Just a brief intro to a brief diary. Like so many Kosscks, I was annoyed/pissed/insulted by Paul Begala's May 11 CNN comment regarding Howard Dean:
Yes, he's in trouble, in that campaign managers, candidates, are really angry with him. He has raised $74 million and spent $64 million. He says it's a long-term strategy. But what he has spent it on, apparently, is just hiring a bunch of staff people to wander around Utah and Mississippi and pick their nose. That's not how you build a party. You win elections. That's how you build a party.
Zack Exley shaped an eloquent response to Begala which was on the Recommended List here and which was the catalyst for Begala's mea culpa.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Begala has now apologized. I give him credit for having the integrity to do so, but I will forever question how he could have brought himself to say it in the first place.
His piece is over at the Huffington Post. Too bad he didn't have the foresight to post it at a real grassroots site.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Zack Exley makes several good points. In fact, his post was a good deal more thoughtful than my offhand comment insulting Democratic party organizers. So let me respond in kind.
First, I should never, ever have denigrated young men and women who are working in the political trenches in places like Mississippi and Utah.
I was being arrogant and flippant when I said they're just picking their noses. Mea culpa. You live by the smart-ass quip, you die by the smart-ass quip.
He ends his lengthy piece with this -
And I regret that my smart-ass comment once again sidetracked us from the discussion we ought to be having.