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January 05, 2007
Good Ol' Sportscenter
Fascinating anecdotes abound in former DNC boss Terry McAuliffe's new autobiography, entitled What a Party! My Life Among Democrats: Presidents, Candidates, Donors, Activists, Alligators and Other Wild Animals. As the Boston Herald tells it:
The book is full of revelations from McAuliffe’s years among the power elite - getting a startling leg rub from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at a dinner, watching movie stars Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow smooching during a showing of "Good Will Hunting" at Camp David and being chastised by former President George H.W. Bush during the 2000 election for treating his son with such "disgrace." He had an insider’s look at the Clintons’ marriage during the Monica Lewinsky scandal - going along on a chilly Clinton family vacation to Utah a month after the impeachment vote and watching Mrs. Clinton silently click through channel after channel reporting on her husband’s infidelities before settling on ESPN. He wrote that the president described the period to him as "an absolute living hell."
Plus, the McAuliffe's recollections contain a much-needed bashing of the incompetence of the 2004 Kerry campaign:
McAuliffe said Kerry’s camp was so afraid of offending swing voters that it didn’t defend his record or criticize Bush. He said he was muzzled by Kerry’s aides from assailing Bush’s military record.
He said the campaign also ordered speeches at the Democratic National Convention to be scrubbed of any mention of Bush’s name or his record - although McAuliffe privately encouraged firebrand Al Sharpton to go ahead with his attacks on the president in his crowd-pleasing speech.
"I thought the decision of the Kerry campaign to back off any real criticism of Bush was one of the biggest acts of political malpractice in the history of American politics," he said.
Meanwhile, Republicans went on a sharp tirade against Kerry at their convention. But when Bush said in an interview on the first day that he didn’t think the U.S. could win the war on terror, Kerry did not respond. The Massachusetts senator was windsurfing off Nantucket, unaware of the president’s comments.
McAuliffe said Kerry later told him that was one of the biggest mistakes of his campaign. "I should have gotten off the island," McAuliffe quotes Kerry as saying.
McAuliffe said he was "flabbergasted" to learn after the election that Kerry had $15 million left that he could have spent in the final push. "It was gross incompetence to hoard that money when the race was bound to be so close," McAuliffe said.
McAuliffe said Republicans told him they were shocked that Kerry just took the attacks on his military record, but also overjoyed. He said Bush called President Clinton while he was recovering from his heart attack in September 2004 and said, "The Kerry campaign is the most inept group I have ever seen in politics. Don’t let them ruin your reputation."
He said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., asked him why Kerry wasn’t fighting back more. "My guy (Bush) is no great shakes, but your guy (Kerry) looks like a wimp," McAuliffe quotes McCain as saying.
Here's to hopin that my Dems won't get fooled again. Right about now, a good year and eleven months out, I'm feeling pretty good.
Posted by caps at January 5, 2007 11:24 AM