# Revisiting the "Dean Scream" **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 20, 2013, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-the-dean-scream/671728 "2013-10-20T16:04:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-the-dean-scream/671728/41 "2013-10-21T20:33:17Z")
> [@Bob's Zombie](#): > > You did ascribe a motive. You’re right that the video clip made it sound different, but you’re wrong that it was done to make Dean seem like he was shouting for no reason. That was unfortunately the effect of the microphones. Yes. When I said the “the news also had the crowd noise filtered out to make it seem like Dean was shouting for no reason” I incorrectly attributed a cause to the filtering. Okay? The point is that it made for a goofy sounding clip to play over and over again as if it was somehow significant for anything but a superficial appraisal of the candidate. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-the-dean-scream/671728/42 "2013-10-21T20:35:28Z")
No argument there. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-the-dean-scream/671728/43 "2013-10-25T13:16:41Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > I like the scream, it pumped me up. Its rare that a politician showed any emotion and I’m glad that one did Frankly, it would have made me _more_ likely to vote for him. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-the-dean-scream/671728/44 "2013-10-26T04:22:31Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > _Watching_ it, yeah, no big deal. But many people’s exposure to it came via radio, where it _sounded_ very bizarre. When you listen to it, Dean sounds like somebody getting more excited as he speaks, finally ending in a I’m-so-excited-I’m-no-longer-intelligible HYYYYAAAAAAA! > > And you, the listener, are left asking “WTF was that? He’s going to be our next President?” What? Radio? Really?!?!?? My exposure to it was news people playing the scream and making fun of it and him. Here is the thing. Dean was supposed to win. By the polls he was supposed to win that night. He did not. The media don’t like to admit that their polling is crap so they punished Dean for not winning. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-the-dean-scream/671728/45 "2013-10-26T04:31:53Z")
Yes, radio, really. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-the-dean-scream/671728/46 "2013-10-26T05:50:58Z")
Radio? Isn’t that the thing what makes noise in the car? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-the-dean-scream/671728/47 "2013-10-26T22:44:30Z")
> [@](#): > > Radio? Isn’t that the thing what makes noise in the car? Yup. And a lot of people spend time in their cars, so radio does still get a lot of listeners. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-the-dean-scream/671728/48 "2013-10-26T23:51:00Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Frankly, it would have made me _more_ likely to vote for him. I would generally agree with you. I like politicians to show their true emotions. But I found it very difficult to believe that after the Iowa Caucuses, when John Kerry almost literally handed Dean his own ass on a platter, that the true Howard Dean’s reaction would be to come out on stage and act like he was just elected King of the World. Again, I understand the spin or the need for motivating supporters after a defeat. Turning it into a victory speech, complete with primordial sounds tells me that he is NOT showing his true emotions. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-the-dean-scream/671728/49 "2013-10-29T21:46:09Z")
I, too, never understood what the big deal was about “the scream.” What candidate hasn’t said or done something silly at some point during a long and exhausting campaign? > [@John\_Mace](#): > > …and Edwards (who, it turns out, was busy making a baby with a staffer and denying it). Actually, that was three years later: [John Edwards extramarital affair - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rielle_Hunter#Involvement_with_John_Edwards) ---
**Author:** ![Gerald\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Gerald\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gerald_II)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-the-dean-scream/671728/50 "2013-11-09T21:51:41Z")
I remember when I first discovered talk radio in college and listening to Sean Hannity’s program where he was mocking Howard Dean by replaying his yell with the “Tales from the Crypt” theme song. In politics, people will over analyze any little thing to make the other side look bad. And in the media, it seems, is just as bad as the tabloids, or immature highschoolers. There’s a clip of Shep Smith making fun of Romney saying he’s wearing “mom pants.” At the time, I asked my dad (who is a conservative) what his thoughts were on Howard Dean. He didn’t know anything about his political positions but that Dean would make a lousy president based on the way he presents himself. “Yelling like some crazy person…” I read here that CNN gave a lot of coverage to Howard Deans yell. I youtube’d it and CNN actually has a clip titled “2004: The scream that doomed Howard Dean.” I wonder if the media didn’t play it up, if people on their own would have actually cared about it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revisiting-the-dean-scream/671728.md?page=2)