Paul Begala: still a jerk

scottforamerica at Daily Kos has a diary about talking to Paul Begala at today's swearing-in ceremonies.

I was going to just politely greet him and shake his hand, but I had an attack of conscience. After all that Begala and Carville have done to undermine Gov. Dean’s efforts at the DNC, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. "I hope you will support the 50-state strategy," I told him, expecting the shrug off or a "nice to meet you too," but that isn’t what Begala had in mind.

"That depends what you mean by 50 state strategy he said." I responded by telling him that I meant the plan for Democrats to compete everywhere and for every office in the country. That I don’t support he said, "we should start with principles and values." "Sure, we should compete everywhere" he muttered, "but that’s not the right strategy."

The money quote:

"Anyway," Begala continued... "I don’t need some a**hole from Vermont telling me what to do."

We should give Paul Begala something nice. Maybe one of my cats or dogs could "make" something for him.

Note for the irony-impaired (e.g. anyone from the "news" show Greater Boston): that was a joke.

Update: Thank you to Jessica for pointing out Maura's great diary In praise of some a**hole from Vermont.

Utterly gratuitous photo of me, some asshole from Vermont, and my dear departed dad from a Kim Hynes for State Rep. fundraiser in Stamford in 2003

By the way, I've been lucky enough to meet Howard in person a few times and I've found him to be kind, down-to-earth, personable, and smart as a whip. I don't think he's an asshole at all. But the extent to which Paul Begala and his ilk do think Howard is an asshole is greatly to the Gov's credit. May his assholishness in Begala's eyes continue apace as we move on to a big victory in '08.

And to Begala, I say, Get outta the way and go on to your cocktail parties where you can bash Dean and commiserate with your compatriots about your increasing irrelevance. A whole bunch of us and some asshole from Vermont are busy.

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