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I'm dynamite...And I'll win the fight
by anna at 09:47 AM on January 24, 2004
By now just about everyone has seen and heard Howard Dean's arm-swinging, hotheaded rant following his defeat in some sort of election: "We're going to New Hampshire, we're going to South Carolina, we're going to Guam, we're going to American Iraq. And then we're going to Washington DC to wrest the White House away from that smirking SOB George W. Bush! Aaay!"
It was that eerie, almost AC/DC-esque shriek there at the end that flipped people out even more so than his caustic tone and the way he had his shirtsleeves rolled up as if prepared to start a barroom brawl. So he goes into self-effacing mode, allowing that sometimes he leads with his heart instead of his head. He's like, "Yes I can be a bit of a loose cannon but I speak the truth that others shun." No Aaay!
Aaay! I think he's got it all wrong. He needs to adopt the Aaay! as his signature move, like Clinton wagging his manicured finger or Reagan shaking his vacant head as he peered down at his shoes.
"I'd like to welcome both my supporters and thank them for braving the bitter cold. I'd also like to string my detractors up from trees and flog them unmercifully. Aaay! Yet, for all our differences, surely we can all agree that George W. Bush is the antichrist. Just as we can agree that it's foolhardy to allow citizens to maintain any of their earnings for personal use. The government clearly knows best how the money should be spent. Leave you hedonists with any cash and you'll just blow it on fast women, faster cars, booze and betting on ponies. Far better to fork it all over to me so I might oust the true evildoer from the White House. Aaay! I'll then lead us to salvation in lockstep with our pals in France, Germany, Cuba and North Korea. After that I'll commence negotiations with that much-maligned freeedom fighter Osama bin Laden. Diplomacy is the key to winning the war on terror, not brute force. Failing that I'll let him bend me over an ottoman and drill me in the dry-dock. Aaay!"
Aaay! is right. The last time I heard an other-worldly noise like that it was emanating from my roommate's bedroom. Later a disheveled debutante emerged looking a tad worse for the wear 'n tear. "Aaay," I parroted. She glared at me with a look of utter disdain. People are always doing that to me. Aaay!
comments (7)
I have to admit I don't understand at all the general reaction of the press to Howard Dean's show of enthusiasm. Steve Balmer in an effort to lead one of the dominant companies on earth can act like a monkey in front of tens of thousands (see bottom of: http://www.zolknetwork.com/downloads_general.php) but a politician shouldn't give an empassioned aaaayy! after a speech on a terribly emotional night. Can someone find me the handbook of general etiquette for political speech givers?
by chris at January 26, 2004 11:50 AM
Here is the thing, because while I find the speech hysterical (in both senses of the word), I, personally, don't see what was so bad about it. I'd rather a politician be "real" like Dean was than, like say Wes Clarke, answer every question with some well rehearsed answer. The problem, however, is that while Dean's speech was very "real" it was very un-presidential. A guy who's biggest responsibility is deciding what the new version of Windows will be called definitely is held to a different set of rules than a guy who will have the power to fire nuculear weapons. While such passion on the stump is a welcome change, the idea of a president yelping during a state of the union address, or worse yet, on the floor of the United Nations, is the kind of national embrassement I think most people want to avoid like, well Howard Dean since Tuesday night.
by mg at January 26, 2004 12:15 PM
I read that in person the rant really didn't seem that odd but on the so-called "cool" medium of TV it came across as maniacal. Or is that "hot" medium? It's one of those.
by anna at January 26, 2004 5:22 PM
If people judged me by one moment in a performance my career would be over before it started.
by Linz at January 27, 2004 9:34 AM
AAAAY!!!
by Linz at January 27, 2004 9:35 AM
Lookin' eviliscious there Linz. I would've been frightened though ;-)
by Ezy at January 27, 2004 1:55 PM
Linz, sometimes you get an itch you have to scratch.
They were saying on CNN that if Dean loses again today, his concession speech will draw so much attention it might help him down the road. Is this guy some kind of evil genius or what?
by anna at January 27, 2004 2:40 PM