February 02, 2004

Duck Hunt #9

DH is back. Even though Dr. Dean lost New Hampshire, dumped his campaign manager-turned-rock star, Joe Trippi, and blew through $30 million with only a third and second place to show for it we here a DH HQ persevere. Jon Chait has stopped his Dean-bashing weblog, but since Dean, M.D hasn't thrown in the towel neither will TAM. Dean, M.D. has to come back just for sheer entertainment value, and so I have a reason to buy a Mean Dean talking doll [Thanks, James].

The most interesting Dr. Duck story today is the campaign started paying its workers again. Part of it is from raising $200,000 a day, and part of it is from laying off some of the staff. I hope those ex-employees got a good severence package. Yeah, right. At least they can have the satisfaction of knowing they're only a URL away from the campaign.

Now, on to the blogosphere:

• Dr. Dean put his foot in his mouth again, as Matthew Stinson points out.
  
• Alright, this isn't a weblog post, but James Lileks is a weblogger. Close enough. He writes about the hoopla surrounding Dean's Net strategy and how it failed:
  

  Lesson: Sometimes a bunch of kids sharing their enthusiasm on a Web page is just that, and little more.

  
  
• Rosemary found a Dr. Duck number problem.
  
• BushBlog points out how ticked Joe Trippi was last Tuesday night. His week only got worse.
  
• Dan Conley has little faith in Dean, M.D.'s fiscal acumen:
  

  Giving money to the Dean campaign today is like giving an IMF loan to Russia in 1993 ... you might as well throw your money down a well.

  
  
• D.C. Thornton doesn't trust Dean, M.D. with the federal budget since he blew through his campaign funds like he was Paris Hilton shopping on Rodeo Drive.
  
• Patterico describes Dr. Dean as a "Monday Morning Quarterback."
  
• Dean, M.D. sympathizer Dave Winer rips campaign CEO Roy Neel.
  
• Doc Searls, another Dean, M.D. sympathizer, wants the real story behind the campaign's flame out.
  
• Since Joe Trippi's campaign firm handles(handled?) Dr. Dean's ad buys and at least $7 million was spent on ads that adds up to a nice chunk of change. Clay Whittaker wonders "If someone could find an instance where Dean said he was for a cap on executive pay, this would be particularly ironic." I found something along that line. In an answer to a question on the AFL-CIO website, Dr. Duck said,
  

  As President, I will pursue policies that address the growing gap between executive pay and worker salaries. For example, I would explore proposals to limit the tax deductibility of grossly disproportionate executive compensation.

  
  I'm guessing Dean, M.D. didn't think Trippi's cut was "grossly disproportionate." [I'm not ripping on Trippi's commission. That may be standard practice in campaigns. I'm pointing out Dr. Dean's inconsistency. It's more evidence for why he's all wet.]
  

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