Dean Puts New Face on His Candidacy...WP

[farmbo]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33438-2004Jan20.html

MANCHESTER, N.H., Jan. 20 -- Former Vermont governor Howard Dean shifted his campaign strategy Tuesday to emphasize domestic issues over the war and temper the red-faced outbursts like the one he delivered after losing Iowa, the candidate and his advisers said.



Dean, after huddling with top aides to regroup from the stinging loss in the Iowa caucuses, sought to portray himself here as a more traditional policy-minded candidate focused on education, health care and jobs. The front-runner for much of the 2004 Democratic campaign suggested he would ease up on his year-long crusade to change the Democratic Party.

"I started out this campaign with a sense that no Democrats were standing up for what Democrats ought to stand up for, that they would only stand up for things that were popular," Dean told reporters in his first news conference since finishing third in Iowa on Monday night.
<snip>

Hey Ya...let's go!

[displacedtexan]

1. Get ready for media attacks, folks.

Dean is "reinventing himself."
"Who will he be tomorrow?"
"How many times will Dean change his image?"

It's going to get ugly. Keep your media email addresses updated!

[susu369]

2. Exactly

Personally, I had/have no problem with his "red-faced outbursts" - I can relate to it.

Whatever....

[Born Free]

22. Red faced with enthusiasm

Did I see the wrong speech? It looked to me he was extremely excited, not "angry" as they like to describe. The man has enthusiasm, just the opposite of the "too stiff Gore" the medias hyped all the time. Democrats need to stop paying attention to the corporate controlled media, yes some supporting other candidates love to see the media do this to Dean but remember, after Dean it will be the next candidate standing, and so on - if you allow it to happen.

[IndianaGreen]

3. Washington Post and NY Times are pukes!

These are the same two newspapers that spread all of the lies about WMDs in Iraq. They are nothing but mouthpieces for the ruling class.

Conservatives did not like the media, so they created their own media, or bought the existing one.

Liberals should do the same. We need a liberal version of the Washington Times.

[Skwmom]

4. I agree with you. I have lost all respect

for the Washington Post and the NY Times. They are no better than trash tabloids.

[0007]

9. Howard Dean demonstrates that he can be flexible -

Perhaps he will overcome and the media will come around?

[libview]

13. flexible.......that's a good one

[Guaranteed]

5. This should end up being a good thing.

Dean needs to concentrate on the corporate takeover of America. Jobs, wages, health care, education. He can still talk about the war, of course, but he just needs to settle down a bit. Everyone knows he's angry. Everyone (most, at least) believe him. He has credibility. You can't be so obviously angry without being sincere. So, now it's time for ideas.

[Bandit]

6. Well I for one hope he doesn't lose the fire that makes him attractive

in the first place. We need a fire-breather out there to scorch some hides. If I were him I wouldn't tone it down I would tone it up. Get the rest of America to take notice. If he lets himself be cowed he has lost. IMHO

[Lugnut]

17. I concur wholeheartedly!

His passion and well-placed anger is what sold me on the good doctor in the first place. PLEASE Dr. Dean.....don't squelch that fire!

[stickdog]

7. Many of us gave Dean our support, time and money to fight Bush

and to take back this country.

Kerry & Edwards won Iowa by running on those exact themes. It would never have happened without Dean and Dean's success.

So why still support Dean?

1) You can trust Dean GOING FORWARD because he stood up for what was right BEFORE it was the thing to do. With gay rights. With Iraq. With the Bush's "popular" tax cuts for the rich. With the Medicare boondoggle. With universal healthcare for his state.

2) Dean's a fighter who has HEART. It's not anger -- it's the passion to fight for the underdog, to stop the Republicorporate attack on the middle class, to put the livelihood of Americans ahead of billionaires' portfolios and megacorporations' profit margins, to create new jobs by giving small American businesses a helping hand, to restore common sense and morality to our dealings with other countries and to stop the political scaremongering and actually DO something constructive and Constitutional to make America safer. It's the strength we're going to need to overcome the special interests and Republican roadblocks to universal healthcare, fair taxation, corporate reform, renewable energy and environmental protections. Finally, it's the passion we'll need to stand up to Bush's 200 million dollar political destruction machine and send the boy king home crying.

