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DEL.ICIO.USAnd that’s why they call it puppy love
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As other Republican candidates reach into Georgia to scoop up survivors of the Fred Thompson campaign, it’s helpful to review the steps some presidential operations are willing to take in order to tap into a local figure’s network of political contacts.
Last May, Secretary of State Karen Handel had a leisurely, get-to-know-me session with a visiting Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor.
As the more weighty aspects of the conversation tailed off, the subject of Romney’s time in Salt Lake City, as savior of the 2002 Winter Olympics, rose up.
Handel wondered out loud if Romney knew Donny Osmond, who was rumored to live in Utah. The candidate said, yes, he knew the family.
Politicians often wear their frailties on their sleeves. For some it is sex. Others have a weakness for booze or cocaine or dice.
For Karen Handel, an otherwise intelligent and mature, 45-year-old woman of serious accomplishment, it is a lifelong crush on a boy pop singer. She still suffers from puppy love.
She has “The Best of Donny Osmond” on her iPhone. She has dragged her ever-tolerant husband to Donny Osmond concerts filled with squealing women who bring with them the Donny Osmond lunch boxes they scored during their training-bra-and-“Tiger-Beat” years.
“It is a specific age group. It’s for those of us who are between 40 and 48,” Handel explained. Older women have to be satisfied with Ricky Nelson or Elvis or Davy Jones. Those younger — well, who knows?
With Romney and Handel that particular day in May was Eric Tanenblatt, former chief of staff to Gov. Sonny Perdue and Romney’s man in Georgia. Tanenblatt can recognize an opportunity when he sees one.
How well do you really know the Osmonds? the operative asked the candidate after they left Handel’s office.
Well enough, Romney replied.
The next month, Handel found a follow-up conference call with Romney on her calendar.
“The phone rings, and it was ‘Hi, Karen, this is Donny,’” Handel recounted.
“Donny who?”
“Donny Osmond.”
“The real-for-real Donny Osmond?”
The same, replied the real-for-real Donny Osmond.
Handel confirmed widespread reports that teenage-style screaming echoed through the state Capitol. But the Georgia secretary of state says the conversation itself was a blur.
Witnesses identified topics of discussion as the Osmond 1970s venture into Saturday morning cartoons, and an upcoming concert marking Donny Osmond’s 50th birthday.
And there were witnesses. After Handel and her idol hung up their phones, so did a half-dozen, satisfied Romney operatives in Boston, who had been monitoring the call.
It is important to note here that Handel, whose job it is to supervise state elections, hasn’t made an endorsement in the 2008 presidential race. Mike Huckabee dropped by on Tuesday, but she has no plans to pick sides.
“I’m really just not on fire about any one candidate at this point,” she said.
Comments
By Alan Ulman
January 25, 2008 10:03 AM | Link to this
Politics aside, this is a great story. Good for Secretary Handel and kudos to Eric Tannenblatt, one of the best in the business. (Eric, can you hook me up with Marie Osmond?)
By Alan Ulman
January 25, 2008 10:03 AM | Link to this
Politics aside, this is a great story. Good for Secretary Handel and kudos to Eric Tannenblatt, one of the best in the business. (Eric, can you hook me up with Marie Osmond?)
By Alan Ulman
January 25, 2008 10:04 AM | Link to this
Politics aside, this is a great story. Good for Secretary Handel and kudos to Eric Tannenblatt, one of the best in the business. (Eric, can you hook me up with Marie Osmond?)
By Fred
January 25, 2008 10:22 AM | Link to this
That was a very fun piece to read. Good job. I especially liked the “between their training bra and Tiger Beat years” line. What a great description of the “youthful years.”
By Dusty
January 25, 2008 10:28 AM | Link to this
Well, now, dear Political Insiders,
Are you going to tell us next how you drooled over the photos of Britney Spears and other essential news in politics?
By Santa Clause
January 25, 2008 10:35 AM | Link to this
My Wife is 39 and is still infatuated with Donny Osmond.
We saw him as a surprise guest at a concert about 5 years ago and my Wife almost jumped out of her seat when he walked by us singing.
She sadly never reacts to me like that when I walk by….
By Craig
January 25, 2008 10:43 AM | Link to this
Vote for me and I’ll get the Monkees to come to your house. Don’t like them? What about Leif Erickson? Danny Bonnaduci? Dana Plato? Todd Bridges?
By Santa Clause
January 25, 2008 11:01 AM | Link to this
Craig, I think you would be more comfortable with the Village People or Freddie Mercury at you house.
