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Will Fucked Company list Howard Dean's campaign? With campaign manager/Svenghali Joe Trippi out, plus the request for staffers to defer their paychecks for two weeks, it smells a little too much like some of the start-ups we worked at. Which is all the more surprising since most of his workers are being paid in Vermont maple sugar candy. The Times reports that some workers doubt the campaign has enough money to last beyond next week. Ah, being annointed the candidate the Internet made has its pitfalls.
But take heart Howie: Scarlett Johanssen is a clear Dean supporter.
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Dean staffers can forget about those stock options. They'll soon be worthless.
I don't understand what has happened? I have beening read PURDUM at NYTimes and I am still not sure how Dean blew all his cash.
The NYTimes makes a good point, saying that Roy Neel "is the ultimate Washington insider, not unlike like those Dr. Dean derides daily."
In fact, I felt really bad for Trippi...until I read further down the page and found out that he had been taking 15% commissions on Deans ad buys from his company... Now I'm slightly less sympathetic.
Looks like now he has pulled his TV ads. Should we take odds on him making it through the week? Maybe George Soros could slip him $40 million under the table.
You know where all the money went? Those cool orange hats in Iowa.
Scarlett Johanssen's endorsement is a tad late. She should worn the button during those great shots of her in her underwear in "Lost in Translation." That would've done wonders for the dearly deaparted Dean.
It's no secret that the campaign's strategy was to use wins in Iowa and NH to blow out the other candidates, and ride a combination of free media and new donations to the nomination. That was their strategy and it failed - though you could certainly fault the execution and question the quality of the ads they ran. Also, if you've only seen the "rant" speech out of context (i.e. the ten or fifteen second segment shown on the news or on talks shows), you're just another passive tv viewer. The mic used for the main clip you've seen doesn't pick up the overwhelming crowd noise he was trying to speak over. For a different perspective here's a video recording from the crowd which they ran on a mea culpa segment of ABC News last night: http://www.webmastersforamerica.com/Idiom_Studio/video.htm.
It's fair to be concerned about Dean as a candidate because you recognize the power of the media, it's need for narrative, and you don't think Dean's media-friendly. Just remember to take TV and print with a pinch of salt, whoever the candidate may be. When Dean was interviewed by Wolf Blitzer the other day he said in regards to a question about the speech, "I never worry about the news media being fair. The news media does what the news media does. They're an entertainment businesses at least as much as the news media." Blitzer looked aghast in at Dean's assertion that entertainment had something to do with the news. After the interview was over, they cut to breaking news about the Martha Stewart trial. Case in point.
The only reason Dean even hung in this long is because politics is entertainment as well. It's sad, but it's true.
Re Trippi: 15% of ad buys is standard. That's how most campaign managers work.
I know how Dean blew all that money. He kept buying the Kool-Aid for his flock by the packet, instead of in bulk.
Gothamist is apparently not alone in her feelings.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63086-2004Jan30.html