-way ticket back to the pig farm.

[eileen from OH]

23. This is so incredibly TRUE

What a terrific article.

eileen from OH

[Hoppin_Mad]

25. Thanks -eom

[corporatewhore]

37. i think the real fight is media vs. DK i think the media has already

picked out dean

[dajabr]

38. I think we've already had a few threads on that subject, no?

This one is about media vs. Dean. Please don't hijack this one.

Thanks!

[dajabr]

50. rumguy kick...

:hi:

:kick:

[rumguy]

51. LOL

I wondered if it had been posted.

[dajabr]

52. Should be posted 20 times if possible...

Never allow any nominee to get Gore-ed again!

[bain_sidhe]

53. Good article... and a timely reminder to ALL of us

The media is NOT OUR FRIEND.

[stickdog]

54. It looks like the Whorington Post & the New Whore Times are

among the very worst of the lot.

[edzontar]

69. Great article.

nt

[dajabr]

55. Kick for new DUer - Constitution

Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

57. Excellent article.

Unfortunately, all that crap gets recycled here.

[dajabr]

60. "all that crap gets recycled here"

Kerry campaign's crap is the freshest.

Laura Capps, a Kerry spokesperson, responded to Dean by saying, “Howard Dean is a one-trick pony with his angry arguments,” she said, charging that Dean is losing ground in the polls. Both Dean and Kerry were campaigning Monday in southeast Iowa.

http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?story_id=1022908&l=1&t=Iowa+%2F+Illinois&c=24,1022908

Could they be MORE obvious?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

74. But hey! He once slapped his hand down on a table!

[dajabr]

61. Kick for wyldwolf

:kick:

[bushisanidiot]

71. Dean's Passion is What is Driving New Voters into the Election Process

keep it up, Dr. Dean!!!!

THE TIDAL WAVE IS COMING!

[Nadienne]

76. I can only speak for myself:

An intense dislike for Bush is what drove me into the election process.

Passion is okay. Policy is better. I like Dean, but I worry that the foundation of his support is based too much on passion...

[trogdor]

85. Prone to gaffes? And GWB isn't?

I mean, most collections of Bushisms run in the range of 300-400 pages. Can you collect that many Deanisms? I think not.

[ThirdWheelLegend]

96. Gaffes are one thing

Deliberate misrepresentations of his own and others views on the issues is another.

And just because Dubya's are 'more evil' does that make Dean's acceptable?

TWL

[maddezmom]

98. kick n/t

[absyntheNsugar]

99. Has any canididate found a way to fight the RNC generated media lies?

Wondering here - so far the RNC Media has knocked off California's Gray Davis, (our real President-in-exile) Al Gore, and (War Hero) Max Cleland.

Bill Clinton won this war. He's all I can think of.

Dean supporters need to ask: What did Clinton do to win? How did he sucessfully counter the RNC media lies? How fast were his responses? What media outlets did he choose to deliver them?

I know he was sucessful using NPR, and very unsucessful using Pacifica.