I'm asking you to please not talk about "IT". You know what "IT" I'm talking about, right? The one in Drudge? Followed by this update?
I'M 100% SERIOUS HERE, FOLKS..
Why do I fervently hope the mainstream press ignores the allegations?
Because I don't want to see anything interrupt the current annointing of John Kerry as the Democratic nominee for President. I would love to see him as the candidate on the ballot against George W. Bush in November.
Democrats flocked to Kerry after the Dean self implosion because they felt his service in Vietnam and long Senate career would give them the "electability" they so desperately desired to remove Bush from office. The Kerry Frenzy reached breakneck speed with the first poll that showed him beating Bush in a heads up match.
Blinded by the Frenzy, they've managed to ignore the fact that Kerry has a horrendous voting record when it comes to the nation's defense, voting against the Gulf war in '91, voting to gut our intelligence capabilities, voting for the Iraq resolution then flipping to say he didn't actually mean it, and finally voting not to support the troops in Iraq with additional funding. This record is not going to draw swing voters.
They've also managed to block out how the directive by the Massachusets Supreme Court on gay marriage is going to play out across the country and what the effect will be on Kerry.
This is just the beginning of why Bush will win decisively in November if Kerry is the Democratic nominee.
Which explains why I'm asking for your silence about "IT."
Some are of the opinion that even if the story breaks, it won't matter. My guess is those who lived through the misery of defending Clinton through Monicagate, given the opportunity to avoid anything that resembles those dark days will Run! Run Away Quickly! Swing voters will say, Not Again! We can't go through this again.
Sure, it would be totally hypocritical for the press to hound Bush about being AWOL, a charge for which no evidence exists, yet ignore the allegations against Kerry. Thankfullly, their longstanding leftward bias has prepared them for this task. If you have any doubts, you simply MUST listen to the first 10 minutes or so of Hugh Hewitt's show today. You can hear it online here, or read Hugh's description of executing a media Smackdown here.
So please, hide the copies of the Enquirer at the local market. (Maybe you can cover them with another magazine.)
I can trust you, right?
SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Update Feb. 13: I didn't make clear when I posted last night that we have no idea at this point if there's any truth to the story. Frankly, I have to ask myself if it really makes any difference in today's media environment. Consider the update from Captain Ed today on the "they scoured the records" charge on the Bush Not AWOL story. Key witnesses contradict the story and the original source has credibiity problems. Of course, it hasn't stopped the mainstream media from smearing Bush.
QandO reports Kerry said he wasn't going to talk about it, but didn't deny the story was true on Imus this morning.
Over at Kos, he says he has independently confirmed the fact that Clark talked about the Kerry Intern story off the record with reporters.
On another note, does anyone else have that Surreal World feeling. The story is all over the internet. It was on talk radio all day yesterday. You know it's being talked about in every mainstream media office, but nary a peep in the national media other than solemn faced promises to the effect of, "we're not going to talk about internet rumors."
In other words, things are going well in my opinion.
Update Feb. 13, 3:15: Stories have appeared in The Washington Times, (Kerry's denial), and in the Chicago Sun-Times, (Michael Sneed's column).
The UK Sun names Alex Polier, 24, AP reporter, as the woman referred to in Drudge report and states:
Her mother Donna claims Kerry, 60 — dubbed the new JFK — once chased Alex to be on his campaign team and was “after her”.There is no evidence the pair had an affair, but her father Terry, 56, said: “I think he’s a sleazeball. I did kind of wonder if my daughter didn’t get that kind of feeling herself.
“He’s not the sort of guy I would choose to be with my daughter.”
If there's no evidence the pair had an affair there should be no story.
Philly.com reports:
Numerous fingers for the uproar were pointed last night at Clark's top aide, Chris Lehane, who was Gore's campaign press secretary in 2000. Washington insider Craig Crawford of Congressional Quarterly said in a widely circulated e-mail that Lehane had been "shopping" the story to reporters for a long time."The Kerry camp has long expected to deal with this, and have assured party leaders they can handle it," he said.
If the story were true, Kerry would have a harder time handling his wife, the widow of Pennsylvania Sen. John Heinz, who was killed in a 1991 midair collision in Lower Merion.
She told Elle magazine that she warned her first husband on the subject of adultery: "If you ever get something, I'll maim you. I won't kill you. I'll maim you."
As much as Democrats have screamed "Republican dirty tricks!", "They're trying to distract from the Bush WAS NOT AWOL story!", this Kerry rumor has the fingerprints of Democrats all over it, with the major players being LeHane and Clark.
Which begs the question, who is taking out the Democratic front runners?
Personally, I've always thought the release of Living History was the beginning of Hillary's campaign for President, if they decided Bush was vulnerable in 2004. She can say she's fully addresses the issues in the past and won't go there again. (I actually called Hugh's show last fall and said she wouldn't be able to wait until 2008. There's no guarantee they can retain control of the party until then.)
Could there be a plan to force a brokered convention, with Hillary being drafted as the savior of the party?
She polls higher than any of the Democrats running, and has the advantage that many women will vote for her simply because she is a woman. She's also made a point of taking a strong position on national defense. She has high negatives, but being annointed savior at the convention would give her momentum that would be hard to beat.
Update Feb. 13, 5:30: Reuters has a categorical denial from Kerry now.
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