The TV media played that awful scream clip too much. They played it as a story about the front-runner placing third, (or was it fourth), in the first primary vote. They played it as the front-runner freaking out. They played it as him not freaking out but firing up a room full of disappointed volunteers. They played it as a "here's what everyone's playing" story. And they played it as an "are we playing it too much?" story. But the fact is, he had a really well-run campaign going, with good fund-raising and volunteer operations, and he was the front-runner media darling before the first votes of the primaries, but when the mainstream of the democratic party spoke they didn't want the guy. He was too radical. He had to be shell-shocked at the same time the media was over-playing the story of him and his scream, and it seems particularly harsh for the guy. But I don't think he was victimized by anyone. It's just that TV news is stupid, and it became a part of the story of a guy who wasn't going to get the nomination regardless. That's the nature of American politics. It's ugly and stupid, but in the history of American politics, Dean got off light. Things have already gotten uglier for Kerry and Bush than they were for Dean, and it's only going to get worse from here.
EDIT: I said "that awful scream clip," which it was in the end, but it was also funny as hell. And he handled it the best way possible by making fun of himself, even when they were rubbing it in his face. I actually started thinking "maybe this guy's not so bad afterall?" when I saw him on Meet the Press saying "Look at me. I'm having a great time! I don't regret that at all." I think it showed that he deserved more respect than he was getting. But he didn't deserve the nomination because of his message, not the scream.
<img src="http://scripts.cgispy.com/image.cgi?u=bonedaddy5">
I'm chatty!
This message was edited by Yerdaddy on 2-18-04 @ 2:50 PM