Trippi seeks a teaming with the "Beltway Boys"

I don't think Joe Trippi has ever been part of a winning presidential campaign, although he and Jerry Brown did do their best to weaken Bill Clinton for the general election in 1992 long after Brown was toast. Many Deaniacs seem to love him better than their candidate. Some of them also seem to hate Chris Lehane so much you would think he was Satan's even more evil twin. I wasn't impressed with Lehane in 2000, but if he's so dirty, I sure didn't see it against Bush. Hell, most Americans still don't even know Dubya deserted the National Guard, which would have sunk him for sure. Still, the meme continues. But here's a peek at Trippi's attempt to partner with those "Washington insiders":

"It's the Beltway boys hanging out together," said Joe Trippi, Dr. Dean's campaign manager. "This is the kind of inside Washington politics that people are sick of."

But Steve Murphy, the Gephardt campaign manager, said Mr. Trippi was being "totally hypocritical," adding: "Two weeks ago he ran into me and some of my staffers at Dulles airport and suggested that instead of attacking Howard Dean on Medicare, we should help him and Howard Dean attack Wesley Clark. This was a lengthy conversation."

Trippi's a political operative working to get his politician client elected, while trying to convince their following that they are oh, so different. Please.