January 11, 2004
"NOT MY NEIGHBOR":
Voter Triggers Dean's Much-Talked About Temper (Patricia Wilson, January 11, 2004, Reuters)
Dale Ungerer, a 66-year-old retiree from Hawkeye, Iowa, succeeded on Sunday where eight Democratic presidential hopefuls have failed -- he made front-runner Howard Dean show a flash of his much-discussed temper.The former Vermont governor had just finished his standard stump speech blasting President Bush for, among other things, his Iraq policy and his stewardship of the economy. He asked, as is his custom, for "questions, comments or rude remarks in the New England tradition."
Ungerer, wearing a T-shirt bearing the words "Mr Fix It," rose to his feet and condemned what he called the incivility of the campaign and the political press. He suggested Dean and the other Democratic candidates stop "tearing down your neighbor" and cut their "slam, bam and bash Bush" rhetoric.
"Please tone down the garbage, the mean-mouthing of tearing down your neighbor and being so pompous," Ungerer, a registered Republican who voted for Bush in 2000, said to scattered hisses and boos from the overwhelmingly pro-Dean audience at the Oelwein Community Center.
Dean, whose rivals have suggested his impulsiveness, outspokenness and temperament make him less than ready for the White House but have been unable to provoke him in a dozen or more debates and forums, began by calmly replying: "George Bush is not my neighbor."
But when Ungerer stood and tried to interrupt, Dean shouted: "You sit down. You had your say. Now I'm going to have my say."
The crowd cheered and Ungerer sat.
How butch. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 11, 2004 10:52 PM
Remember when Al Gore came over to Bush's podium and tried to stare him down during the 2000 debates? I think Howard might actually try a flying tackle on the president if he's more than 20 percent behind in the polls come October.
Posted by: John at January 11, 2004 11:39 PMThat was very un-metrosexual of him. Tsk.
Posted by: Karl at January 11, 2004 11:48 PMJohn,
It will have to be an ankle-grab...
Posted by: MG at January 12, 2004 07:22 AMHoward Dean needs to watch Mr. Rogers, for about 10 years straight.
Imagine if a Republican stated that some Democrat wasn't his neighbor. This statement is more revealing of Dean than any of his foreign policy gaffes.
Posted by: jim hamlen at January 12, 2004 08:39 AMIt's slipping away from him and he can feel it. Not necessarily the nomination, he might still be able to wrap it up given the party rules but the aura that his campaign had in the early days is going fast, a victim of his opponent's attacks and his own mean-spritedness.
Peggy Noonan's article in last Thursday's WSJ said it best:
"Howard Dean is as much like George McGovern as 2004 is like 1972, which is to say not much. But Mr. Dean is not Mr. McGovern in a more important way. Mr. McGovern was guided and inspired by his own sense of a particular ideology. He reflected it, and his young supporters, who that year took over the party, shared it. They stood for something. Mr. Dean's people--and Mr. Dean--don't seem to have anything as coherent as an ideology. Instead they have attitude."
The attitude is killing them. Cryin' shame.