Dean Christakos« I Have to Agree with this one | Main | Travel Peparations »
May 19, 2007
Two years after he's gone, I now know all about Terry McAuliffe
So, on my post about jury duty, I mentioned in passing that it gave me a chance to catch up on reading. The book I finally got around to finishing was the autobiography of Terry McAuliffe, former head of Democratic National Committee, What a Party! My Life Among Democrats: Presidents, Candidates, Donors, Activists, Alligators and Other Wild Animals. Now, there aren't many people who know much about Terry McAuliffe. In many circles, he wasn't a popular guy. He was loathed by many activist Democrats because he presided over an era from 2001-2005 in which the Democrats were out-witted and outplayed by the GOP while the Democrats seemed to sit there and take it. He was also loathed by a lot of Rush Limbaugh listeners because Rush told them to loathe him and was referred to a "Terry McAwful," so, clearly, he had to be the enemy. For the most part though, he wasn't a high profile character outside of fundraising circles and pundit shows.
I have to say that this book was a triumph of marketing prowess. When the book came out, there was a lot of press about how it had the inside scoop of McAuliffe's criticism of John Kerry's presidential campaign. Mostly, of course, the book is an autobiography of McAuliffee himself where he talks about his life and work in political fundraising from the late 1970s up through his close work with Bill Clinton to his appointment as chairman of the DNC in 2001 until he stepped down in 2005 when Howard Dean took over. However, the part about foibles of the John Kerry campaign appear in the first chapter. A good guess would be that when the book was released, various reporters were going to pick up the book, read the first chapter, skim the rest of it, if they read it at all, and then write their stories. Suddenly, the press about the book had a big story to trumpet-- "McAuliffe criticized Kerry's campaign!" because that was really the only part of the book they read. Hey, it convinced me to buy the book. As I said, brilliant marketing strategy.
Anyway, I learned three things from McAuliffe's book: #1: Every good thing the Democrats did was McAuliffe's idea. #2: Every mistake the Democrats made occurred because they didn't listen to McAuliffe's idea on the issue. #3: McAuliffe tries to make himself appear charming by his total ignorance of pop culture (variations of stuff like, "So, nice to meet you, Paul Simon. Oh, you're a singer. Are you the Senator's son?" over and over again) but in fact he comes across as annoyingly clueless.
However, the most important thing is that he never discusses any failures of the party during his tenure except to blame it on the mistakes of Kerry, campaign consultants, or anyone else. What I really wanted to read about was his perspective on the 2002 midterm elections. He was the presiding chair of the DNC that year, and those elections reflected a collapse of the Democrats' tactics while they were being outplayed by the Republicans who were effectively turning attention away from Afghanistan and to Iraq for their electoral advantage. McAuliffe starts talking about the Democrats' perspective on supporting authorizing (not requiring) the president to use force in Iraq back in early fall of '02. And then the section on that era ends. The whole 2002 midterms are skipped. His role in them is ignored, except a throwaway line later on in the book about how that the strategy for the midterms was mostly the responsibility of the DSCC and DCCC. Similar to his "every time the Democrats screwed up, it was because they didn't listen to me," theme in his book, this time when the Democrats screwed up, he just skipped over the entire thing, not offering any insight into his role or his perspective. I suppose that's a problem with an autobiography. No one wants to write about the times one screwed up by oneself.
Posted by Dean at May 19, 2007 11:50 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.christakos.com/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/364
Comments
"A good guess would be that when the book was released, various reporters were going to pick up the book, read the first chapter, skim the rest of it, if they read it at all, and then write their stories."
This is more or less brilliant. I wonder how often we could do this, and how distorted the public view of books and policy reports is as a result. I know that I certainly wrote a lot of papers in school on the first chapter of an assigned book.
