For You Dean Lovers: Dean on peeves, profanity and feet
Howard Dean has worn a lot of hats during his career: doctor, governor of Vermont, presidential candidate, chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He recently joined the law and lobbying firm McKenna Long & Aldridge and just signed on as a regular contributor for CNBC.
Q: Tell us your favorite joke.
A: I actually don’t have one. What I usually do is tell funny stories from the road, many of which are, of course, unprintable. But I don’t actually have a joke. I don’t tell jokes much. I tell little stories.
Q: Are you not a funny guy?
A: I can be a funny guy. I have a great sense of humor, but it has an ironic twist to it.
Q: When’s the last time you used profanity?
A: Yesterday afternoon, when I got stuck on the Metro in D.C. for 50 minutes and missed my appointment.
Q: How many hours of sleep do you get (on average)?
A: About five and a half hours.
Q: Describe your level of ambition.
A: Well, my energy level is very high ... how ambitious it all is depends on lots of different things. But pretty high energy level. I take on a lot of projects at the same time.
Q: You’re president of the United States for enough time to make only one executive decision. What is it?
A: Well, that’s a hard one, because the decision I would make would be a decision that would be made for the Congress as well as the executive - which I’m sure the Congress wouldn’t take kindly to - and that would be to put in a health care plan that would serve all Americans.
Q: What’s a common and accepted practice for Americans nowadays that you think we’ll look back on with regret?
A: Most likely eating too much.
Q: What is your favorite body part (on yourself) and why?
A: My foot, because it’s in my mouth a lot.
Q: What would you attempt to do if you knew that you could not fail?
A: I would put in a health care system for all Americans.
Q: What about in your personal life?
A; I’d probably climb Mount Everest.
Q: On what type of products do you never go cheap?
A: I’m a stamp collector, so generally United States stamps, postage stamps.
Q: Describe a few pet peeves of yours.
A: People who saunter along the Metro platform while the doors are about to close is certainly one of them.
Q: How often do you Google yourself?
A: Never.
Q: What do you know now that you wish someone had told you 10 years ago?
A: Where the Dow Jones was going to be.
Q: What childhood event shaped or scarred you the most?
A: I think one of the episodes I remember is one of my brothers stepping on a bees’ nest and my second brother just calmly picking the bees off him - which, to me, I was just astonished with. They were all younger than me - I was the oldest - and it was an amazing act of courage. This was when we were really little. I think I was 10.
Q: Did he still get stung a little bit?
Yeah, but just the act of one kid sticking his hand in there and pulling the bees off his little brother just astonished me.
Q: Would you rather live without music or live without TV?
A: Live without TV.
Q: Would you rather be gossiped about or never talked about at all?
A: Gossiped about.
Q: Think of one of your least favorite people in Washington and, without naming him or her, describe what makes that person so unappealing.
A: I value organizational harmony a great deal and so, generally, I don’t like people who belittle others in organizations.
Q: Let your mother know how much she means to you, in the form of a haiku.
A: Young and beautiful
Independent thinker and
Always nurturing
Q: Bonus question: As a doctor, do you plan on watching the final episode of “ER”?
A: No, I don’t watch television. But by far, my favorite television program was “The Wire.”
source: Politico