Have fun.
By Jeff
January 25, 2008 11:15 AM | Link to this
Only the decietful need to stoop to such levels, and only fools succumb to it.
Real men of principle let their ideas speak for themselves.
That is why Dr. Ron Paul grows ever more popular, even though the main stream media has begun to completely black him out.
By Laura
January 25, 2008 11:17 AM | Link to this
Karen, there are a lot of Donny fans in Atlanta, and around the world. I had my photo taken with him last year and it was wonderful. I would die for a phone call.
By Craig
January 25, 2008 11:30 AM | Link to this
Santa,
You must know a lot about those two don’t you? Funny those are the first people you think of when someone makes a joke completely unrelated to that. I didn’t mention anything about who I want. If anything I was joking about who Mitt would bring. You must be one of those temperamental Mitt fans who gets their fragile egos broken any time someone says anything besides praising the Mitt myth. Anyone using the name of a fictional character to hide behind and make cracks about gay obsessions is a class act in my book. And I do say class act in a sarcastic manner. Enjoy competing with Donny for your wife’s obsessions.
By hellooooo
January 25, 2008 11:35 AM | Link to this
what a FUN article to read, LOL! Jeff, honey, you need to lighten UP a bit! there’s nothing wrong with such little shenanigans!! And in what universe is Dr. Paul “grow[ing] ever more popular”? not mine!
“Real men of principle” also allow themselves to be human and have a little fun in the midst of serious endeavors! else they explode!
By Burdell
January 25, 2008 11:48 AM | Link to this
teenage-style screaming echoed through the state Capitol
If I did that at my job—much less spending work time talking to a pop star on the phone—I wouldn’t have a job anymore.
I know it’s nothing new under the Gold Dome, but I thought we elected some of these people to go in and not make the Capitol their personal play-pen for a change.
By Bruce Wicox
January 25, 2008 11:49 AM | Link to this
Wasn’t Donnie, Marie and Karen at the very begining of the ME generation? Makes sense and it’s enough to gag ya.
By Will Jones
January 25, 2008 11:50 AM | Link to this
Great to expose Handel’s “Mormon Connection,” already knew the Bushites had the Fifth Column working for them. Would really be nice for Karen to actually implement a voting system with integrity to make all honest Georgians proud. Seems that’s not something on her altar to worship…says she just couldn’t come up with a paper trail…just couldn’t work it in. Now we know what things are really important to her.
By John
January 25, 2008 11:56 AM | Link to this
Craig - If you’re referring to 80s icons I think you mean Leif Garrett NOT the Nordic explorer Leif Ericson or the old 40s, 50s, 60s actor Leif Erickson…
By Santa Clause
January 25, 2008 12:03 PM | Link to this
Craig,
This year you will get a lump of coal in your stocking.
But then again, you probably don’t believe.
I cannot stand Romney, he got a lump of coal in his stocking as well.
of course, his was not a lace stocking like yours.
Santa knows all, be a good boy and quit cruising the local middle schools for your new “buds”.
And for your info, Mrs. Clause and I have an understanding about Donny, much like you and your boyfriends do.
Vote for Ron Brown as a write in candidtate….oh wait, the KKKlintons had him killed.
Nevermind.
By Naked Emperor
January 25, 2008 12:11 PM | Link to this
Hey Karen - did you ask Donny and Mitt about their magic underwear? Heck, for a vow of allegiance, Mitt probably would have shown you his. The Mormon’s are right there with Scientology in their belief of extra-terrastrial seeding of Earth by aliens - AND YOU ARE CONSIDERING VOTING FOR THIS CLOWN!
By kris in alpharetta
January 25, 2008 1:12 PM | Link to this
Oh okay so this is what’s going on in the Capitol? Meanwhile, be prepared to wait in long lines in order to get anything at all accomplished up there. Handel is up there getting giddy over a long-forgotten star. How satisfying to know Handel is in control of things!
By MrHughes
January 25, 2008 1:16 PM | Link to this
If this was a male political offical screaming and carrying on during company time in a government building over Beyonce, Eva Longoria, Pamela Anderson, Tyra Banks, Dianne Lane, Katherine Heigel, Jessica Alba, Joey Lauren Adams, or Jessica Biel there would be feigned outrage all over the place. Frankly, the fact that this was perpetrated by to gain political capital is all the more disturbing. How about actually discussing things like policy with potential presidental candiates rather than your teenage crush. Grow up Kathy!! Please don’t talk to us about ethics ever gain… you’ve failed!!