Posted by: RW at May 20, 2007 6:28 PM
." Il Quantità più grandi con estremo orientali dell'UE rappresentano un fallimento prendendo movimento. ", i ragazzi piumini , Il vostro cane ha esortato dispositivo e pronto soccorso che sono vigili per quanto riguarda possibili situazioni di TB è sicuramente nell'aria un'infezione che spesso continuano ad dimostra critico con circa il 7% legate alle circostanze. Quasi mezzo per quanto riguarda le persone con il multi-farmaco immunitario una specie di perire malattia. Questo Chi ha lodato questa britannico "Trova con Treat" programma, che funziona il portatile a raggi X camion per di visualizzare gli uomini schermo desolata e donne così come farmaco dipendenti in recupero rispetto alla TBC. Dr Ogtay Gozalov, in Chi ha europea sindacato, ha riferito: "Non è solo questo popolazioni suscettibili compresi i migranti insieme ai prigionieri:. la maggior parte di noi potrebbe essere scoperto, giubbotto Moncler : "Se nuovo membro dice di non fare qualcosa ora, potrebbe essere la situazione impressionante quando ne avete bisogno.
Posted by: jlp365 at September 14, 2011 10:50 PM
Posted by: gh at October 4, 2011 4:23 AM
In this modern and fashionable society, people are pursuing for ghd australia cool, unique, stylish and innovative. Whether it is GHD straighteners australia or fashion accessories all means a lot for modern society of today. Same is the case with trendy looking ghd online. When these are GHD cheap, the excitement just gets doubled. Most chic looking buy ghd australia ghd hair are in fashion now. These are one of the favorite fashion accessories for men and women long time ago. If you have not yet tried ghd warehouse australia, it's time to own one and feel the difference it can make to your personality. These are just brilliant and fabulous cheap hair straighteners. They are most iconic and can provide you with a new feeling and enhance confidence. The quality of ghd hair straighteners australia is just superior to what you have dreamt of. Today owning a new and trendy looking ghd hair straightener in australia are not only meant for the wealthy people. These are now made luxurious and affordable ghd in australia to reach out to every budget and range. You can just enjoy them by ordering replica watches online where you get the complete satisfaction and genuine quality at best possible rates. The finish, quality and designs you get from watch replica are really astonishing and you will love them all. Different styles and designs of italian replica watches are now available to make your wrist beautiful. You can choose from the wide variety of replica designer watches by comparing lots of perfect and stunning pieces. These luxury replica watches would be nice investments for you in long term. These cheapest replica watches are brilliant and prove to be wonderful for you while it makes you stand out of the crowd. The dashing and extraordinary high quality replica watches you get will attract every eye in a crowd and makes you feel more confident. If you are not having japanese fake rolex watches yet, check them out and own them now as were not so affordable ever before. You will not miss them out. Be it Christmas or Valentine's Day or any other special day that you would like to celebrate, a ladies used rolex watches gift would be just perfect for any occasion. Many people think of the perfect rolex watches store to purchase for their loved ones. Even if you shop for your special occasion at the last moment, you are sure to find something nice at rolex hunter pocket watches. rolex used watches gifts are not restricted to just your lover, you could also pick perfect for almost everyone, including your family and friends. What is so extraordinary and unusual when it comes to replica cartier watches is that you have an option to pick and select your own to be attached onto the of your preference. Just in the range of cartier replica watches, it provides options of a standard or you could opt for the obsidian. Once you select the bracelet, then you select the charms to be supplemented onto the bracelet. You will have so many options to choose from the replica tag heuer watches that it may just get very difficult for you to make a choice. Well the tag heuer replica watches are not limited to the use of bracelets; they can be used on as well. They can be easily hooked on to the replica bvlgari watches. So you have accessory which is versatile. One of things appreciated by it's fans is the versatility of replica rolex. To attach your special rolex replica there is a sterling silver link provided which can hold up to three charms. The good thing is that the rolex milgauss is easy to take on and off. So my suggestion to all of those who are considering rolex replica watches as a gift for your loved ones for any special occasion would be to definitely check out their amazing. The collection is so huge and with lots of variety that you are sure to find best replica rolex watches for everyone. So your wait for a good piece of buy rolex watches ends with the variety offered. rolex watches store is incredibly popular, and the collectable nature of these beautiful pieces of means that many people are searching for them online. As with any designer label, there will always be companies selling watches rolex, however when you are buying online how can you be sure that what you are purchasing is the genuine .
Posted by: replica rolex at October 12, 2011 3:28 AM