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Howard Dean Peeved at Numerous Airings of Post-Iowa Rant
Aired January 26, 2004 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to the last day before the first presidential primary of 2004. The Democratic contenders are crisscrossing New Hampshire like there's tomorrow. Or, more precisely, like there's no day after tomorrow.
The final pre-primary tracking poll looks a lot like the past several. Iowa caucus champ John Kerry with a double-digit lead over former front-runner Howard Dean, leaving Wesley Clark, Joe Lieberman and John Edwards in a three-way battle for third. Dean began primary eve with a frontal assault on his fellow New Englander, Kerry. And he's not too fond of the media right now either. That apparently includes our own Wolf Blitzer, reporting this hour from Manchester.
It looked like it got pretty testy there, Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I had a chance to speak with Howard Dean earlier today, Carol, and we did talk about the uproar that's been generated as a result of his concession speech a week ago tonight in Iowa. Everybody by now remembers how excited he got, how angry he got, how pumped he got, and the whole nature of what he was doing. And we spoke a little bit about the impact of that rant, as some are calling it, and the fallout. Listen to what he said to me when I raised the issue with him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: In the aftermath of your concession speech in Iowa, have the news media been fair to you by replaying...
HOWARD DEAN (D), PRSIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, I never worry about the news media being fair. The news media does what the news media does. They're an entertainment business, at least as much as the news media.
BLITZER: Wait a minute. You don't think we're in the business of reporting the news and providing information to our viewers?
DEAN: I think you report the news, you create the news, and that's what you guys do. And that's fine.
BLITZER: But we didn't create your concession speech. You did that.
DEAN: Well, but you chose to play it 673 times in one week. That is your privilege. If I'm going to run for president, I have to stand up to that. Whatever you guys throw at me, I have to be willing to take, because if you want to be president of the United States, you had better be willing to take whatever the news media throws at you. And I'm very willing to take it, and I make no apologies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Howard Dean showing no inclination whatsoever to back down from anything he said so far. He did go on to say to me flatly that he thought he would definitely win this primary tomorrow. He was very confident of that. And he said then on to the other states.
I also had a chance to speak with Dr. Judith Steinberg-Dean, his wife, and she spoke at some length about her plans to get to the White House, what she plans on doing to continue her medical practice, perhaps even out of the White House -- Carol.
LIN: Now that would be interesting and a first for a first lady. Hey Wolf, during that Q&A session, did it surprise you that Howard Dean would -- I don't know, did he seem angry to you? I mean, he seemed angry to us here in the newsroom. We were kind of surprised to see that type, especially with this reformation he was undergoing with his in campaigning across New Hampshire.
BLITZER: No, he wasn't angry. You know, he was just Howard Dean. He certainly spoke his mind. He's very blunt, and when he thinks he's right he speaks out.
Certainly there was no animosity or anger or anything like that. It was a blunt exchange. I was, of course, defending our profession, and he was expressing a different point of view, which is certainly understandable in the aftermath of the coverage of that brief snippet from the so-called "I have a scream speech."
We laughed about it, as well. He certainly did. And I pointed out to him elsewhere in the interview that he's been the one who's been raising that issue over these past several days in his various speeches around this state. It's not only the news media that keeps replaying that sound bite.
LIN: All right. Fun indeed. Thank you very much, Wolf Blitzer.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 26, 2004 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to the last day before the first presidential primary of 2004. The Democratic contenders are crisscrossing New Hampshire like there's tomorrow. Or, more precisely, like there's no day after tomorrow.
The final pre-primary tracking poll looks a lot like the past several. Iowa caucus champ John Kerry with a double-digit lead over former front-runner Howard Dean, leaving Wesley Clark, Joe Lieberman and John Edwards in a three-way battle for third. Dean began primary eve with a frontal assault on his fellow New Englander, Kerry. And he's not too fond of the media right now either. That apparently includes our own Wolf Blitzer, reporting this hour from Manchester.
It looked like it got pretty testy there, Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I had a chance to speak with Howard Dean earlier today, Carol, and we did talk about the uproar that's been generated as a result of his concession speech a week ago tonight in Iowa. Everybody by now remembers how excited he got, how angry he got, how pumped he got, and the whole nature of what he was doing. And we spoke a little bit about the impact of that rant, as some are calling it, and the fallout. Listen to what he said to me when I raised the issue with him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: In the aftermath of your concession speech in Iowa, have the news media been fair to you by replaying...
HOWARD DEAN (D), PRSIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, I never worry about the news media being fair. The news media does what the news media does. They're an entertainment business, at least as much as the news media.
BLITZER: Wait a minute. You don't think we're in the business of reporting the news and providing information to our viewers?
DEAN: I think you report the news, you create the news, and that's what you guys do. And that's fine.
BLITZER: But we didn't create your concession speech. You did that.
DEAN: Well, but you chose to play it 673 times in one week. That is your privilege. If I'm going to run for president, I have to stand up to that. Whatever you guys throw at me, I have to be willing to take, because if you want to be president of the United States, you had better be willing to take whatever the news media throws at you. And I'm very willing to take it, and I make no apologies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Howard Dean showing no inclination whatsoever to back down from anything he said so far. He did go on to say to me flatly that he thought he would definitely win this primary tomorrow. He was very confident of that. And he said then on to the other states.
I also had a chance to speak with Dr. Judith Steinberg-Dean, his wife, and she spoke at some length about her plans to get to the White House, what she plans on doing to continue her medical practice, perhaps even out of the White House -- Carol.
LIN: Now that would be interesting and a first for a first lady. Hey Wolf, during that Q&A session, did it surprise you that Howard Dean would -- I don't know, did he seem angry to you? I mean, he seemed angry to us here in the newsroom. We were kind of surprised to see that type, especially with this reformation he was undergoing with his in campaigning across New Hampshire.
BLITZER: No, he wasn't angry. You know, he was just Howard Dean. He certainly spoke his mind. He's very blunt, and when he thinks he's right he speaks out.
Certainly there was no animosity or anger or anything like that. It was a blunt exchange. I was, of course, defending our profession, and he was expressing a different point of view, which is certainly understandable in the aftermath of the coverage of that brief snippet from the so-called "I have a scream speech."
We laughed about it, as well. He certainly did. And I pointed out to him elsewhere in the interview that he's been the one who's been raising that issue over these past several days in his various speeches around this state. It's not only the news media that keeps replaying that sound bite.
LIN: All right. Fun indeed. Thank you very much, Wolf Blitzer.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
