Why Dean's campaign strategy may be right

[sandnsea]

So I've been posting here for a few months and most of my threads are completely ignored. I thought it was because people thought I was stupid or they just wanted me to go away or had me on ignore (which may well be true anyway).

But then I post the white male thread and suddenly there's more response than I've had from every other post combined. There's lots of posts on the board about wedge issues and Republican strategy and the white christian repbulican and men and guns and men and war and men and what they think and why they're voting Republican. When I heard Matthews say only 1 in 5 men are Democrats, it suddenly dawned on me that white men and their wives are claiming the Republican Party while the rest are sticking with the Democrats. Obvious conclusion... white males think they need/deserve their own party. Well what a response, suddenly lots of posts.

It was scandalous. It was divisive. It was hateful. It was enough to provoke people. Is that what Dean knows about the American people?

Does it really take cat fights and mud slinging and name calling to get the people's attention? Are we really just a nation of WWF and Jerry Springer? Are the issues really not as important as the perceived political brawl?

If that's the case, I'll give Dean a pass on his entire campaign. I think I have a good idea of who Dean was as a governor and while I still prefer somebody more liberal, I at least know what to tell people about him if he gets the candidacy.

So, whaddya think? Are we really reduced to Jerry Springer politics?

[JustJoe]

1. How do you equate

Jerry Springer & Howard Dean, specifically?

[sandnsea]

4. The Bush Brawl

For one. He's coming out in an all out Texas brawl with Bush.

I'd say he's done it against other candidates too, but if you can just see it with Bush, then maybe you see what I mean.

And it's really not a condemnation of Dean at all. If he sees this is what it takes to get America's attention, then good to him. Seriously. Whatever it takes to get people to wake the hell up.

[JustJoe]

6. He's taking the fight to Bush

for the sake of the leadership of the US in
terrible times. I cant see equating
that with Jerry Springer's prurient bullshit.
We need somebody who can & will fight for us
& the country & maybe the world. Jerry Springer?
You say he's "done it against other candidates,
too." You mean the pro-war guys? It seems as long as
Kerry & Lieberman are going after Dean, he's
got the right & the duty to go after them. I
dont see how challenging other candidates on issues
of war & peace equates with a brawl on Jerry Springer.
Other posters have said Dean's passionate &
gets crowds worked up & his campaign people
know how to work the media. Hello? That's just good
politics. Still dont see the kinship between
Springer's clownshow & Dean fighting to take back
the country from Bush & the assholes running
this country into the swamp.

[tedoll78]

2. I noted a difference between Dean and the others.

Dean yells. I mean LOUD. The others may raise their voices, but their eyes don't bulge-out, and their veins don't become visible, and they don't go up on their tippy-toes when they raise their voices. Dean does all of this at once, all while screaming what the audience has been hungry to hear for such a long time.

Not only that, but his speaking style invites the crowd to respond likewise. I went to his speech in Austin - the crowd was SCREAMING back. A very real, heartfelt, top-of-one's-lungs, visceral response. There was something primative, something cathartic about raising one's voice so loud with a few thousand other people. It felt great, and his reaction to the crowd's screams only amplified things. Old people screaming, young people screaming, little kids joining-in, dogs with Dean bandanas looking perplexed.. it all added-up to a circus-like atmosphere, and there Dean was, in the middle - the ringmaster. Wasn't that the name of a Jerry Springer movie? Ahh!

Another thing I notice his campaign doing.. it's always "announcing" something..

"We're going to have pet pictures online!"
"We're going to buy advertisements {here}!"
"We're going to raise $xxx in yyy days!"
"We're going to be all over the place this week!"
"By the way, another Republican just endorsed me!"

His campaign is hitting us with little surprise after little surprise, and the media is eating it up! It's the positive version of "drip drip drip."

That's what I think.

[lcordero]

3. This is my line of reasoning

A person is labeled as wimpy or effeminate if they don't speak up, is too nice, isn't assertive, won't differentiate themselves or flip-flop too much.

Dean is ahead of the pack because he has spoken up and is willing to do it in very direct words.

Using nice words is too boring. A person needs to use active and direct words in order to hold somebody's attention.

On edit: Dean is refreshing because he is not afraid to use "smashmouth" politics.

[sandnsea]

7. Dean - the guy who "kicks ass"

Personally, I see Dean as wimpy and a flip-flopper. Who he says he is and what he did in Vermont don't mesh.

But if Dean is counting on the fact that the American people have the attention span of a gnat and aren't going to take the time to delve into his actual positions as a Governor, then he can do anything he wants to while he campaigns. If all it takes is to be perceived as the guy who 'kicks ass' to win the Presidency in 2004, then he may well be on his way. This is a compliment by the way, not a condemnation of his campaign. Like I say, I can live with Dean as President, I would just prefer somebody with a stronger liberal background.

[chimpymustgo]

5. Sandnsea, I think it's Jerry Springer meets Laci Peterson.

I have not liked Howard Dean since he was asked about the Confederate flag in South Carolina on MJK's birthday. Visibly uncomfortable, Dean said, it's a state's issue. Edwards, Kerry, Gephardt said the flag should come down.

Then I watched during the run-up to the war - and Dean's position was all over the map - but he seemed to settle on a stance much closer to Kerry and Edwards than he will now admit.

But Dean saw an opening, and he and his aides started attacking Kerry, distorting, hitting, using both whispers and screams. And Dean got some attention. And then he started attacking, and distorting and lying about Edwards, Graham - seemingly whoever popped into his head.

But he started getting headlines - even though he should have been losing credibility with anyone really watching this race and thinking about it. But people were loving the brawl. They were fired up. Bring it on. Jerry Springer lives.

It all came together in a perfect storm of early August. The media, tired of looking for weapons of mass distruction discovered their Laci Peterson, their shark in the water, their Chandra Levy. And then the story became the story.

Okey-dokey. What will happen after Labor Day? Will a reasoning electorate start to focus on the candidates and the issues? As we say in the old country, only time will tell.