Actually, I met Governor Dean at that fundraiser, and it was good to see him.

But something you Beltway people better wise up to - all the donors and people out here are dead set against your insane War in Iraq and the most common thing people were talking about is forcing our Congressional Reps and Senators to do a 90 day budget to pull out the troops with an expiring clock if Bush wanted to veto it - and then sending it back with the time remaining.

We've had it with your excuses.

The 2004 election could have been interesting, had the DNC had some balls and given Dean a shot at the White House.

He was easily the best candidate for the job. But nooooo. Terry Mcauliffe didn't want to see Dean take the nomination. Nice going Terry, way to screw it up for all of us!

Everytime you repeat the "Dean scream" meme, the DLC - the Clintons and Macauliffe - chortle and pat themselves on the back for the way they promoted a poorly recorded and distorted campaign speech, to make Dean look insane. It sucessfully ran Dean out of the race, making way for their guy, that prince of presidential campaigns, John Kerry. Boy, that worked out well, didn't it? 8 years of the worst administration in US history, and 3500 dead soldiers would never have happened if the "insane screamer" had been the Democratic nominee.

The difference between Howard Dean and John Kerry is the difference between a narrow miss against an incumbent president (during war!) and McGovern. I'll leave it to you to figure out who stands in for McGovern.

Oy, what is this People magazine or something? You used the "scream" gig twice at the beginning - which, I might add, had no bearing at all on your article - in the hopes of what: a giggle from people who don't like Dean? Look, I like this newspaper - I read it every day - but good grief, this is just asinine. If you want to write about Dean as a matchmaker do it in the context of his current job... not regurgitating tired memes that should have died a long time ago.

Why not tell your readers that Al Gore invented the Internet as well? That has as much to do with Dean as matchmaker as his so-called scream did.

It's easy, cheap writing. You're better than that.

What is this idiotic fixture on Dean as a screamer? He's actually saying a lot, and doing a lot, to transform the democratic powerbase (which, I might say, with all due respect to Frum, McCauliff, et al, was seriously depleted because of their efforts.) The inside-the-Beltway giggling by columnists is what's really irritating.

Using the scream line is like saying "I wanna be a badass political writer but I don't know what to say!"

Sheesh, here's a quarter... Go buy a clue.

What, nothing about Paris Hilton?

What, nothing about Paris Hilton?

I read the scream thing and was infuriated by the same old BS. I had a lot of things to say but after reading the comments, I see the responders have covered my thoughts so I will just say WTG posters.

For those who like Howard Dean and his politics, face reality. Like FDR, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."; Churchill, "We will fight them on the beaches..."; McArthur, "I shall return."; Kennedy, "Ask not what your country can do for you..."; Reagan, "Mr. Gorbochev, tear down this wall.", Howard Dean has made a statement that the media and his political rivals turned into the statement that currently defines him in the public mind and perhaps in history.

If only Shrillary Hillary could be so good as to put on a similar performance. It is hard to imagine listening to that awful voice making all the speeches presidents make. Scary!!!

