Yowl, Yell or Yodel, Dean Painted As Demonic

Two days after his Iowa "concession" speech, Howard Dean is still being pegged as a raging lunatic. Sarah Schweitzer, writing for the Boston Globe, reports:

Monday night, Dean stood before supporters following Iowa caucus results. "We're going to South Carolina and Oklahoma and Arizona and North Dakota and New Mexico," he shouted, his voice at once raspy and shrill. "We're going to California and Texas and New York, and we're going to South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan. And then we're going to Washington, D.C., to take back the White House."

Then he let out a yell that appeared part growl, part yodel -- which television networks and talk radio played over and over yesterday. Critics said the moment would be fodder for rivals' commercials for weeks. Some went further, calling it a potentially defining moment of the campaign.

Thomas Fitzgerald, writing for Knight Ridder Newspapers, reports:

Two days later, his yowl continues to reverberate in the Democratic presidential race. Comedian Jay Leno has joked about it for two nights running, Boston talk-radio hosts use Dean's primal scream as a soundtrack and mocking remixes of it are available on the Internet.

[. . .]

"I'm not an expert in politics," Leno said Monday night. "But I think it's a bad sign when your speech ends with your aides shooting you with a tranquilizer gun."

Leno came back for more Tuesday: "Did you seen Howard Dean's speech last night? Oh, my God! Now I hear the cows in Iowa are afraid of getting mad-Dean disease."

Clips of Dean's Yowl have been repeatedly played in the national media for two days. The image of Dean's "Yeaaaahhhhhhghhhh" yell is considered by some to be a "Muskie Moment."

The blogosphere is having a lot of fun with Dean's Yowl as well. There are several remixes, such as barlowfarms, or this from Lileks, easily found throughout the blogosphere.

Then there are a number of images posted in which Dean looks demonic. Some are even used in caption contests.

After hearing the audio clip and remixes all day I decided to watch the video. Maybe I'm just a visual guy, but watching the video convinces me we are being unfair to Dean. The video clearly demonstrates that Dean was trying to rally disappointed campaign workers. In the video Dean does not come across as demonic or maniacal. I'm not a Dean supporter. It just seems that the yowl yell is being taken out of context. Because the audio clip and remixes are becoming so ingrained, Dean should not, or can not, fight the image.

If I were Dean, I would use the remixes as theme music for campaign event.

If you have the bandwidth, you can watch the video by going to Boston.com News, scroll down the column on the right until you find necn realvideo and click on Dean celebrates 3d place.

Comments

[Scott Harris]

I played the video of Dean's speech for my kids. "What's wrong with him?" was their question.

The high school senior who picks up my girls from elementary school, and tutors my youngest daughter on Tuesday and Thursday informed me that the Dean speech was played during class on Tuesday, and that is all that was talked about all day in school.

My kids, 9, 11, and 13 were running around the house chasing each other Tuesday night yelling YEEEAAGHH. My wife asked them to stop, and I told her to lighten up. After all, they were just practicing for their future political campaigns.

Like it or not, fair or not, Dean is toast. That is really unfortunate for all Bush supporters. A Dean vs. Bush race was a dream for die hard Republicans. Looks like the Democrats are not going to all hold hands and drink the Dean Koolaid. Oh well, we're gonna have a real race for the White House in 2004 instead of a carnival.

[Myria]

The Duke's tank ride really wasn't that big a deal at the time, either. He was trying to make a point that both he and his supporters apparently thought valid. He looked silly doing it, though, and history remembers it as the turning point. I don't really think it was, I think his mushy answer to the rape question was a much bigger deal, but that is barely remembered. I strongly suspect that the Deaniac scream will be remembered as Dean's tank moment simply because, fairly or not, that's how these things tend to go.

Myria

[California Yankee]

Gina

Don't get me wrong, Bush is my guy. I just think that in the video Dean doesn't look as bad as the audio clips make him sound.

[Gina]

Well, we all have our opinions.

Dean isn't demonic, you're right there, but he is a bit obsessive in the "Hate Bush" theme.

My thought is he just channeled all his hatred for Bush into his speech on Monday. And it was a "concession" speech, whether you believe it or not. He's done.

That disappoints greatly, too. I was so looking forward to having "Powered by Howard" as our Democratic candidate.

Now the comedy has been lost. My advice?

Remove your blinders and really watch the speech again. Or perhaps take a really deep breath and look at the world around you.

Bush ain't the best, I'll be the first to admit that. But until anything better comes along, he's got my vote so far.