Posted on 01/20/2004 5:02:22 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest
Edited on 01/20/2004 5:07:54 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
It wasn't only Iowa Dems who voted. The liberal media have too. And to judge by the performance of Katie Couric and Matt Lauer on this morning's Today Show, Dean is dirt and Kerry's the man.
"A pretty impressive showing," said Katie with a smile regarding Kerry's victory at the top of the show.
"The man whose campaign was all but left for dead has won Iowa after a stunning turnaround."
"Howard Dean goes home with a third-place finish."
Katie greeted Kerry with the warm smile she reserves for Dem faves. "How do you pull this off?", she asked, her voice chirpily rising and almost breaking.
Surprisingly, though, Katie did ask some tougher questions. She mentioned that some are crediting his "deep pockets" for the win, and quoted someone from the Washington Post to the effect that it's not healthy for a candidate to be able to bankroll his own campaign.
Kerry pointed out he was outspent "by an opponent" (Dean).
Katie: "Will you continue to hammer Edwards on his lack of experience and are you concerned Clark will co-opt Iraq issue?"
Kerry: "I have run a positive campaign, but there are important differences among the candidates. We need a candidate with significant foreign policy and domestic experience."
Katie: "The landscape is littered with candidates who won in Iowa and didn't go on to win the nomination. How much are you making out of your victory?"
Kery: "I'm not making anything out of it. I'm here in NH, I'm the underdog here."
The funny dynamic was that Katie wanted to talk horse race, and every time Kerry got to open his mouth, out would spill his canned spiel. The look on Katie's face made it obvious she was somewhat exasperated by his canned comments. Kerry was being very disciplined and playing it safe. This was annoying, but for a guy who wants to portray himself as presidential and safe, it might actually help him.
The on to a brief interview with Edwards by Matt Lauer. "Prior to election night, your aides were quietly circulating the notion that 'third was first', so what does second do for you?"
Naturally, Edwards thought it was "a huge boost."
Can you remain positive attitude now that you have become a front runner and will come under attacks? "My positive approach is not a strategy, it is who I am. [A little vanity creeping in?] That doesn't mean I won't respond if someone attacks me."
Lauer: Kerry has commented on your lack of experience, the "still in diapers when I was getting back from Nam" comment.
Edwards: "The truth is I've worked very hard on issues of national security, and am on intelligence committee, worked on legislation to make country safer (of course he won't mention the Patriot Act by name!), have traveled to foreign countries and met with leaders and with intelligence community at home."
There was some refreshing frankness: "To be honest, the vote in Iowa was a surprise. I have no way of knowing what will happen in NH." He also said that he was not a good enough of a politician, during the week of the NH primary, not to admit that he was rooting for the Carolina Panthers against New England in the Super Bowl. "There my team!"
Then it was on to an interview by Katie of Dean: "What happened?" Dean: "I was the front runner and I took a lot of flak. It was tough but I got a ticket out of Iowa and now I hope to do well in NH."
Katie: "The more positive candidates did well. Do you wish you had been less pugnacious in your ads?"
Dean: "They weren't that tough. Kerry's mailings were in fact much tougher. He wouldn't be known as being so positive if people knew what was in those mailings."
Katie: "After the results came in, you gave a fired up speech. Some people thought you would implode. Some say you looked like the [borderline psycho character from the movie Network shouting "we're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore]. At the same time Kerry remained senatorial in his demeanor. Did you get out of control and over the top?"
Dean: "There were 3500 young people who turned up and they deserved a little fun - we're going to have fun in this campaign."
Next came what I consider the highlight of the entire segment, what I'd describe as a political Freudian slip in which Dean envisioned defeat and withdawal.
Katie asked: "In a lot of people's minds, the issue is electability. Many Iowans seemed to say that when they voted for Kerry and Edwards."
In response, the cocky pre-Iowa Dean would surely have boasted that he was going to win the race. Instead, Dean spoke quietly of being the only person in the race "who's ever balanced a budget or delivered health care."
He then added "that's the kind of campaign I'm going to run for as long as I'm in it, and then, realizing the implications of what he had just said, hastily added, "and I expect to be in this campaign for a long time."
A "long time"? Not "to the end," or "until I win"? Some of the strut has gone out of the bantam rooster.
Next came a Lauer interview with Tim Russert. Can everyone agree that Russert never has an original thought or a bold prediction? He is useful only as a barometer of the most conventional of conventional wisdom.
Lauer was also clearly transfixed by Dean's screaming, over-the-top performance in his post-results speech.
Lauer: "Did Dean's speech show why some voters are uncomfortable with him?" Russert agreed (you'll notice that Russert will almost always agree with whatever question is being pitched to him. His favorite response is an enthusiastic "absolutely!")
Said Russert: "Dean seems too angry, too liberal. What character and temperament does he want to show?"
Russert spoke of the moment where Dean told a critic at a rally to sit down and shut up as a turning point that got very wide play.
Russert concluded with yet another trite piece of conventional wisdom: "this is going to be a three- or four-way race for some time to come."
Go ahead, Katie. We see only a horse face.
Yeah, and all that jazz about "organization"---really mattered didn't it?
Bad day for the union thugs.
You're correct... common sense prevails. On with the gloating!
Hey, you win the line of the day. Sehr gut!
OK, you've convinced me. I'm going to give up hope!
Yes...he would prove to be no competition, the man is mentally unstable, as we witnessed last night, his own party kicked him to the curb.
Is Kerry a more formidible opponent, or not?
I have a funny feeling that Edwards is going to be the one, not Kerry.
1. The Iowa caucus was "big" in that it effectively ended the campaign of one candidate (Gephardt) and that it showed a serious lack of appeal in the Midwest for an "angry" candidate (Dean).
2. Despite Kerry's strong performance, he has an uphill climb over the next few months because he'll have a hard time winning any primaries in the South.
3. Lieberman is going to be the next Democrat to drop out of the race.
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