Alter: Dean Seemed 'Off His Meds'

Howard Dean's bizarre concession speech Monday night, where he roared about winning future primaries and ended with a final screeching "Yeeehaahhhh!" left more than a few journalists wondering about the emotional stability of the former Democratic presidential front-runner.

"[Dean's speech] was a little strange," Newsweek's Jonathan Alter said Tuesday. "He looked like he was off his medication or something."

"He was just trying to be feisty for his supporters," Alter told radio host Don Imus. "But he just went way over the top. He was about as presidential as Howard Beale in 'Network,'" the liberal columnist observed.

Alter said the press had egg on its face after anointing Dean as all but unstoppable, only to see his personality quirks and questions about his temperament send his campaign into a tailspin in Iowa.

"I think that the press should learn a thing or two and not get into one of these situations where we proclaim the whole thing over," he told Imus.

Iowa Caucus day started off badly for Dean, when he grew testy during an interview on "Fox & Friends" after being asked about his admission that he hyperventilated in 1991 upon learning that Vermont Gov. Richard Snelling's death had left him in charge.

"If you were to become president of the United States in charge of almost 300 million people, we don't have to worry about you breathing in and out of a paper bag, do we?" asked host Steve Doocy.

Dean bristled and accused Fox of hitting him below the belt, even though just last week he acknowledged suffering "anxiety attacks" in the past and talked openly about the hyperventilation episode.

In response to Doocy's grilling, the former front-runner pledged that he would release his medical records "at the time when we get them all together."

Read how NewsMax.com first alerted the nation to Dean's revealing comments about his gubernatorial panic attack as well as Dean's earlier admission that he sometimes "needs to be restrained."

Editor's note:
Get NewsMax’s special report on Howard Dean – Click here now

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
2004 Elections