Tuesday, February 06, 2007
He had me at "F*cking Idiot"
Forget Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. The hot shot in American politics to watch for is Democrat Congressman Rahm Emanuel.
As Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, it was Rahm who orchestrated the Democrats' massive victory in the U.S. Congressional Elections late last year. Described by Rolling Stones magazine as "The Enforcer" and Fortune magazine as a "Pitbull Politician", Rahm broke with tradition by handpicking Democrat candidates himself, twisted arms for campaign funding and crushed dissent on his way to installing the Democrats back in power in Congress without losing a single Democrat incumbent seat (not achieved since 1922).
At the age of 30, Rahm worked as a fund raiser for Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's re-election campaign. His hard ball tactics resulted in donors ponying up US$7 million in 13 weeks - an unprecedented sum at that time. On the strength of that and other incidents, Rahm was invited to join Bill Clinton's Presidential Primary campaign at the age of 32. He reportedly introduced himself to Clinton's staff by standing on a table and yelling at them for 45 minutes.
He advised Clinton to delay lobbying in the New Hampshire primary and focus on fund raising instead. After some heated debates, Clinton agreed to go with Rahm's strategy and it paid off. Paul Tsongas won the New Hampshire primary but later withdrew due to a lack of funds. The US$72 million war chest Rahm raised early on helped Clinton do effective damage limitation when the Gennifer Flowers scandal broke.
The night after Clinton was elected President, at a celebratory dinner with campaign colleagues, Rahm stood up with a steak knife and began announcing the names of Clinton's betrayers and enemies. He shouted "Dead!" and plunged the steak knife into the table after every name. An eye witness says "When he was done, the table looked like a lunar landscape. It was like something out of The Godfather. But that's Rahm for you."
At the age of 33, he became a White House senior adviser to President Clinton. Just before Prime Minister Tony Blair's first public appearance with President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Rahm reportedly told the PM "This is important. Don't f*ck it up."
After 6 years in the White House, Rahm joined investment firm Wasserstein Perella where he earned more than US$18 million in 2 and a half years. Then in 2002 he became a Congressman for a Chicago district.
He once wrote an article entitled "How to Beat a Republican" which said "once you have succintly spelt out your own program, you can start dredging up dirt on your opponent. The untainted Republican has not yet been invented."
In last year's congressional campaign, he broke the unwritten rule that the heads of the Democratic campaign and the Republican campaign would not attack each other. Of his opposite number, Tom Reynolds, he is reported as having said to his staff "“What’s Reynolds’s negatives? What’s his job approval? If you were going to hit him with a hammer, which is what we’re about to do today, what would you hit him with?”
On election night, when CNN projected that the Democrats will take back the House of Representatives, Rahm stood on his desk and yelled to his staff "The Republicans can go f*ck themselves!"
But of all the things Rahm has said and done, my favourite is the following quote from GQ magazine:
Within the first forty-five seconds or so of our first interview, he called me a f*cking idiot—though I soon learned I wasn’t special in that regard. James Carville, Rahm’s pal since their days together on the 1992 Clinton campaign, later told me not to sweat it: “Everybody is a f*cking idiot to Rahm.” Not even Bill Clinton is spared. When I ask the former President what is the bluntest thing Rahm has ever said to him, he tells me, “It’s unprintable.”
He had me at calling everyone a f*cking idiot :)
Forget Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. The hot shot in American politics to watch for is Democrat Congressman Rahm Emanuel.As Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, it was Rahm who orchestrated the Democrats' massive victory in the U.S. Congressional Elections late last year. Described by Rolling Stones magazine as "The Enforcer" and Fortune magazine as a "Pitbull Politician", Rahm broke with tradition by handpicking Democrat candidates himself, twisted arms for campaign funding and crushed dissent on his way to installing the Democrats back in power in Congress without losing a single Democrat incumbent seat (not achieved since 1922).
At the age of 30, Rahm worked as a fund raiser for Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's re-election campaign. His hard ball tactics resulted in donors ponying up US$7 million in 13 weeks - an unprecedented sum at that time. On the strength of that and other incidents, Rahm was invited to join Bill Clinton's Presidential Primary campaign at the age of 32. He reportedly introduced himself to Clinton's staff by standing on a table and yelling at them for 45 minutes.
He advised Clinton to delay lobbying in the New Hampshire primary and focus on fund raising instead. After some heated debates, Clinton agreed to go with Rahm's strategy and it paid off. Paul Tsongas won the New Hampshire primary but later withdrew due to a lack of funds. The US$72 million war chest Rahm raised early on helped Clinton do effective damage limitation when the Gennifer Flowers scandal broke.
The night after Clinton was elected President, at a celebratory dinner with campaign colleagues, Rahm stood up with a steak knife and began announcing the names of Clinton's betrayers and enemies. He shouted "Dead!" and plunged the steak knife into the table after every name. An eye witness says "When he was done, the table looked like a lunar landscape. It was like something out of The Godfather. But that's Rahm for you."
At the age of 33, he became a White House senior adviser to President Clinton. Just before Prime Minister Tony Blair's first public appearance with President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Rahm reportedly told the PM "This is important. Don't f*ck it up."
After 6 years in the White House, Rahm joined investment firm Wasserstein Perella where he earned more than US$18 million in 2 and a half years. Then in 2002 he became a Congressman for a Chicago district.
He once wrote an article entitled "How to Beat a Republican" which said "once you have succintly spelt out your own program, you can start dredging up dirt on your opponent. The untainted Republican has not yet been invented."
In last year's congressional campaign, he broke the unwritten rule that the heads of the Democratic campaign and the Republican campaign would not attack each other. Of his opposite number, Tom Reynolds, he is reported as having said to his staff "“What’s Reynolds’s negatives? What’s his job approval? If you were going to hit him with a hammer, which is what we’re about to do today, what would you hit him with?”
On election night, when CNN projected that the Democrats will take back the House of Representatives, Rahm stood on his desk and yelled to his staff "The Republicans can go f*ck themselves!"
But of all the things Rahm has said and done, my favourite is the following quote from GQ magazine:
Within the first forty-five seconds or so of our first interview, he called me a f*cking idiot—though I soon learned I wasn’t special in that regard. James Carville, Rahm’s pal since their days together on the 1992 Clinton campaign, later told me not to sweat it: “Everybody is a f*cking idiot to Rahm.” Not even Bill Clinton is spared. When I ask the former President what is the bluntest thing Rahm has ever said to him, he tells me, “It’s unprintable.”
He had me at calling everyone a f*cking idiot :)
# posted by Fore! @ 2:13 PM 
