How Dean supporters could counter the "crazy speech" spin

[Democat]

I watched the Dean clip and I see this as mostly just another Wellstone Funeral right wing media echo chamber issue.

Here is what I think Howard Dean supporters should have done immediately after it was clear that the spin was about to get out of control.

Go find clips of right wing politician (Bush/Reagan/Lott/Giuliani/Schwarzenegger/etc.) or even highly respected left leaning politician (Kennedy) or maybe even leaders that were not politicians (MLK, Gandhi, Chavez) and get those out to the media and to the left wing websites as quickly as possible.

Much of what's going on right now is that people are just hearing that Howard Dean went crazy. When you actually see the clip, he yelled to his supporters to get them excited. The public needs to see Dean's performance in context of what other politicians, who they know and respect, have done in the past.

Can it be possible that there are no clips anywhere in news archives or Arnold Schwarzenegger or Trent Lott yelling to their supporters?

In the history of U.S. politics, is Howard Dean the first politician to ever yell?

I have seen this issue used all over the web and the media and I have not seen one clip of other politicians doing the same thing. I think it would really help Dean to be able to show Bush or Cheney yelling at a campaign rally somewhere in the past.

Does anyone know if the Dean campaign has done research on this? Are their links to websites that have found other clips?

Democrats need to get much better at fighting right wing spin. This is just the beginning of the campaign for all of our candidates. If the right wing media are allowed to destroy Dean this easily, every other Democrat will be taken out in the same way until Bush is the only one left in the race.

[patricia92243]

1. Great idea! And it is not too late!

[Maddy McCall]

2. Using Republican tantrum to justify Dean's speech? Bad idea.

[Jim Sagle]

7. No, GOOD idea. Unless you like the Dukakis approach.

[Democat]

8. Not a tantrum, a speech

If every time some right winger said "Dean went crazy, he can't be president" - you could show a clip of Ronald Reagan yelling at a campaign stop in 1984, that would destroy their argument.

What can they say to showing Reagan yelling and Dean yelling?

Right now they are acting like no politician in U.S. history has ever raised his voice during a campaign.

Arnold Schwarzenegger should be the obvious one. He seems like a guy who would have been yelling all over California during the recall.

Republicans want to change the constitution to make Arnold eligible for the Whitehouse - will they change their position if someone can find a clip of him yelling at a campaign stop?

[Maddy McCall]

14. The problem is, it isn't just Republicans saying it; lots of Democrats too

[dorktv]

11. How so?

It just proves that everyone is human.

[tigerbeat]

3. ted kennedy....

....actually the daily show ran a clip of ted kennedy introducing kerry the very same night and it was just as red-faced, over-the-top and screechy as dean was.

i gotta give credit to the daily show, the had fun at dean's expense, but immediately pointed out that this was not a huge issue by showing someone else the very same night behaving the same way.

[HFishbine]

5. Then they cut to Kerry

who looked positively narcoleptic.

[Fleshdancer]

6. Yep. Kennedy was yelling and I don't think he's "scary" or "crazy"

Perhaps the Kerry supporters who thought Dean was unstable could enlighten me on their thoughts of Kennedy's performance?

[mzmolly]

4. Exactly what I said right away!

Perhaps a sympathetic reporter will ?

[Merlin]

9. Wrong. This is MUCH MORE than right wing spin.

You will not find clips of other candidates as embarrassing as this except for:
-Muskie's crying on the bandbox in NH.
-Nixon's "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore" post CA gov defeat press conference in '62
-Bush Sr's "Read My Lips"
-BigDawg's "I did not have sexual relations with that woman."

Each of those mistakes was devastating--if not fatal by itself--to their maker for many years thereafter.

Monday was a serious and profound departure from decorum by Dean. We would be completely foolish to be in denial over this truth.

Dean needs to seriously apologize for his overzealous and "red meat" (as he calls it) behavior.

As a good first step toward correction, he needs to give up--forever--that rowdy, silly cheerleading he did at the end of each speech ("You Have The Power! You Have The Power! You Have The Power! You Have The Power!)

He must remain "Presidential" from here on out. This is major league baseball. It's hardball. And it's World Series time.

[LoZoccolo]

12. Are you ready for the big time?

Big screen TV?

[mzmolly]

15. Bullshit. Ted Kennedy's intro of John Kerry was every bit as passionate.

:hi:

Ever hear MLK speak? How bout Kennedy? Passion-it's a good thing ;)

[Maddy McCall]

16. Perfect, merlin. I echo your points.

That's why I said they need to quit targeting Republicans as if Republicans alone thought the speech was, um, well, inappropriate.

[Zinnola]

17. If your idea of presidential is lack of passion

Dean has nothing to apologize for and nothing to be embarrassed about. I am more embarrassed by the lot of wimpy Dems who are living up to their subservient ways by saying how "scary" he was ad nauseum. This wimpy behavior by is going to give Bush his ticket for re-election. It did not work in 2000, not gonna work this year.

Say no to lobotomized candidates!!

[LoZoccolo]

10. The speech is pretty much a Rorschach test.

The people who want him to be a lunatic say he's a lunatic.

The people who support him see him hyping the crowd in an exciting way.

And the rest of the people think it's kind of funny and over-the-top but no big deal.

[LiberalBushFan]

13. the only thing he can do to counter this

is to make fun of it himself on TV. That will counter the spin and give him a very likeable image.

[RUexperienced]

18. DU was as hard on Dean as any RW media sources

Did you not read any of the "DEAN JUST FLIPPED OUT ON CNN" threads?