Former Dean Aide (D) to Advise Tarrant (R)
Kate O'Connor, a longtime aide to Howard Dean and a top adviser on his '04 presidential campaign, has signed up to work for GOP Senate candidate Richard Tarrant, who is challenging Rep. Bernie Sanders (I) in Vermont.
Our favorite line, from a must-read article in the Bennington Banner: "On Dean's national campaign, O'Connor said she experienced a 'kill or be killed' political attitude that she found counterproductive. She liked Dean's less combative, more negotiable approach to government, which she feels accomplished more."
O'Connor goes on to describe how she felt like the Beatles when she and Dean would be spotted by fans, "with people fainting and screaming."
So, who exactly was "screaming?" Dean or the fans? [JOHN MERCURIO]
Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Dean screamed! Ha ha ha ha ha ha.
You know he was yelling over crowd noise, and the only reason it sounded bad was because the audio was his mike only. Yet this joke continues, continues, continues.
You're the National Journal. You can surely make better jokes than that.
A couple of points:
1. Ouch, cheap shot on Dean.
2. O'Connor was hardly a "top adviser."
3. Frankly, O'Connor is, shall we say, no the most stable person upstairs. She was a HUGE problem for the Dean campaign. Dean's biggest fault, IMO, was his inability to get rid of his long-time aide even though everyone on the campaign knew she was a problem.
I'd say that even is he didn't have a 50-point lead, this would have to make Bernie Sanders feel pretty good about his chances.
You think that maybe Dean also has an inability to get rid of some people at the DNC that are obstructionist?
"Former Dean Staffer"'s comment's are correct on both counts. First of all, the scream joke is overused, unnecessary and unoriginal. Secondly, Kate O'Connor was considered a joke by almost all of us on the campaign. Since then then she's tried unsuccessfully to get Zephyr to run, and now is joining Tarrant because the Peter Welsh and state Party people (wisely) want nothing to do with her. She's just dying for the spotlight, and thanks to the Banner, she's got it back. Heck, this is the first time I've thought of her (not including jokes) since the campaign!