Howard Dean to hold press conference.

Fox | Jan 9 2004

[Dog]

Howard will be speaking on his comments about the Iowa Causus. Dean is trying to do damage control..

[Wphile]

LOL!

I just found it incredibly depressing. It's probable that one of them may not vote at all but the other two are a lock.

[Wphile]

Don't forget that he said, "Iowa has been very good to me." I laughed out loud at that. Reminder me of the Saturday Night Live skit wherein the guy says, "Maria has been very good to me. In fact she was very, very good to me last night!"

[William McKinley]

You can't see why comments about a primary or caucus being unimportant and unrepresentative of anything important might be a bit controversial to those who run and participate in said primary or caucus? Seems to me that it is pretty obvious that it is a major screwup.

[bobo1]

Howard Dean,

A man of his most recent words.

blessings,

bobo

[Sloth]

It was hilarious... something like this (mostly paraphrased):

Q: "Do you still think the Iowa caucuses are made up of extremists?"

D: "I never have thought that."

Q: "Isn't that what you said in 2000?"

D: "I was speaking -- four years ago. If I knew then what I know now -- [pause] Iowa has been very good to me. I couldn't run for president if I didn't have Iowa."

Q: "Does that mean you retract your statement in 2000?"

D: "Iowa's a great place for people like me who have started out with no money and now have a good message."

[Dog]

Fox just played that clip....OMG!!!!

[Dog]

William you need to watch the clip of Carl Cameron catching Dean in the hallway.....

[Krodg]

Howard Dean,

A man of his most recent words.

LOL...You sure have him nailed...

[BushisTheMan]

Just put ice on that lip...

[HitmanLV]

I don't think Dean said that, at least, I didn't read he said that.

Seems that he said a few years ago that 'the Iowa caucuses is dominated by special interests,' saying that they "don't represent the centrist tendencies of the American people, they represent the extremes?"

That's not saying they are unimportant - actually, I think there is something to what he said. As for the folks in Iowa taking it personally, I am not a good judge of that. I know if something similar was said about politics in ny state where I lived for a long time, I wouldn't take it as an affront.

And is anybody of a significant stature in the coming out swinging and explictly saying that the Iowa caucuses are NOT dominated by special interests, and DO represent the centrist tendencies of the American people?

[William McKinley]

I could become his Boswell. I could become a Bernstein wrapped in a Woodward and with a yellow bow tied round."

Now of course the political press is viewing those tapes. Just the other day, The Washington Post quoted some of Dean's characteristically ill-conceived quips. Journalists are beginning to call me to ask what Dean was like in those faraway days of his political virginity. "He seemed fiery, but was he genial?" "He seemed very much a conventional mainstream Democrat, but was he really ideologically driven?" One caller asked if the Dr. Howard Dean whom I encountered in the 1990s was a "George McGovern type or a McCarthy type?" I assumed he was referring to Gene, not Joe McCarthy.

Well, how am I to answer the increasing number of inquiries I receive from my brethren in the press corps? I try to observe the discretion of a gentleman. I try to keep confidences. When Dean confronted me, it was a turbulent time. His Democratic colleagues, the Clintons, had created problems of a moral nature that compromised other Democrats. Is it ethical to judge him today for sentiments he impetuously expressed in those days?

Frankly, I feel a protective sense regarding his youthful appearance back then. In terms of his political life, he was a mere pup. He was frisky with the urge to yip and gambol in the sunshine. And he was a loyalist. One could tell he wanted to leap to the defense of his party's standard-bearer despite the squalor that that standard-bearer backed into...

Shall I betray my views of Dean lo those many years ago and be but another conniver in the political maelstrom of ego?

Sounds like he came to the right answer!

[William McKinley]

Your quote is accurate, and I stand by my interpretation of it. If it is by and of the extremists, then it is not important or relevant for most of America.

[HitmanLV]

I just don't see it that way. My opinion is probably colored by the fact that I think Dean could have reasonably come to that conclusion about past Iowa caucuses.

[William McKinley]

R. Emmett Tyrell. LisaFab jogged my memory. The link is just above.

[William McKinley]

Oh, it is undoubtably a true statement.

Which is one of the reasons it will piss off the Iowan Democrats so much. That blows their whole secret and strips away the masquerade of respectability they try so hard to present.

[AmishDude]

Prediction: Before the election season is over, Howard Dean will spontaneously combust.

[okie01]

"I thought Clark would be more formidable also, until he opened his mouth concerning abortion."

For that matter, you could've put a period after "mouth".

[ShandaLear]

If we're lucky, maybe he'll end up crying like Muskie did.

[Kevin Curry]

LOL!

Dean's wearing gunpowder underwear and Tyrell's holding a match!

Dean can't remember or account for anything he said 20 minutes ago--let alone half a decade.

[ChadGore]

Re: Uh oh, Dean's on, he looks paranoid, . .

"Strawberries?" (c)MaCain (used with permision by Coward Dean)