January 10, 2013

"The 12 best political rants."

And #1, of course, is... Phil Davison (the "aggressive campaigner").

ADDED: I just rewatched the "Dean Scream" (#3) and — after all these years — what I'm seeing is a failure to completely commit to the scream. He held back. That may be the opposite of what you feel you remember, but watch it. He needed to do a big manly shout, like a guy at a football game, and the hand gesture should have been a fully abandoned punch in the air. What is that he does with his hand? It's like he's doing a comic imitation of somebody else — somebody he doesn't respect — doing a punch. And the yell is kind of an old lady yell. That's why it's never called a yell but a scream.

28 comments:

bagoh20 said...

I don't like Dean, but I never understood how that derailed him. If I was a fan of his, that strange political reversal would have really pissed me off.

rehajm said...

I don't like Dean, but I never understood how that derailed him.

I've thought about this as well. Best I can come up with: He wasn't going to be the nominee, and they needed something to hang him with. 'See, look how unstable he is!' was as good as anything else...

Sam L. said...

I never heard of Phil Davidson, and I guess this is the reason why!

Mary Beth said...

The Davison one just made me want to glue his feet to the floor in front of the lectern. It makes me wonder what kind of advice he was given about public speaking. Be dynamic and move! Use lots of hand gestures! Speak loudly and with enthusiasm!

MayBee said...

The Dean scream was awful to watch because it was obvious he didn't believe what he was saying. Or screaming, rather. It was forced enthusiasm.

Methadras said...

No, the Dean Scream was you typical pussy leftard screeching. The attempt to show aggression, masculinity, and gravitas while not pretending that your balls are hidden in a jar somewhere on a shelf that your wife let's you look at once a year for posterity. And failing.

ricpic said...

It's a size thing. Dean is all of 5' 6''. I'm short myself so I'm not criticizing him for that, but a little guy doesn't do the roar thing if he's thinking at all. Dean, normally a calculator, was carried away in the moment.

Revenant said...

What made the Dean Scream memorable, to me, was that it sounded so... weird. It didn't sound like a roar of triumph, it didn't sound angry, it just sounded... off. Like a guy trying to scream who wasn't sure how you do it. I think the Professor's right -- he didn't commit.

Palladian said...

It's like what Julia Child used to say when she half-heartedly tried to flip something in a pan and it fell on the stove instead - Dean didn't have the "courage of his convictions" to do it the way he should've.

DADvocate said...

Nope. That's how I remember it. That's one reason it was so pathetic, restrained enthusiasm, a wimp's scream.

MadisonMan said...

You will forgive me if I don't watch #11.

madAsHell said...

I think Davison needs to adjust his med's.....or find some.

"A gram is better than a damn!"

Baron Zemo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Baron Zemo said...

Best Tirade Ever!

Not safe for kids or work or Cubs fans.

Known Unknown said...

I guess Santelli doesn't qualify as political.

Bob R said...

If more people had played football or wrestled I think Dean would have gotten away with the scream. It just seemed to me like a pretty standard locker room pep talk. Not a particularly good one, but not unusual. In the land of puffed up student body presidents, I guess it is weird.

I Callahan said...

Baron,

That was funny. It made me look at the other sports tirades on Youtube. There are a ton of them.

Chip Ahoy said...

You know what? Howard Dean is from East Egg and they just do not punch the air nor yell. No. You do no yell. You just don't.

Even at ballgames. Their cheers go like this,

Oxidol Oxidol
Granulated Soap
Goooo Elis
We're going to beat the Bulldogs
We hope we hope we hope.

Restrained as if the cold has caused a serious case of tetanus.

That's why in the horror movies when the lady is screaming you must alway root for the villain -- to stop the screaming. Then when she's murdered it's proper to whisper, "thank you."

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I will yield to Weiner as the winner.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Nobody can beat the Wiener.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Beam me up mr speaker!

Bob Ellison said...

I saw the Dean scream in real time, and I texted a friend that we had just witnessed a nervous breakdown live on national television.

He lost that race and responded by proving himself unfit for office.

Mary Beth said...

EMD said...

I guess Santelli doesn't qualify as political.

1/10/13 7:15 PM


Santelli was the first one I thought of when I read "political rants". I think The Washington Post and I differ on what is "best".

Known Unknown said...

Had Dean added a motherfucker! to the end of his scream, he might have been President.

Palladian said...

I would much prefer Howard Dean as President over Barack Obama. Obama has the magical ability to make almost any other Democrat look good by comparison.

Sunslut7 said...

Where is the rant or all rants from the movie 'NETWORK'? Surely it is the definitive political rant. And it is just as timely today as it was when it first appeared so many years ago. I vote it for first place in theRant Hall of Fame.

mikee said...

I compare the Dean Scream to Ms. Clinton's "Power to the People!" screech, used as part of the intro to Hannity's radio show.

Both demonstrate the idea of a powerful emotional plea with the reality of a pitiful wail.

Methadras said...

I'm quite surprised that the public suicide of Budd Dwyer wasn't a part of that political rant list. That one ranks pretty close to #1 in my opinion.