Dean’s fiery speech sparks talk

Those popping eyes, that guttural squawk: Howard Dean’s bombastic farewell address to his troops after placing third in the Iowa caucuses has raised questions about his electability, though some suggest Mr. Dean simply is a passionate politician.

“If he wanted to create a moment no one would ever forget, he succeeded,” said Christine Iverson of the Republican National Committee yesterday.

Was it the rant of a nut case or the proclamation of a feisty leader? The Dean din was subject to interpretation among critics and supporters alike.

“It was like watching Dean’s appendix rupture on national TV,” public-relations counselor Eric Dezenhall told CNN yesterday.

Fox News observed that Mr. Dean might do well with the World Wrestling Federation.

The Vermont Democrat who would be president was called “a prairie dog on speed” by former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson and deemed angry, temperamental, frenzied and volatile in various press reports.

In the aftermath, Mr. Dean initially said he meant to deliver “a little bit of fun” to his supporters, but quickly revised his spin.

“I’m going to give a different kind of speech,” Mr. Dean told campaign workers on his arrival in New Hampshire yesterday. “Those of you who came here intending to be lifted by a lot of red-meat rhetoric are going to be a little disappointed.”

Still, print and broadcast media made great sport speculating on what led to his ill-timed floor show Monday night.

Both the New York Times and the Associated Press cited the fact that Mr. Dean’s loss in the Iowa primary was his first political defeat in 22 years — thus besmirching a “charmed political life,” according to the Times.

Some pundits felt the Dean disarray was because of an unfriendly press, plummeting approval numbers and, according to MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, “the failure of his family to come out and campaign for him.”

Something obviously snapped inside Mr. Dean when he stepped before a roiling throng of “Deaniacs” and delivered a tirade deemed combative, screaming, snarling, maniacal and enraged in various press reports.

It came at a price.

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