3) Because Dean tells us the truth. He doesn't make a bunch of promises he can't keep. He doesn't give everything away to special interests while increasing government spending and trying to bribe everyone with a few hundred dollars in tax cuts. He doesn't govern based on the whims of polls and pure, selfish political expediency. He governs responsibly, for today and for the future.

4) Because Dean's done it. He's won every election he's ever been in handily. He's brought affordable healthcare to Vermonters. He's reduced child abuse, protected the environment and created jobs all while balancing the budget every year.

5) Because Dean's already been vetted, and his supposed weaknesses are now all old news. Because Dean's clean, and despite everything they've thrown at him, the only thing they've gotten to stick is that he CARES TOO MUCH about his country.

[RedSock]

8. dean can't win

shows genuine anger = bad temper
gets more sedate = al gore II
changes styles = desperate, unsure, can't be trusted

howard, just be yourself. that's why your supporters like you.

and if you are not angry at the coup d'etat in this country, what the hell is wrong with you?

[Crude-Ho]

15. it will take a centrist to garner the middle vote

Dean cant get any of the center...unless he really changes...
..Kerry might....but Edwards could get the south and the centrists.

[Politicub]

19. I support Dean

His campaign has inspired MILLIONS to examine the corrupt * presidency, get off thier asses and DO something.

I would imagine 90% of the folks on DU aren't cool bastions of reflection who talk in soothing tones 24/7. Dean was tired, and he was rallying his very youthful and energetic grassroots supporters.

Media saturation has beat this dead horse. But please people, it's not like he barfed on the prime minister of Japan or passed out after eating a pretzel.

What gets me is Dick Cheney. I halfway expected him to keel over during the SOTU. I was thinking to myself what the * admin would do to spin a Cheney heart attack during the SOTU.

[Demeter]

25. And #1 Reason--He's Got the Shekels to Keep Going

Let Lieberman take the stuffing out of Edwards and Clark, that will be 3 more down.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

10. What post-Iowa red-faced outburst?

Did I miss something?

[The_Casual_Observer]

11. He kind of did this War-Whoop thing - captured by the camera

It was probably out of context, but it made him look silly and desperate.

[stickdog]

12. Kind of like when Kerry pretended he was bogarting a roach. (nt)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

14. It really bothers me to realize that we are

totally at the mercy of the press; which seems to select the candidate of their choice, then proceeds to portray all others in the most denigrating light possible.

[w4rma]

16. He'll do fine. :-) (n/t)

[xxqqqzme]

18. I am getting really pissed off

w/ all this losing Iowa BS. If any Dean supporters attended the 'mouse pads to shoe leather' grassroots symposiums, then U know 'winning' Iowa was never a priority. Trippi told us what would happen in Iowa - Gephardt would camp out in Iowa, spend all his money, then drop out! The campaign is focused on western states, which he views as the 'new south'. No other candidate has Dean's grass roots organization.

[goforit]

20. Well that's great!!....Now lets bust our butts and get out the vote!!!

Grass roots is the only thing left that can save this country!!!

Our Democracy is lost!!!

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

24. what exactly is the importance of the Iowa Caucus?

I'm not too familiar with the system and just wondered how it works and why Iowa is such a big deal.

Who exactly were the ones who voted in the Iowa caucus and how did they arrive at their choices?

I was initially under the imression it was "like" a primary in Iowa but I understand that it's not like that.

Is this like a playpoffs game and Dean lost the first big game or is there more to it than that?

Can anyone help out on clarifying any of this?

[Voltaire99]

21. The gelding of Dean continues

You can view this as Dean's flexibility, or inevitable regrouping from defeat, or even the first hint of desperation as the nomination begins to slip from his grasp.

But I think the most compelling view is that Dean is being taught a painful lesson in American power: namely, you don't mess with it. Unlike Nader, who could be discounted because of his marginal base, Dean has raised significant money from average citizens. That has made him at least a potential menace to our masters, who simply will not tolerate grass roots democracy. In American politics, the past half century or more has been devoted to stamping out such irritants.

We'll soon see if people have been sufficiently panicked by the outbursts of Gephardt, Kerry and Edwards. If so, Dean supporters, and lately I am one, are in for more bad news.

[kskiska]

23. Oh, but now he'll be accused of…

reinventing himself!!! Which Howard Dean…

[Demeter]

26. Any Howard Dean is Better than the Bush