Reply #4: Running for President has got to one of the most torturous things to do to oneself [View All]

At the time, the Dean scream seemed like the worst thing Howard could have done at the time. But, if you look at the full speech now of that event and see the context as well as Trippi's suggestion to fire up the crowd, it was just Howard, exhausted and somewhat baffled, doing what he always did at rallies.

If you watch the video, it doesn't look like a big deal. If you just hear the audio, your mind makes it much more than it really is.

This is the same with the Hillary "moment". When I first heard it, I thought "wow, that sounds so calculated and she is playing the Crying Female Card". The audio tricked me. When I watched the video of the "moment", she is clearly very tired and should have ended the rally much earlier.

Speaking of how exhausting candidates get, I followed Kerry at nearly EVERY rally and event for the last few days before that Iowa caucus. The events started at dawn with a breakfast with dozens of people in one town, an event at 9AM in one town, another at 11:30AM in one town, another at 1:30PM in one town, another at 4:00PM in one town, another at 7PM in one town and another at 10PM in one town. Then you have meetings before going to bed.

You had to be the energized star of the show and make a rousing speech without gaffes and perhaps some Q/A and then do the rally line and sign autographs and pose for photos.

Multiply that for months at a time. You have a very exhausted person that can't stray off message, can't get "emotional", can't basically stop to take a breath and perhaps have handlers telling you different ways to go forward.

It's nuts.