Lieberman's former manager to teach at Yale?

WTF?!?

[Steve] Smith, a campaign strategist who came from out of state to lead Lieberman's team, will teach the political science seminar "Modern Political Campaigns." Following the August loss, Lieberman fired his campaign staff, replacing Smith with Sherry Brown, who had run some of his previous campaigns. Smith, whose wife is Susan Hyde, an assistant professor of political science, is now senior vice president at a New York political and communications consulting firm.

[...]

Smith praised the department for offering a class taught by someone whose knowledge of campaigns comes from practical experience - though he hastened to add that he has a master's degree from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He said he hopes to bring in guest speakers, including, perhaps, Lamont campaign manager Tom Swan, or Tim Tagaris, who ran Internet netroot operations for the Lamont campaign. Smith said he would welcome students of any political leaning in the class, even if they had worked with the Lamont campaign.

Ah, yeah, the day Tim Tagaris comes to speak at YOUR class is the day he'll stop rooting for the Chicago Cubs...and I don't see Tom Swan stoping by your class anytime soon (that thought really cracks me up).

Who's going to this class? If memory served me right, team Joememtum LOST the primary and HE was fired. Anywho, why take a class when you can get all the experience you need by joining a campaign? You have the 2006 elections, the 2007 mayor races and the big show, the 2008 presidential elections. With all that going on, why take a class taught by a loser?

Well, at least some students echo by feelings.

But some students questioned whether they could learn more about elections by volunteering for one, rather than taking a class.

"It seems it's much more the sort of thing you learn by doing, and not by studying," one student, who asked to remain anonymous, said. "When you try to fit a campaign into something formulaic, that's when you get in trouble."

[...]

Other students, mostly Democrats, questioned the value of a campaign strategy class taught by someone whose choice of strategy ultimately proved unsuccessful.

"It's kind of like if after David fought Goliath, Goliath went on to teach a class about how to use a slingshot," said Brendan Gants '08, president of the Yale College Democrats, who have endorsed Lamont.

Dude, do yourself a favor and skip that class and go volunteer.