The Dean Disappointment: I want to like him. I really do

OpinionJournal ^ | January 8, 2004 | Peggy Noonan

[lonestar]

I love Peggy Noonan but because I don't like Howard Dean, I don't want to like Howard Dean.

He is the "Damn Yankee" and my heroes have always been cowboys.

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[samtheman]

the Republican Party is never at its best when faced with a lame challenger.

I beg to differ.

Reagan vs. Mondale

They didn't come much lamer than Mondale, and there hasn't been a more successful second term than Reagan's.

Sorry, Peggy. The only thing that's lame around here is this idea you have that the country "needs" a strong RAT nominee.

[JimVT]

But Mr. Dean is not Mr. McGovern in a more important way.

....In more than one important way...

McGovern, a South Dakota preacher's son, was a 19-year-old college sophomore when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He immediately volunteered for service and less than three years later was piloting one of the big, unwieldy B-24 Liberator bombers. Completing 35 missions over Europe, McGovern went on to earn a Distinguished Flying Cross for his service.

[xsmommy]

He is not a happy warrior but an angry one. In the past I have thought of him as an angry little teapot, but that is perhaps too merry an image. His eyes are cold marbles, in repose his face falls into lines of mere calculation, and he holds himself with a kind of no-neck pugnacity that is fine in a wrestling coach or a tax lawyer but not in a president. We like our presidents sunny, easygoing and optimistic. They have access to the nuclear launch code, and we don't want them losing their tempers easily. Mr. Dean's supporters no doubt see him as optimistic, but optimists aren't angry

oh i love Peggy. an angry little teapot, indeed....

[xsmommy]

I hope something surprising happens in Iowa, and New Hampshire, and in the South. I hope it becomes a real fight on the Democratic side, and I hope that fight yields up someone who is serious, substantive, and thoughtful. But that's not what I see coming. What I see coming is a Dean nomination followed by a rancorous campaign followed by a Dean defeat

hey, i can live with that!

[fml]

Angry little teapot, lol. That image will stick with me.

[OldFriend]

Peggy making sure she gets invited on those RAT programs! UGH!

[TheGeezer]

His was the shrewdest, quickest read of the Democratic voter of 2004.

This was an insight, something I'd not realized or seen in print: Dean appeals to the most emotional, least rational component of the DemocRat core. I thought that was "rev" Al Sharpton, but I stand corrected.

A very good Noonan article. Thanks for the post.

[xsmommy]

i am picturing him doing the I'm a Little Teapot song, with that oh so angry face that they had on the cover of the National Review a few weeks back, with the caption that said PLEASE NOMINATE THIS MAN....

[fml]

He's a little tea pot, short on clout
Here is his handle, here is his spout
When he gets all steamed up, boy he shouts
What I'd give to punch... him.... out.

[xsmommy]

that's going to be stuck in my head all day!

[blue jeans]

re: Mr. Dean's forces used the Internet with great and impressive creativity, and not only in fund-raising

I'll say. Given what's been said lately about moveon.org, who knows 'who all' has funnelled 'how much' through that organization (of course indirectly benefitting him and the other 8). Shoot, with dollars being sent over web to him, makes you wonder if foreign funds he could be directly benefitting him.

Either way, I'm sure he's the favorite candidate outside of our borders.. and Peggy forgot to mention that. In fact, he's probably the horse that they're betting on.

[The Red Zone]

dum DOOM!

[buffyt]

billorites! My COMPLIMENTS to you! I was going to post this and you beat me to it. Good going! Great article, huh?

[astounded]

Exactly. I posted up the non-comparison between Senator McGovern and Dean a while ago. McGovern, unlike Dean, was actually a real man, not an "angry little teapot". My question is, what, exactly, does that sorry little pissant Dean have to be "angry" about? He was raised on Park Avenue, attended the best boarding schools and colleges, successfully dodged the draft and skied Aspen, was elected to be the overseer of a little, irrelevant bastion of leftism, and now really does nothing useful in the way of actual work. Sounds like a pretty cushy life, if you ask me, so what is this little jerk "angry" about? I think he's a phony, on the order of either Clinton, who are the benchmarks in that category. And, I think these so-called "Deanies" are a really scary bunch.

[hobbes1]

In the past I have thought of him as an angry little teapot

Actually he is an angry little Despot.....

[billorites]

"I have thought of him as an angry little teapot, but that is perhaps too merry an image. "

[samtheman]

Exactly. She cares more about her status as a pundit than she does about the truth.