I may have mentioned this before, but I have always thought highly of Rahm Emmanuel, the Obama Chief of Staff. He is hard working and brilliant, with a rough political edge to him. He appeared today with David Gregory on Meet the Press, and Gregory asked him about his partisan reputation. Gregory whipped out a quote from Bruce Reed, current head of the Democratic Leadership Council, describing Emanuel.
“He’d teach me how to crush the enemy with my bare hands…. As Democrats we oppose torture, but we’re willing to look the other way when Rahm’s doing it….All of us who don’t fear him love him a lot.”
You just have to love that part about crushing the enemy with my bare hands. Naturally Rahm eschews such tactics now in light of President Obama’s stated desire for bipartisanship, but I would still be somewhat reluctant to cross him. I have to say that I got as much enjoyment from his reaction to the quote as I did from the quote itself. I think Rahm is the right man for the job!
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Bill Manzi.com 
Why don’t ya just #######
(comment edited for profanity)
editors note: How dare you!
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Mr. Mayor, do you know Rham Emmanuel personally? Lets not fool ourselves this man will be Obama’s “hit man”. Very Strange language to use isn’t it? Four years of “crush the enemy” (just Republicans or does he/Obama have something else in mind?) “Democrats…oppose torture, but we’re willing to LOOK THE OTHER WAY”. There was a lot of looking the other way in the 1930’s and 1940’s. If such words came out of a Republican,or an officer at GITMO…well you know. This man is scary. He won’t change, he’ll just be less public about “crushing the enemy”. He’ll have his minions do the real dirty work. How Mr. Mayor can you think highly of such a man?
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What is best in life? “To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the women!” hooyah baby.
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Ben,
I do not know Rahm personally. I do think he is a brilliant tactician, and has been hard on both Dems and Republicans. (see Dean, Howard as an example of tough on Dems). I am not sure where you were on the rough edged tactics of Karl Rove or his mentor, Lee Atwater, but the Republicans have been the kings of wedge politics with a viscious edge. Now you complain because there is a Dem that is hard nosed and uses a few profanities? Emmanuel is smart and moderate in his political outlook. In politics Ben there are doers, and there are talkers. Because the system is designed for inertia the doers become known as “hard nosed”, when in fact they are just trying to move the ball. You have some Republicans that are doers as well, and have been accused of some of the same things Emmanuel has been accused of. John McCain comes to mind.
Bill
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A Democrat with cojones? Now, this should be interesting. I did like the faint smile after the “look the other way” quote, and the “aw, shucks, I was young then” followup.
Chicago, meet Texas. Texas …
-FM
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