I thought that I should shake things up on the blog a little bit. Since most of my posts are fairly serious, it seemed like a good idea to add another post category: political memes. “Political memes” post will consist of infamous gaffes and moments in American political history.
The purpose of the “political meme” category is two-fold: educational and comedic relief. The educational aspect will come from our exploration of the meme’s historical context. You’d be surprised how much history exists in many political memes. On the other hand, the comedic part is self-explanatory. With that, let’s dive right into the history of the “Dean Scream”!
Background
In January 2004, Vermont governor Howard Dean experienced one of the most embarrassing gaffes in American political history. After just one single moment, Howard Dean ceased being a serious candidate for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination.
In June 2003, Vermont governor Howard Dean announced his intention to run for the 2004 presidential election. Dean quickly gained popularity among potential voters for his opposition to the Iraq war, his support of universal health care, and his passionate speeches. By the fall of 2003, the polls showed Dean as the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination. Even though many voters enjoyed Dean’s bold speaking style, rival presidential candidates and news outlets believed that Dean was not level-headed enough to become president. That critique sounds oddly familiar. If I remember correctly, the news media said that the exact same thing about a certain someone who ran for president in 2016, but I digress. Now, let’s look at that fateful day in Iowa wherein Howard Dean became a meme.
The Meme Itself
On January 19th, 2004, the Democratic party held the Iowa Caucus—the first election in the 2004 primary season. Dean’s poll ratings started to fall in the weeks prior to the Iowa Caucus. Nevertheless, Dean was still see as the frontrunner to win the Caucus.
Unfortunately, Howard Dean performed poorly. Dean finished a distant third in the Iowa Caucus (eventual Democratic nominee John Kerry won the Iowa Caucus). In spite of the disappointing loss, Dean hoped to regroup for the upcoming New Hampshire primary. That night, Dean’s campaign planned a rally after the Caucus in West Des Moines, Iowa. Held in front of three thousand supporters, Dean’s rally seemed pretty normal—except for one part. What happened was nothing short of hilarious. Here is an excerpt from Dean’s speech:
“Not only are we going to New Hampshire,” he pledged, “we’re going to South Carolina! And Oklahoma! And Arizona! And North Dakota! And New Mexico! We’re going to California! And Texas! And New York! And we’re going to South Dakota! And Oregon! And Washington and Michigan! “And then we’re going to Washington, D.C., to take back the White House. Y YEEEEEAAAGH!”
Here is a video of the “Dean Scream” Please watch the video. My explanation of this meme cannot fully do it justice.
The Fallout
The “Scream” that Dean uttered in his speech was the result of a unidirectional microphone. No one at the rally really noticed Dean’s weird-sounding scream. The crowd was cheering loudly during his speech. However, Dean’s TV microphone only picked his scream. TV viewers did not hear any of the crowd’s cheers, so Dean’s utterance was painfully obvious. The CNN clip captured this moment fairly well. Thus, a political meme was born and Dean’s campaign was sunk.
The News Media & the Comedy world absolutely annihilated Dean. The “Dean Scream” aired over 600 on television channels In the four days after the Iowa Caucus! People could not get enough of the “Dean Scream”. Comedians like Conan O’Brien and Dave Chappelle made some really funny spoofs of this moment. Some people ironically dubbed Dean’s shriek as the “I Have a Scream” speech because Dean’s scream occurred on Martin Luther King Day.
Jokes aside, Dean never recovered from his loss at the Iowa Caucus. He fared quite poorly in the next several primaries for the Democratic presidential nomination. In fact, Dean decided to suspend his campaign on February 18, 2004 once he had no realistic chance of winning the nomination. Dean’s campaign lasted for only one more month after the “Dean Scream”. Imagine if YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook were around in January 2004. He would have been crucified virtually if those social media platforms existed then. Fortunately, they did not for Dean’s sake.
Before I end this post, I wanted to include some funny Internet memes of the Dean Scream:
Links to more Information about the “Dean Scream”:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/howard-dean-s-scream-turns-15-its-impact-american-politics-n959916https://fivethirtyeight.com/videos/the-dean-scream-what-really-happened/