Thank you Ralph! Vaporization of Dean irrelevant.

[JackRiddler]

Just keep that buzz going for Ralph, people.

What a distraction. He is liable to get on the order of 100,000 votes that might have gone to the Democrat, and a number of people who never would have voted for the Democrat.

At last, a witch burning! I haven't been to one since, um, Iowa!

[capriccio]

1. Witch burning in Iowa?

I believe that was self-immolation.

[JackRiddler]

2. Suggested experiment

You speak for two minutes. You may write, memorize, rehearse in advance. Make it perfect. Be electable, respectable, impeccable.

I film. I edit. I broadcast.

You may do as many takes as you like, review them and pick the one you think is best.

Hypothesis, A. In all cases, I as editor will be able to make you look good.

Hypothesis, B. In all cases, I will be able to find a one-second audio or visual snippet* with which I can make you look stupid.
B1. This may work as well if I take any snippet and add my own voiceover saying how stupid it looks.

Hypothesis, C. My broadcasting said snippet on all national news programs 633 times in the next week will result in the end of your political career in 90 percent of cases.

Second Experiment:

You are in a debate. I am Ted Koppel.

Third Experiment:

You are Janet Jackson...

Ah, never mind.

------------------------------------

* The Scream was 1 second long.

[KittyWampus]

5. The Speech Was Inappropriate & Outside The Norm

for a concession speech.

Just as there are convential ways to deliver a toast at a wedding or eulogy at a funeral...

there are expectations as to what a "concession" speech should be.

Dean was TOTALLY outside the realm of acceptable.

And with or without the sound on... he appeared manic.

[arewethereyet]

7. the votes were cast hours before the scream

and it was the people who said "no thanks" to the Dean campaign.

[JackRiddler]

9. scream merely a spike in the volume of the drumbeat...

which started weeks before The Scream, a political assassination that really turned obvious with the simultaneous "Kill Dean" covers in both Newsweek and Time.

All at once the media discovered they were worried sick - sick I tell you! - about the electability of the Democratic nominee! Good thing they decided to do that service for the party they love so much.

Perhaps you remember Ted Koppel's designated hit? Funny how he picks up the line. Feeding frenzy, people.

Suddenly everything Dean said was a "gaffe," especially whenever he got it right, to wit:

(Samples)

"Maybe we should think about the day the U.S. is no longer top dog?" (Huh? There's other dogs in the world?)

"Maybe we should worry about electronic voting..."
(Maybe HE should have worried about it?)

"I've heard interesting theories about 9/11..."
(...and I wish I could actually repeat them but I'll just tepidly test the waters here and see if the sharks bite... which they did...)

"Maybe all you idiots should stop following TV preachers who tell you God talks to them, stop worrying about what your gay neighbors are doing and who's burning the flag, and perhaps notice the minor fact that your country is completely bankrupt as of one hour ago?"

Okay, I'm paraphrasing here, but I believe you'll remember the incidents I mention.

So luckily the media stepped in to say: Watch out Democrats! We're benevolently letting you know you're about to make a biiiiiiiiig mistake, because we in the media ALWAYS have your best interests in mind.

So the media got the heavy artillery going as the units of DNC and assorted political mercenaries (note I use this term properly to denote persons who professionally perform services for payment), moved in for the kill, on behalf of the electable Kerry...

Who for five months had been delivering this truly fiery stump speech: "Dean... Dean... Dean... Dean... Dean... Dean..."

With even Kucinich throwing his people to Edwards.

THEN, and only THEN came "The Scream."

Did the other candidates' concession speeches even get covered? How come third place rates 667 TV appearances?

(My father a few weeks later: "Dean?" Waving his arms in the air. "Oh you mean that guy, who goes, yeah! yeah!" It was the first time he'd ever heard of Dean, as is the case with millions of others.)

Ioway, by the way, used to be a little diversion on the way to the main event, New Hampshire. YOU know, the one where people can actually... vote? In the old days they'd report it as a cutesy, human interest style thing:

"A few thousand people in Ioway caucused today, providing an early indicator of what may happen as we move on to the actual election next week in New Hampshire..."

The big event was always New Hampshire.

And what were the headlines for Ioway?

In New York, the News: "Kerry KOs Dean." The Post: "Dean KOed."

Oh. I get it. Game over.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAH!

Need I mention the weeks of brutal bone-busting by every operative and hack on the planet to get Dean to betray anyone who still had the gall to want to vote for him? NOOO! Give us closure, already!

Come on, make room for the electables, die already, get lost. Maniac! NUTS! GET OUT!

Let's avoid Kerry the embarassment of big pickups for Dean in the nation's two biggest states. Screw West Coast, East Coast, they have to take it or lump it.

By the way, you think Edwards would have come in second over Dean in New York? I wonder if he'll even do that now...

And then his campaign manager turns out to be some professional-class political hack who decides he wants to audition for the Kerry campaign, but fast.

Lovely!

You want to know Dean's real act of self-immolation?

Fired Trippi. Pretty gross.

I'm supposed to be content now that I don't even get to vote the one I sort of wanted in a PRIMARY so that the Democratic nomenklatura can finally feel relieved that they have closure and unity? Which apparently involves insulting and alienating all the new people Dean had picked up for them.

Brilliant!

Etc.

Full disclosure: I never signed up officially with Dean. He didn't rock my boat, except he did so more than all the others. Week by week, as I watched the above, I found myself getting more and more loyal. It was too disgusting to see how they screwed him, more importantly the people who backed him.

And it became rather obvious that Dean was the only unscripted element in the 2004 Democratic campaign. Everything predetermined, including little Dennis picking up the New Age Left vote, but then this guy almost came in and ruined it. Jesus, that was close!

Now I get to be the last idiot who joins the Dean campaign!

[shance]

3. You rock ****

I love your posts. This one is another bullseye.

thanks.

[JackRiddler]

8. *blush*

thank you! ;)

[capriccio]

4. Another experiment

You run for president. You get the lead in the polls. You get the money. You get the magazine covers. You get the endorsements. You get THE BIG ISSUE all to yoourself. Now all you have to do is get the most votes. If you do, you can drop your pants after the votes are counted and everybody laughs with you. You don't, and they laugh at you.

[lurk_no_more]

6. Ba-Da-Bing

When losing significantly, It is best not to draw all the attention to that fact.



And then there were none!
” JAFO”

[JackRiddler]

10. kick

[DoveTurnedHawk]

11. How Many Threads on This Are You Going to Start? (eom)

DTH

[JackRiddler]

12. is it a popularity contest?

Then I guess I'm losing it.

Do you have an answer? No.