Tuesday, January 20, 2004
In the Face of Adversity...
Howard Dean may have lost the Democratic nomination last night -- and not from the caucus votes, but from his appearance afterward.
Perhaps his over-the-top performance worked in the room -- we weren't there. But on TV it looked and sounded awful, and while everyone has bad nights, this time the cameras were rolling and the media got the footage they've been craving: Howard Dean looking angry.
The smug satisfaction of the CNN status quo patrol was palpable.
Dean, in one misstep last night, may have given the establishment the stick they'll use to beat him with from this point forward.
It started with the troll we here affectionately call "That Piece of S*** Bill Schneider", CNN's "Senior Political Analyst", who learned to arch his eyebrows quizzically at Democrats at the American Enterprise Institute (not that CNN ever informs its viewers of his affiliation). His carefully considered opinion (and by that we mean he'd written it days ago and was just waiting for a chance to heave it at America) was that Dean's momentum slipped a month ago, when, Schneider tells us, Saddam was caught.
Bill the Shill's point is that Dean's momentum had come only from his criticism of the Iraq war, which, like all criticism of Bush's war policies, was rendered irrelevant by Saddam's capture. Got it?
Tell that to the families of soldiers killed since we got Hussein. Jeez, you'd think they'd have the decency to realize they're inconveniencing Schneider's story line.
The truth, of course, is that Howard Dean's momentum slowed a month ago -- when the press went bananas on him, ripping and shredding him to bits at every turn.
One solid month of attacks: magazine cover stories, front-page newspaper articles, and hours and hours of cable news sleaze -- and the media put the brakes on Dean's campaign. And last night Dean slipped, letting the damaged they'd done show. And they got it on tape.
Perhaps his over-the-top performance worked in the room -- we weren't there. But on TV it looked and sounded awful, and while everyone has bad nights, this time the cameras were rolling and the media got the footage they've been craving: Howard Dean looking angry.
The smug satisfaction of the CNN status quo patrol was palpable.
Dean, in one misstep last night, may have given the establishment the stick they'll use to beat him with from this point forward.
It started with the troll we here affectionately call "That Piece of S*** Bill Schneider", CNN's "Senior Political Analyst", who learned to arch his eyebrows quizzically at Democrats at the American Enterprise Institute (not that CNN ever informs its viewers of his affiliation). His carefully considered opinion (and by that we mean he'd written it days ago and was just waiting for a chance to heave it at America) was that Dean's momentum slipped a month ago, when, Schneider tells us, Saddam was caught.
Bill the Shill's point is that Dean's momentum had come only from his criticism of the Iraq war, which, like all criticism of Bush's war policies, was rendered irrelevant by Saddam's capture. Got it?
Tell that to the families of soldiers killed since we got Hussein. Jeez, you'd think they'd have the decency to realize they're inconveniencing Schneider's story line.
The truth, of course, is that Howard Dean's momentum slowed a month ago -- when the press went bananas on him, ripping and shredding him to bits at every turn.
One solid month of attacks: magazine cover stories, front-page newspaper articles, and hours and hours of cable news sleaze -- and the media put the brakes on Dean's campaign. And last night Dean slipped, letting the damaged they'd done show. And they got it on tape.
