Howard Dean's rapid rise and fall

Hendersonville Times-News ^ | April 2, 2004 | John Fogle

[Gritty]

Many years ago, shortly after getting my driver's license, I rounded up two buddies and went for a drive. Sorry to say, but while traveling on a two-lane road, as a random juvenile prank, I refused to allow another driver to pass me -- speeding up when he got beside me -- and was charged with failure to yield right-of-way.

When the officer asked for my statement, I reeled off an elaborate spin about how I was protecting the other guy -- he really didn't have room to pass, or some such nonsense. The nugget in this story, however, was the response of one of my buddies, when asked for his statement. Perhaps Wendell wasn't confident that he could follow the intricacies of the tale, or maybe he thought he would choke when he came to the part about protecting the other fellow. Who knows?

For whatever reason, Wendell would only say "Whatever John says is right." That's it. Regardless of prodding by the officer, Wendell, bless his heart, repeated that line over and over, until the officer finally gave up.

So, you ask, how does that relate to the downfall of Howard Dean? Because, quite simply, Dean's campaign message was "Whatever Bush says is wrong." That's it. No amount of prodding could get Dean off that basic message, ultimately leading to his demise.

Dean was a meltdown waiting to happen. All it would have taken is for an impudent reporter to say "Gov. Dean, in a speech today, the President claimed that the pope is a Catholic. What is your response?" Dean would probably have said "Well, that just shows you how out-of-touch Bush is. Of course the pope is not a Catholic."

While the above fictitious meltdown would have been much more fun, the real meltdown happened when Saddam Hussein was captured. With virtually everyone in the world aware that his capture made Americans (and the rest of the world) safer, Dean stuck to his story: Whatever Bush says is wrong.

Suppose someone said "The fact that people died on U.S. highways last weekend is proof positive that seat belts and air bags do not make Americans safer." We would question his sanity. Yet, that is exactly analogous to Dean's statement that the heightened terror alert after Saddam's capture proves absolutely that the capture didn't make us safer.

The demise of Saddam didn't make us absolutely safe, just like seat belts and air bags don't make us absolutely safe. But, without doubt, both improve our safety.

And Dean is sticking to his story. Referring to the recent Madrid bombings on "Meet the Press" March 14, Dean said, "For the president of the United States to assert that we are safer because Saddam Hussein is in jail is ludicrous given what happened three days ago in Spain." In other words, whatever Bush says is wrong.

Many pundits have offered theories on Dean's downfall; some even mentioning Saddam's capture. And, some single-issue analysts blame it on their own pet issue. For example, people who think potholes are the biggest problem in America probably think that his campaign should have emphasized his solution to the pothole problem. But, it was his response to Saddam's capture that finally signaled to the public that Dean lacks the judgment for the highest office in the land.

Remember, he had already fallen to a third place finish in Iowa, before the scream and before the media's reaction to it, so neither could have caused the fall.

Early on, Dean recognized that the Democratic primary process was essentially a competition to determine who hates Bush the most, and he clearly whipped the other candidates in that contest. But, alas, he failed to recognize that some statements are just so stupid that even Democrats have enough common sense to reject them, and left the prize to the runner-up Bush hater, John Kerry.

Kerry has foot-in-mouth problems too, and incredulously declared that viewing Saddam's collapse did not cause Libya's Moammar Gadhafi to suddenly give up his chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs, an assertion that flies in the face of all common sense. In fact, Gadhafi's capitulation is one of the more definitive dividends of the Iraq war so far. As a proud member of "the most crooked, you know, lying group" that Kerry has ever seen, I hope he keeps talking.

[hometoroost]

I knew Dean's goose was cooked when Jude Wanniski called him a "serious candidate."

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[jamaksin]

Or "ANYONE BUT BUSH ... AND HOWARD DEAN" ...

[Fenris6]

I knew it as soon as Algore endorsed him. Its true that the media helped in his downfall by replaying his screech out of context, but I found it to be poetic justice. Dean made his name with irresponsible hyperbolic attacks on Bush - its only fair that he was hoist on his on petard.

[Lady Jag]

There is a definite pattern here and some distinct similarities.

   

[longshadow]

"Dean was a meltdown waiting to happen."

The author arrives at the right conclusion, but for the wrong reasons.

Dean's political demise was sealed before he started because any candidate for president in the post 9/11 reality whose salient credentials could be summarized as having the National Security experience of a dog-catcher in Danby-Four-Corners, the economic know-how of quarry hand in Barre, and the Foreign Policy experience of a Carney barker at the Tunbridge Fair would inevitably have been laughed of the political stage by the Vast Undecided Middle, who decide every election.

His "I hate Bush" routine was his ticket to instant notority among the hard left who dominate Democrat Primary elections and the left-leaning media morons, and in the end, had very little to do with his demise. Bush-bashing got him noticed; his lack of essential qualifications and weird behavior sealed his fate.

[Congressman Billybob]

Good morning, my friend,

I had the same reaction to Dean's boneheaded comment about the capture of Saddam, but didn't write about it. The national press also made little of the comment, though some to their credit did put Dean's comment side by side with the poll results that Americans generally DID feel safer with Saddam in hand and in a cell.

I trust you will ping this thread to John, so he sees the comments posted here. His general point is correct, that EVEN Democrats came to realize that Dean was too far removed from reality to belong in the White House. And he may be correct that the Dean reaction to the Saddam capture was the tipping point in that realization.

Congressman Billybob

Click here, then click the blue CFR button, to join the anti-CFR effort (or visit the "Hugh & Series, Critical & Pulled by JimRob" thread). Please do it now.

[Gritty]

As per Billybob's request....

[.cnI redruM]

Lieberman may have been an also-ran in his own campaign, but when he was on TV saying that Howard Dean was "hiding in a spider-hole of denial', that's what cooked Dean's goose. That's when people started wondering how much of a nut-hatch this Dean turkey really was.

"YEEEEEAAAAAHHHHHGGGGGGGGG" merely closed the deal.

[Zack Nguyen]

LOL. Good points. The Vast Undecided Middle isn't as big as it used to be, by the way. Total number of true swing voters is less than 10% of the total electorate.

[TASMANIANRED]

Part of the reason Dean lost was he thought he was running against Rush Limbaugh. He mentioned him in a rant nearly every speech.