More responses on Dean wowing the CA Dems


Regular DeanBlog contributor Carl Withak has a long post full of photos (and video?) from the convention floor about Dean's speech:

With each line the Governor completed the audience became more energized. By the time he had completed the above statement he had at least 80% of the crowd off their seats, screaming and waving Dean signs! No other speech before or after received anything like this. At best, a speaker could count on 30-40% of the crowd to get off of their seats and applaud. This show of support was deafening.
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As the good Doctor began to wrap things up he seemed to feed off the audience. His face become red, nearly the entire convention on their feet, screaming his praise, Governor Dean bellowed, "I want my country back! We want our country back!" From the looks of it, California is definitely Dean Country among the party faithful.
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Outside the convention doors hordes of delegates converged on the Dean booth snatching up whatever Dean material they could and signing up to support the campaign. When I first went outside to check I was pretty shocked. There hadn't been a line at any booth until now. New found fans were now clogging the hall way, waiting to get sign up on paper in their support of Dr. Dean.

Oddly enough, very few, if any delegates were now standing in front of the Kerry or Edwards tables unless they were in line for the Governor's table. The volunteers manning the Senator's tables (located at each end of the Dean table) looked as if they'd had the wind kicked out of them. The heavy traffic would continue at the Dean table for the rest of the weekend, only slightly slowing down.

Hours later if you were to ask an anonymous delegate, as I did man, many times, "So, what did you think of the speech." You need not mention Dean by name, they knew immediately what you meant and they showered him with praise.


Jerome has his own thoughts on the speech, and points to a similar piece from The Hauser Report (via myDD):

This was serious stuff. A Democrat saying forget the Patients Bill of Rights. Then, he gave us pie-in the sky health care for all business. But the thing is, Dean explained how to do it (through Medicare and Medicaid) and showed that he did that in Vermont. Dean insisted on balancing the budget because otherwise you cannot fund social justice. He had something going here. He had a vision, he had experience, he could explain the importance of the ideas he was espousing, show they could be done, and get the message across in a way that was not just juicing up the left nor paying lip service without action that the right does.
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Dean's speech then hit a peak that I have never personally seen (although attendees of national conventions may have). Dean had the place sold as he yelled over the absolutely raucous cheers "I want America back. I don't want to be divided any more. I want my country back."

And then the line that sent the house through the roof:

"I'm tired of listening to the fundamentalist preachers!"


Don't forget you can see the video of Dean's speech here - if anyone can provide a transcript, it would be much appreciated.

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