By Henry
January 25, 2008 1:24 PM | Link to this
Cute story. Sometimes its good to see that regardless of what position or title we hold, we’re all still “people”. I remember collecting the Alpha Bits boxes that had the Jackson Five “ABC” and The Osmonds “One Bad Apple” records on the boxes. You cut them out and could play them on your record player.
I’m sure our Sec of State remembers that too…
BTW… my wife felt the same way about the Jackson 5.
By Ga Liberal
January 25, 2008 1:44 PM | Link to this
KHitler said she was a Rethuglicon since the 2nd grade. Figures since you have to be either totally stupid or uneducated or both to buy in to the whole Rethuglicon lie. That would explain why the state is being run into the ground. These people have lied and conned their way into office and haven’t a clue about how to run the state. Bill Shipp’s recent editoral in a local paper said it best. Sonny and the Rethuglicons smile as all the suckers out there continue to buy their con job. Doesn’t say much for the average Georgia voter.
When you vote Rethuglicon, you vote against your own best interests. And KHiler is living proof.
By David Lee Roth's Wig
January 25, 2008 1:51 PM | Link to this
Boy, a lot of Democrat/Liberal Scum hate out there.
It is a light hearted story….too bad you folks are so blinded by your hate you cannot see that.
I will pray for all of you tonight….your Souls need help.
By Ga Liberal
January 25, 2008 2:25 PM | Link to this
Hey DLRW: Pray for yourself jerk. You’ll need it when your are judged for your Rethuglicon crimes against humanity. Like denying gays and lesbians the same rights as everyone else. Or supporting a completely unnecessary and failed war where you have the blood of hundred of thousands Iraqis on your hands. Pray for yourself. I don’t need your self-righteous pity or piety.
When you vote Rethuglicon, you vote against your own best interests. And David Lee Roth’s Wig is living proof.
By Angela
January 25, 2008 2:34 PM | Link to this
Good Job!! Anyone girl our age would trade places with her on that call any day!
By ROFL
January 25, 2008 2:37 PM | Link to this
Leif Erickson………that is the funniest thing I’ve heard in like forever….BUAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Oh and please don’t put Dana Plato in the same group as The Monkees..thank you very much.
By David Lee Roth's Wig
January 25, 2008 3:00 PM | Link to this
Ga Liberal,
I will pray the hardest for your Soul.
You have a friend that cares about you and you know Him well….Jesus is his name.
You don’t have to be so scared…..you sound angry and confused, let it go, Bro.
By FredMertz
January 25, 2008 3:10 PM | Link to this
Hey Ga Liberal -
I really like those clever names you use. Rethuglicon. I also love that line you use over and over again. “When you vote Rethuglicon, you vote against your own best interests. And David Lee Roth’s Wig is living proof” I think it’s time for your therapy session. Grow up.
By Falcon Warrior Princess
January 25, 2008 3:37 PM | Link to this
I loved this story! What a thrill it must have been to get a call from Donny. Yes, there are lots of Donny fans still around. Check out http://www.donny.com for lots of information and updates on Donny.
By Chief Wiggum
January 25, 2008 3:38 PM | Link to this
Gosh, the liberal seems to like the “rethuglicon” comment, huh? It’s his little one-trick pony. Same nonsense from him, over and over. He surely can’t claim intellectual superiority, as his vocabulary is severely limited.
I guess what I’m saying is “Dude, you’re a tard. Give it up. You look like a fool”
By FredMertz
January 25, 2008 3:49 PM | Link to this
Why do you folks keep calling GA Liberal a dude? Look at the language… It screams chick. Gee, is that a pun…
By LW
January 25, 2008 4:31 PM | Link to this
I did not think it was possible for me to have a lesser opinion of Karen Handel. Touché. She is as pathetic in her personal life as she is in her role as Secretary of State. Did anyone else hear her speak about the potential for vote machine fraud at the Gwinnett County GOP straw poll this past summer? That was when I realized she passed the line from ‘oblivious’ to ‘complacent’
By Ga Liberal
January 25, 2008 5:11 PM | Link to this
I may appear a fool to Rethuglicon bootlicker drones like Chief Wiggum and FredMertz and that’s ok. I know they are just buying into the con and lies of the Rethuglicon party. But I wasn’t stupid enough to be conned by Bush and Perdue into voting them into office TWICE. I never voted for either one of these conmen, but clearly there are enough suckers in Georgia to make P. T. Barnum happy. BTW, I have some swamp land in Nebraska I would like to sell and get rich. I’m guessing that the Chief and Freddy will be bidding first. My buds in the legislature will vote me a tax break so I don’t have to pay any income taxes on it - just like they did for Sonny.
