There were echoes of former Vermont governor Howard Dean’s (D) 2004 “I Have a Scream speech” in Sen. Tim Scott’s (R) highly enthusiastic announcement for the presidency on Monday in Charleston, South Carolina.
Scott exclaimed, “Hello, North Charles-tiiiiiin!” when he was introduced to the audience by his nephew on a Monday morning.
After that, Scott sang “Hello, South Carolin-aaaah!” in a slightly muted tone before dancing to the center of the stage and joking, “Obviously, I can’t dance — you already knew that.
The crowd ate up Scott’s high spirits and responded to his performance with whoops and cheers.
Dean’s “scream” during an Iowa event is widely seen as the final straw in his bid for the 2004 Democratic nomination. Dean, the ex-governor of Vermont and current chair of the Democratic National Committee was a frontrunner for the Democratic candidacy.
Brimming with confidence, Dean started to list the upcoming political victories he claimed to achieve before exclaiming, “…and then we’re going to Washington, D.C., to take back the White House! His voice cracked as he said, “Yea-aaaaaah!”
Even while the “Dean Scream” went over well with the crowd at the time, it may have been the final straw in his political career because it created the idea that he was no longer in control of his emotions.
Scott has an uphill struggle for the Republican nomination, as both Donald Trump (R), the frontrunner, and Ron DeSantis (D-FL) (who has not yet formally registered his candidacy) have enormous war chests. The New York Times claims that Scott has raised $22 million for his presidential bid.
Scott’s optimistic tone on Monday contrasted sharply with the gloom and doom of Trump’s campaign speeches, in which he has sworn revenge against his opponents and declared that only he “can prevent World War III.”
