Posted on 11/06/2008 11:20:37 AM PST by jessduntno
Rahm Emanuel: The House Rahm Built FROM THE ARCHIVES:
Rahm Emanuel was seething.
He was hurtling down an asphalt road in upstate New York on the 47th trip of his ferocious campaign to win back the House. A lecture, even from his friend James Carville, was the last thing he needed.
Carville and pollster Stan Greenberg telling him he had to make each of his handpicked candidates shift from attack mode and strike a conciliatory note in their final campaign ads.
"James. No James, YOU LISTEN," Emanuel barked into a cell phone, about to release a string of profane invectives more intense than usual. "Can you listen for one [expletive] minute? I'm working these campaigns all the time. The campaigns all have different textures."
His wiry body tensed, his voice breaking with stress. Emanuel shouted, "If you don't like what you see, I highly recommend you pick up the ... phone and do it yourself."
The moment captured Rahm in full, a portrait in power of a brutally effective taskmaster.
Democrats had never raised enough money. Emanuel, a savvy fundraiser who shaped those skills under Richard M. Daley and Bill Clinton, yelled at colleagues and threatened his candidates into generating an unprecedented amount of campaign cash.
With techniques that would make a Big Ten football coach blush, he recruited candidates who could mount tough challenges in some of the reddest patches of America.
Emanuel, jokingly called "Rahmbo" even by his mother, muscled weaker Democrats out of races in favor of stronger ones, and ridiculed the chairman of his own party.
In January 2005, when Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi asked Emanuel to head the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or DCCC, experts predicted that the party would take perhaps three seats. On Tuesday, it picked up at least 28.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Rahm genius looks greater than it is with a moderate GOP President who wouldn’t fight back.
Am I the only one who finds some relief in that he’s an enemy we know? For someone who promised “change”, the O-man sure is picking a lot of established insiders.
We need a few guys like him on our side. Maybe more than a few.
Scum Emmanuel. Change we can believe in.
“Emanuel, jokingly called “Rahmbo” even by his mother....”
I thought his mother called him “Little Shithead”.
We had them and the media went out and destroyed them. This guy will be hands off by the media.
Militant campaign operatives are usually partisan scumbags. But that's what you usually need to organize, motivate and win campaigns.
Some day the Republicans will realize they are bringing socks filled with flour to a gun fight. The Dems play for keeps.
Where’s Tom DeLay when we really need him?
he must be destroyed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.