When you vote Rethuglicon, you vote against your own best interests. And Chief Wiggum and FredMertz are living proof.
PS - P.T. Barnum never said “There’s a sucker born every minute.”
By David Lee Rothl's Wig
January 25, 2008 5:15 PM | Link to this
Ga Liberal,
Please go to this link, I have asked everyone in this blog to pray for your Soul and Salvation.
[http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/cobb/stories/2008/01/24/roustweb0125.html?cxntlid=homepagetabnewstab#comments]
Please, Bro, drop the hate and accept Jesus into your heart.
And yes, you do sound like a hysterical female needing a good pounding in the “love shack”.
By SpinDizzy
January 25, 2008 6:07 PM | Link to this
The Monkees are not 80’s icons. I don’t think he was listing 80’s icons. The Osmonds were 70’s were they not? I think he was listing various heart throbs, icons, and has-beens. How come Donny is not on Surreal Life or something like that?
By SpinDizzy
January 25, 2008 6:09 PM | Link to this
And Santa seems obsessed with man love. What’s up with that? Mormon Bush conspiracy? Huh?
By OneForTheRoad
January 25, 2008 6:32 PM | Link to this
Well, it’s nice to know that politicians are good for something. Hey, can you bring back the Dead — the Grateful Dead that is.
By Belle
January 27, 2008 2:04 PM | Link to this
Mormon connection? Because she likes Donny Osmond? Please. You know Romney is Mormon, right? You don’t need Donny to get a Mormon connection.
I thought this story was fun and harmless. Good for the Romney people fot making it happen - good for Donny for going along with it. Good for Karen for not picking sides.
By Will Jones
January 27, 2008 3:43 PM | Link to this
“Belle,” There’s a good reason, looking at the course of History, that America was, in fact, not founded by polygamous pedophiles and perverts, whether Mormon, Muslim, or Roman Catholic, despite the movie fraud perpetrated by the Mob-connected, concerning the one, single Roman Catholic signer of the Declaration - who happened to be from the state taken over early by Roman Catholics…Maryland…Karen ?. Handel’s home state.
She was seeded here by Rome’s Republican political buffer-caste of the Fifth Column now promoting vote fraud, illegal immigration, false war and the homosexual draft-dodger cheated into the White House by only the Roman Catholic Justices in the patently unconstitutional “Bush v. Gore”.
Papism, known to the Founder and his Whig compatriots, to be the Anti-Christ of pedophilia and assassination; Mormonism, and its false spirit of perversion born of recent generations of polygamy, so obvious in Mitt Romney’s present demeanor and Vietnam draft-dodge; and Muslim culture shaped by both pederasty and polygamy, had no part, other than Rome’s “bet-hedge,” Carroll, with the radical Protestant, Anti-Roman Catholic Whig Founders of the U.S.of A..
Take umbrage all you wish. Corrupt politics is no joke and Karen ?. Handel shows no sign of G-d’s Grace nor any hope of installing voting integrity in Georgia…the job she was “hired” to do. Her pathetic idol worship of a pathetic entertainer from a pathetic family connected to Bush apologist Romney, no doubt also a draft-dodging closet-queen, says every thing any Georgian of Conscience and Civic awareness, of good family and honor needs to know about what “Elect” truly means from the perspective of Righteousness prescribed by Our Founders: Annuit Coeptis.
It may bother some, ignorant of America’s Promise, that the Black and White Whigs: Protestant, Baptist, Freemason and Jew, coming together under the Mottoes bequeathed to all wishing at least to pretend to be American, once they’d won the Revolution, were men of honor and probity both publicly and personally, other than Hamilton, Morris and Franklin, possibly. Any contemptible ingrates who try to knock Our Author, Founder, and Prophet, Thomas Jefferson: Know he was a widower early in life and his dying wife made him swear on a Bible, in front of their children, never to remarry. I hope he loved and had children by the beautiful Mrs. Hemings. My fear is that he did not.
America was born of Truth and Righteousness. Tolerance or promulgation of vote fraud, and the treason all see in the Bush White House, and the Misprison of Treason he cohort supplies, is indicative of false culture.
Karen ?. Handel’s Roman Catholic, Mormon, and GOP Connections are no good for Georgia, or America.
By R U Kidding
January 27, 2008 6:54 PM | Link to this
Earth to Will Jones, Earth to Will Jones, come in Will Jones