Dean was screwed over by the media.That 'scream' episode was played over so many times by the various news channels that it was rridiculous.Dean was governor of Vermont which contrary to reports is basically a middle class state.Like all the other states Vermont has its share of problems. Dean's record as governor was pretty good because he won 5 two year elections.He probably would have lost in 2004 because the Rove strategy would have run him over.It was hard for anyone to win in 2004 because as Kerry stated those guys are a bunch of crooks.They wanted to win not only for their awful tax ideas and Iraq but to control the courts.I think that if Dean had won and had placed intelligent pragmatic people in place he may have been successful.You could bet that if he won various Republican operatives would have been doing everything to cut off his legs in the 2006 mid term elections trying to make him a lame duck.
I think that a lot of Dean's critics should give him a break.Is his passion worse than Bush's stubborn messianic point of view? Would the people that a President Dean bring with him to Washington be any more hide bound than the ultra conservatives of the Bush era? Looking back it is apparent that while the deck was stacked against the Dems in 2004 Kerry came very close to winning.Perhaps the investigators such as Robert Kennedy was right the election was stolen.What is needed know is to keep both Bloomberg and Nader out of the 2008 election .Does anyone want Rudy or Milt strutting around the oval office? . Rudy had exhausted his welcome by 9-10-01 .He did get NYC back on track but at the cost of racial harmony. If Dinkins was trapped by a far left Afro-American elite then Rudy went way over to the over extreme .No mayor will please the entire population but Rudy had a unique knack for riding roughshot over people .Does anyone want this strutting egoist running our country? America has a problem with religious fanatics using terror as a way to express their frustrations.Having us live in fear every minute of every day is not the answer. I think that we should send Nader a thank you for screwing us in 2000. He wanted to teach us a lesson { that both parties are really the same} so he entered the race for president. If he had not entered Gore would be finishing his second term. Gore was at times his own worst enemy but Nader by taking votes away from Gore in Florida gave the election to Bush. Thanks a lot Ralph! I saw him on a recent Hardball.He still doesnt get it. I sign off with this warning if you want more of the same vote for Nader. Remember Bush 43 will live on through his court choices.The Roberts court will be hanging over us for thirty years-Bush will be 86 by then and an entire generation will be affected by the decisions of that court. Remember that if you want to vote for Nader or Bloomberg! BTW-Bloomberg while he does have his moments-supported Con Ed management during the '06 blackout- he is a much better mayor than Rudy.He does manage the city as well as Rudy did but w/o the racial disharmony.

I strongly recommend that if anyone is interested in how Bush thinks read this book by Glenn Greenwald- A Tragic Legacy -How a Good vrs Evil Mentality Destroyed the Bush Presidency.It will help to illuminate much of what has happened .

Howard Dean would have made a great president with his platform of fiscal responsibility, health care reform, and get out of Iraq foreign policy. The scream was something completely created by the media as shown by the CBS special aired after the media had exploited it to further sabotage Dean's campaign. Howard Dean is a thoughtful, intelligent individual and I hope those skeptics out there would take the time to give him a chance and really listen to what he has said in the past and what he says right now. I believe they might find themselves agreeing with him or at least respecting him.

Leave Dean alone! Instead the media should focus on what people say, not how they say it!

Get this writer out of politics and onto the society page fast! -Or can her.

Listen to the sreamers !!! Above this comment, I mean. Wounded Dean warriors.
They pretend to be against 'the war" yet repeatedly and continously waged war against homeland security and rational politicians, accompanied by their banshee screams. Dean did himself in as a candidate by dissolving in front of his weak supporters, and the rest of the world on TV. Many of them have discovered that he is NOT from Vermont, but from Long Island. How he got to be Gov. of Vt. is a mystery to real Vermonters who must have been out of state when he ran. Such a communicator, such a guy, does Schumer know him? Has Chicago ever heard of him? Does Kerry know how to spell his name? Could you imagine him (or Kerry) as Commander in Chief? Jes wonderin'.

Dean never wanted to be Governor of Vermont. He was Lt. Governor when the Republican Governor dropped dead of a sudden massive heart attack, during the summer following his election. Dean took over the Governorship and not only did a fantastic job, but found he had a taste and a talent for politics. I lived in Vermont at the time, and was very impressed by his thoughtful, pragmatic, and compassionate leadership. As for his being a rabid lefty, he wisely left his predecessor's good policy in place.

How he got the reputation for being an anti-war, far left extremist was mostly the work of the media. Yes, Dean did oppose the war. He was wise enough to see in 2004 just how messed up it was already getting in Iraq, and how Bush had misled (lied) this country into a war that he and his neo-con handlers desperately wanted but did not NEED to prosecute. Dean NEVER advocated immediate withdrawal, although that was how he was painted.

