I have a nifty little story from the 2008 presidential campaign to share with you. Just in case you think I’m making this up — as the left would like to believe — I have told this story before, even recounting it during radio interviews for The Manchurian President in 2010 and Red Army in 2011.

First, let’s look at a news item reported by Dan Tuohy of the MerrimackPatch blog:

Barney Frank is helping fellow Democrat Carol Shea-Porter raise campaign cash, lending his name to an end-of-month fund-raising email.

The Massachusetts congressman’s stated goal is to raise $10,000 by Tuesday at midnight. Frank, in the pitch to Shea-Porter’s email list, writes:

“The Tea Party extremists have essentially taken over the Republican Party, and the right wing majority on the Supreme Court has guaranteed that these extremists will have virtually unlimited fat cat money being spent on their behalf. Since their substantive record is indefensible, they have gone on the attack, and Democratic candidates face a barrage of twisted, demagogic attacks.”

Shea-Porter, a former congresswoman for New Hampshire’s 1st District, lost re-election in 2010 to former Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta. Guinta faces a couple of candidates in his Republican primary, but Election 2012 is shaping up as a Guinta-Shea-Porter rematch.

Now for the rest of the story.

Late on the afternoon of December 9, 2007, Carol Shea-Porter — who just so happens to live in my neighborhood — came into the downtown Rochester, New Hampshire campaign office of then presidential candidate, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, where I was working as a volunteer.

I can pinpoint this date exactly, as Shea-Porter and a young man accompanying her had stopped in on their way to the Obama-Oprah rally in Manchester.

The significance of Shea-Porter’s visit was not lost on those in charge of the office. She had been playing coy with the Clinton campaign, not committing herself to backing Hillary although she had lead them to believe that she would. This visit was no different from others, I was told, when she would not commit.

What was remarkable — and which left a lasting impression on me — was that Shea-Porter stood no further than eight or ten feet away from me, on the opposite side of the desk where I sat, sharing a stunning moment.

Shea-Porter asked one of the volunteers sitting at a laptop computer to pull up a particular YouTube video of Barney Frank speaking on the House floor. I cannot tell you her exact words but the bottom line was clear. She stood there laughing as she explained how the junior members of the House found this Barney Frank speech so hilarious. She mocked how he talked and how he kept on talking and talking, which many of us who have seen Frank do would recognize.

You get this, don’t you? Shea-Porter took great pains to humiliate the same man in absentia who now is begging for dollars to help fuel her campaign.

By the way, not only was Shea-Porter on her way to the Obama-Oprah extravaganza, but she mounted the stage to stand at Obama’s side and endorsed him. Obviously, Obama promised her “hope” and “change” and most likely Oprah assured her Obama was “The One”.

My only regret is that I do not have Shea-Porter’s performance on video tape. Now that would be worth laughing at.