I totally missed Howard Dean’s infamous speech after his loss in the Iowa caucuses, now known as the “I Have A Scream” speech because of his rant and barbaric yawp at the end. This transcription doesn’t do it justice at all, but I haven’t gotten the video link to work yet. I’m sure his campaign managers have been in a tizzy trying to figure out how to spin this, and it appears that they’ve taken one of the few tactics that could work: shameless self-deprecation. To wit: Howard Dean appeared on Late Night With David Letterman last night to present a very appropriate Top Ten List:
Top Ten Ways I, Howard Dean, Can Turn Things Around
10. “Switch to decaf”
9. “Unveil new slogan: ‘Vote for Dean and get one dollar off your next purchase at Blimpie’”
8. “Marry Rachel on final episode of ‘Friends’”
7. “Don’t change a thing – it’s going great”
6. “Show a little more skin”
5. “Go on ‘American Idol’ and give ’em a taste of these pipes”
4. “Start working out and speaking with Austrian accent”
3. “I can’t give specifics yet, but it involves Ted Danson”
2. “Fire the staffer who suggested we do this lousy Top Ten list instead of actually campaigning”
1. “Oh, I don’t know – maybe fewer crazy, redfaced rants”
His image of an angry berserker may still linger, but his willingness to make fun of himself and put the speech behind him is a start towards directing attention away from his rant and back towards his campaign. We’ll see if it’s enough…
Oh, and just to show that I’m not letting him off that easy, here’s a site dedicated to the speech, as well as some MP3 “remixes” of the speech that have been making the rounds on the ‘Net: 
🙂
Update: MTV has joined the fray with some descriptions and review of the remixes.
