Rham Emauel - not someone to take home to meet mother

This profile of Rham Emauel in the US version of GQ caught my eye. Congressman Emauel is the outgoing chair of the DCCC, the body charged with getting Democrats elected to the House of Representatives, and as such can take a fair bit of credit the whipping the GOP got back in November.

The article is well worth a read for anybody who owns a West Wing box set, for a insight into how US politics really works.

Two things surprised me.

1) That no mention at all was made of the Congressman's home district (IL-05), he appears to not have even bothered going there on polling day. In the UK I can't believe that even the most arrogant Tory squire would take his seat that for granted, it shows what a decent bit of gerrymandering will do for you.

2) The fact that Emauel was willing to let a journalist portray him as a bit of a bastard (true a bloody effective one) and lay bare the splits in the Democrats so obviously. To me speaks of just how low politics has fallen in the esteem of cousins across the pond that such a top-drawer operative isn't worried about reputational risk of being seen like that. If they already think you are all bastards it doesn't matter if you act like one. I'm not sure whether to admire the honesty or to worry that some people are trying to drag UK politics the same way.