Dean in Newsweek: 'I'm Feeling Like Job'

[Bucky]

Dean's latest interview in Newsweek shows the good the bad and the ugly about our favorite doctor. First the Bad, Dean's not doing too good on accountability here.

Newsweek:
But out there in Iowa in that mailing, didn't you call both Gephardt and Kerry "Bush lite"?

Dean:
Oh, I don't see the mailings. I'm talking about being on the stump. God knows what's going on in the mailings.



Then the Ugly. Whether Doctor Dean was calling Congressional Democrats cockroaches by simile or metaphor, that's exactly what he was calling them.

Newsweek:
There are some people who would say that it takes a little bit of chutzpah for you to complain since at various times you've called the people inside Washington cockroaches—

Dean:
That actually is not true. What I said was that they'll be scurrying around in Washington just like cockroaches. That is not calling members of Congress cockroaches...



But also the Good. No one calls a spade quite like Dean does. He's 100% right and just a shade too polite in this last quote.

Newsweek:
Do you think that President Bush—having captured Saddam—is tougher to beat than he was? His poll numbers are pretty good; the economy at least on the surface looks OK.

Dean:
I think it's too early to tell. The Saddam stuff is going to be temporary because we're clearly not safer. I think the economy doesn't reflect what most people think is happening in their own lives, so it's too early to tell. Until ordinary people feel like their jobs are coming back and they can pay their health-insurance bills and their kids' college-tuition bills again, I don't think that the economy has turned around.

(edited to add color to clarify who's talking)

[Rose Siding]

1. Bottom up campaign

He was willing to take the risk. He loses some control and should also lose some blame.

Ugly is in the eye of the beholder.

And the 3rd point, look around and you'll find Dean is rarely polite in reference to bush

[Bucky]

2. Point by point

Party_Line writes:
He was willing to take the risk. He loses some control and should also lose some blame.

Sorry, but no. Leaders don't dodge the blame. Dean says his hero & role model is Truman. OK, then the buck stops you-know-where. He can denounce the below the belt attacks and actually lead his supporters toward unifying tactics, or he can dodge responsibility, as you suggest he should. I respectfully disagree. Leaders lead rather than blaming subordinates (like you-know-who).


Ugly is in the eye of the beholder.

This isn't a subjective thing. Dean called Congressional Democrats cockroaches and is now flatly saying that by "cockroaches" he didn't actually mean, you know, cockroaches. And I'm like, HUH?


And the 3rd point, look around and you'll find Dean is rarely polite in reference to bush.

Dude, that 3rd point was a compliment. Take it.

[markses]

8. What's refreshing about a bottom-up

campaign is that it renounces, to some degree, leadership as such (Fuhrerprinzip). So to argue that a leader doesn't dodge blame is to miss the point, since at a certain point, we're past "leadership" as a defining political principle. I, for one, have had it with leadership, leaders, team leaders, and all the other fascist nonsense parading around as "representative democracy." It is perhaps not about dodging responsibility, but about truthfully acknowledging the change in responsibility. Now, of course there is always the danger of falling into a bureaucratic compartmentalization, in which nobody lifts a finger if its outside their department, but it doesn't seem to me that Dean is doing that here.

[aneerkoinos]

11. Hear hear!!!

<< leadership, leaders, team leaders, and all the other fascist nonsense parading around as "representative democracy." >>

[Bucky]

16. You're saying leadership = fascist nonsense? That's pretty weird

How on earth can you call "leadership, leaders, team leaders" part of fascism? That makes no sense whatsoever. Has there ever been a movement in history--for good or ill--that didn't have a leader? I don't even think such a thing is possible. Having someone in charge and exercising responsibility is not the same thing as fascism, my very young friend.

Madison et al pointed out 200+ years ago that a movement without leaders is just another form of tyranny. Then it was called tyranny of the majority. Today it's called peer pressure. Both lead to McCarthyism.

[eileen_d]

3. Dean is comedy personified.

"I'm feeling like Job" -- give me a break. You are the top-polling, media-annointed frontrunner for crying out loud.

I'm just so glad he brought up his favorite chapter in the NEW TESTAMENT so I can go to bed laughing...

[mouse7]

12. Yeah, that was pretty bad

Pretty funny, too.

[revcarol]

4. Just tell me that he's lost all his family and lost all his wealth...

then I'll believe him.

Dean, for a Christian, you really need to study your Bible more.

[progressivebydesign]

10. Do you do nothing on DU but attack Dean now?

you used to be interesting.

[JNelson6563]

13. my, my, aren't we judgemental

Judge not, lest ye be judged.

Do you realize if Dean wins the nomination you're not going to be able to rip on him here anymore?

What a sad day that would be for you, eh? Perhaps a new hobby? Something along the lines of charity work? (Surely you've heard of such?)

Julie

[Forkboy]

15. In a forest of silly posts

this stands tall.

[Melinda]

5. I wonder why the Headline's in quotes since that's not what Dean said

:shrug:

[Bucky]

6. As per LBN rules, that's the Newsweek headline. It's an unfair paraphrase

It's usually permissible to paraphrase quotes for the sake of space in headlines. Headlines aren't held to the same journalistic rigors as the bodies of news articles are. Ironically, the same holds for Newsweek's Howard Fineman.

[Melinda]

7. No need to explain this to me. My comment was on Newsweeks usage.

Not yours. Newsweek had plenty of room to run the complete quote in its proper context... a simple count of the words proves that.


*edited to add:

Do you have a favorite Bible passage or book or theologian?
I like the Book of Job.

Does it strike you more personally after this campaign?
I'm feeling a little more Job-like recently.

Why not "I'm feeling a little more Job-like"?


I'm just :shrug: in

[mouse7]

14. Quotes ARE held to the same standards

Dean never said "I feel like Job" anywhere in the the interview.

Newsweek headlines the article with a fabricated quote. It doesn't matter how fabricated a quote is. Any change of the wording of what a person says placed in quotation marks is libelous.

The magazine needs to be called on the carpet for serious violations of accepted journalistic standards.

[madfloridian]

9. Whoa, when did we start asking politicians if they were *saved*?

No wonder Dean is getting a little pissed off.

How dare a reporter ask a politician a question this personal.

SNIP..."Do you see Jesus Christ as the son of God and believe in him as the route to salvation and eternal life?
I certainly see him as the son of God. I think whether I'm saved or not is not gonna be up to me.

I would like to see them ask all the candidates this if they are going to do it to him.