POOR RAHM... WHAT'S A GIRL TO DO? I KNOW: COUNT ON THE WASHINGTON POST TO HYPE YOU UP

I don't know the Washington Post's Shailagh Murray and Peter Baker and I have no reason to think that they're anything other than sincere, earnest journalists. But... a political story they co-wrote today made me cringe. Filled with inaccuracies and truisms it was a classic example of the kind of lazy journalism that makes the MSM so useless to anyone interested in hard reality. The story purports to be about how hard it for all the Democratic advisors and movers and shakers to decide between all the fabulous Democratic candidates for president.

Their first example is Rahm Emanuel who they say is "widely credited with engineering his party's takeover of the House in November." A far more accurate description might have been that "Rahm Emanuel has successfully claimed most of the credit for his party's takeover of the House in November although even the most cursory and superficial investigation clearly shows the Democrats took over the House despite Emanuel's lame, losing strategies and efforts, not because of them."

And since Murray and Baker almost immediately start talking about the impending battle over the  all important New Hampshire primary, what a great segue it would have been to point out how Emanuel had nothing whatsoever to do with the takeover of New Hampshire by Democrats at all levels-- unless you consider having had something to do with it, his attempts to sabotage the campaign of one of the eventual congressional winners, Carol Shea-Porter, a little Rahm trick the mainstream media never mentions although it was repeated all over the country and could have cost the Democrats the House. Had there been no Rahm Emanuel, the Democrats might have won a dozen more seats (although probably not the Florida and North Carolina seats won by conservatives Tim Mahoney and Heath Shuler, the 2 Democrats Rahm actually is responsible for bringing into the House).

But the piece only uses Emanuel as an example, albeit an atrocious one, of the main point: the battle to line up crack hack Inside-the-Beltway clueless campaign teams (that have-- again, not mentioned in the story-- consistently been disastrous for Democratic candidates).

While it might seem like a simple loyalty test, loyalty in politics is not always defined in terms of who hired someone first or who someone worked for longest. Politics breeds complicated relationships. They are partly personal, partly ideological and partly transactional.

"It creates a dilemma for a lot of people," said Joe Lockhart, a former White House press secretary now at the Glover Park Group, a communications and lobbying firm with close ties to Hillary Clinton. "It would be easy if you had worked for a person who you knew wasn't up to the job, but that's not the case this year. It takes a little soul-searching on what you want to do."

Many familiar figures from the 1990s, such as Lockhart, are back in the Clinton corner formally or informally -- political advisers, fundraisers and policy aides such as James Carville, Harold Ickes, Mark Penn, Mandy Grunwald, Ann Lewis, Maggie Williams, Bruce Reed, John D. Podesta, Patti Solis Doyle and Terence R. McAuliffe.

Personally, I'm not in the Clinton camp. I'd rather support a leader... with vision... and guts. (Let me know if you see one go by.) But I have been taking bets that she'll win. I'm going to win a lot of free dinners come 2008-- and I won't even vote for her in the primary to help my chances. I think Gore, Edwards, Obama are all more attractive alternatives, but I'm betting on Hill over any of 'em. However, looking at that list of losers she's got for a team I may start asking for odds.


And for me, personally, looking at that list of names reminds me of why I'm sure Clinton, though better than any Republican so far declared is worse than any Democrat (except Biden, who does make Hillary look like an energetic visionary and hero of the people). James Carville? What century is this? Bruce Reed? He hasn't officially joined the GOP yet?? Lieberman didn't take him along? Check and make sure he's not a registered Republican. Terry McAuliffe? What can I say? I can't think of anyone who so energized the Democratic Party with his departure the way McAuliffe did. This is Hillary's campaign? Yes, I need to revisit all those bets and get better odds.