As for the "Scream", which was played ad nauseum by all the media, Leslie Stahl (I think) did a piece which showed what actually happened in the context of the event. The scream that was played again and again was picked up from a special mike which filtered out background noise, and only picked up the voice of the user. When the same event was shown by Leslie, using the ambient mikes around the room, which picked up everything, and which was the way people in the room heard things, it was immediately apparent that Howard Dean was yelling to be heard over the cheering crowd of supporters. But the media succeeded in painting him as a crazy, and that along with the DLC's belief that Kerry was the only electable candidate, did him in.

He would have made a fantastic President. At the very least, unlike the clown we have now, he was very intelligent.

Lexie, history has proven over and over that trying to appease and control aggressive, militant types who want to dominate the world is ineffective and results in more, not less, death, destruction and despair. What makes you think that "Appeaser" Dean would be a great player on the world stage. Would he stand up to world scale threats we face? I just don't see it.

Oh, for pity's sake. I know lazy stenographers like to regurgigate narratives, but enough with the Dean scream, already. I suppose a narrative that implies that Democrats are insane is to be preferred to one that feminizes them (the whole fascination with hair)... But the whole scream thing was a ginned up controversy from the beginning caused by a bad mike, weak staffing, and FOX news. Why don't you give it a rest?

You're very well paid. You've got a union, and health insurance. Can't you start reporting the news, instead of writing fake, snarky columns off the RNC blast fax machine?

Lambert Strether,

Winner of the Post of the Month.

Thanks for the good laugh.

I'm no fan of Howard Dean's, but this story is embarrassing. "The Matchmaker"? Do you really consider yourself a respectable journalist?

SAY GOOD NIGHT, MARY ANN.

The day after the so-called scream some of the people who were out in Iowa said it wasn't like that at all, and even we listeners knew that, but when the media gets hold of something, they just don't let go, and their constant repeating it is almost like hypnoticism. Think of how things would be different if Adlai Stephenson had won, and George McGovern too. We'll all be moaning the same way when after more hell breaks out, and we'll bemoan the fact that Dennis Kucinich wasn't elected, with Gravel as his VP.

what a boring article. is this the society page or what. is your source that always informed larry king?

what a boring article. is this the society page or what. is your source that always informed larry king?

what a boring article. is this the society page or what. is your source that always informed larry king?

what a boring article. is this the society page or what. is your source that always informed larry king?

what a boring article. is this the society page or what. is your source that always informed larry king?

I've lived in Vermont for 18 years, and have talked with Howard many times over that time, from when he was a lowly state rep and MD, to his run and victory as lt. governor, to the tragedy of Richard Snelling's heart attack and Dean's subsequent elevation and re-elections (5?) to governor. He was a very centrist governor who grew in his understanding of politics and people, from relying on moderate dems and republicans to pass middle-of-the-road budgets to his decision to run for president and then to run the DNC. He is basically a honest, forthright guy who could have stayed another 4-6 years as governor (he voluntarily stepped down in '02 to campaign for president), and the repub who won did so with a plurality due to a moderate independent running and splitting the dem vote. He also would have been a shoe-in for the open senate seat this year vacated by Jim Jeffords.
He deserved better than the scream, but rather than sulking, he's channelled his energy into promoting the Dems. Ya done good, Howard.

I believe Dean was blackballed by the DLC and MSM corporations because no one had their hooks in him, they couldn't control him; he wasn't beholden to their money or their ideologies. His main concern was the country and the people and we all know how dangerous that would be. Fortunately, now he's basically under the radar, organizing the states - which is why they have to trivialize him now and then, because who knows, he might actually do it! Shame on WaPo for going along with this-what we need is another WaPo editor like Ben Bradlee.

Howard Dean deserves all the ridicule he gets. His scream is the least of it. His anti-war internet schtick 4 years ago was a fund-raising gimmick from a budget-cutter governor whose economics came from the Concord Coalition and the worst elements of the DLC.

And Jim Carville was exactly right last November when he charged Dean with Rumsfeld-ian incompetence. The $6 million Dean withheld from close races cost the Dems a veto-proof majority in the House and a Lieberman-proof Senate.

Have they ruled Howard out as the donor/father of Mary Cheney's baby?

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