Kerry Gathers Doomsday Team

[kskiska]

Sen. John Kerry’s (D-Mass.) presidential campaign is preparing for a so-called “October surprise,” including Osama bin Laden’s capture and a terrorist attack in the United States, The Hill has learned.

“There is discussion of what are the unexpected, unanticipated ,” said Rand Beers, Kerry’s top foreign-policy guru and a former Bush National Security Council adviser, who is a member of a loose group of advisers that the Democratic challenger is putting together. “It would be a surprise if we were not going to talk about it.”

By design, the group includes several outside advisers who are free of the day-to-day management of the campaign and can thus think outside the box. Membership of the group and the issues they are discussing are being kept secret by the campaign.

Campaign officials dislike discussing the issue at all for fear that it makes the campaign look intent on taking political advantage of what might be a catastrophic event, such as a terror attack. Aides also want to avoid signaling to the opposing camp what they are thinking or doing on strategic issues.

more…
http://www.thehill.com/news/050504/kerry.aspx

[NMDemDist2]

1. smart man with a smart team n/t

[Just Me]

23. Isn't it great to have a lion confronting the wolves!!!!

Finally, a man who holds enough scope of human experience and courage to take on "attackers" on human decency is IN CHARGE!!!

I am feeling so very good this day!!!

:bounce:

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. I haved to wonder if this thinking includes

what to do if Bush decides to cancel the elections and the Supremes go along

[Tellurian]

3. Yup, I'd join in a heartbeat...

if it were a paying position..

especially, when we're practically neighbors!

[Mz Pip]

4. Concerned about

looking like they would be taking political advantage if a terrorist attack happened.

Yeah, like anyone would ever do that. Bush has been playing the terror card for political advantage for nearly 3 years and you can be sure that if something else happens he will do it again.

Kerry has to prepare for all possibilities. TO me that is the mark of a good leader. Bush planned for his vacation when warnings weere coming in August 2001. Look what we got.

MzPip
:dem;

[belle]

12. Bingo.

Call him dour or unexciting if you like (and I have too, I confess); there's a lot to be said for good old-fashioned sober caution and planning ahead, especially these days, and Kerry has it in spades.

[0rganism]

5. Good, don't "misunderestimate" this ratfucker like in 2000

"There's an old saying in Tennessee -— I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee —- that says, fool me once, shame on -— shame on you. Fool me -— you can't get fooled again."

Listen up, John!

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

6. Oh, shit.

"By design, the group includes several outside advisers who are free of the day-to-day management of the campaign and can thus think outside the box. Membership of the group and the issues they are discussing are being kept secret by the campaign."

Well, there goes any hope of getting the full roster for Cheney's energy policy meetings.

[Lavalamp]

8. Who cares?

I don't know why anyone gets so worked up about prosecuting corporate crime right now. I think it's a waste of time and money.

Why?

Guess who will get the first pardons the day before Bush leaves office.

[stevedeshazer]

15. I care

Why don't you?

By the way, whose money and time would be wasted?

[Lavalamp]

18. I don't care

because it is a lesson in futility. What's the point of prosecuting CEOs when bush will pardon them at the end of his term?

The time and money wasted would be that of the judicial and tax payers.

[stevedeshazer]

21. Okay, I'm convinced

Just let 'em go free. That's America.

Rob a 7-11 for $40, spend years in prison. Raid pension funds for billions, get a raise and promotion and a forgiving public. And a presidential pardon.

Silly me for caring.

[Lavalamp]

22. Unfortunately

That's how it is.

[mulethree]

31. besides

got indicted - but not convicted

is a great resume line for these guys

got convicted - got pardoned

is even better

[bobbieinok]

9. I assume sarcasm - vice president secrets are one thing 'unconstitutional'

Presidential candidate should have a few secret ploys, feints, game plans.

[robbedvoter]

10. Not the same thing. Cheney works for us, the people. Has to be accountable

by constitution.
An electoral campaign is a private entreprise. Nice try though.

[SummerGrace]

11. Won't get the roster anyway

Felonious Five will see to that.

[TroglodyteScholar]

13. Yea, but, um...

...these guys aren't making policy.

[Just Me]

20. Bwahahahaha,...great post!!!

Satire and humor keeps the heart a pumpin'!!!

Woooo Hoooo!!!

:bounce:

[sundancekid]

26. and bananas are like manhole covers???

Cheney is a constitutional officer accountable to: WE the people.
Any campaigner/advisor is part of a private entity. Have you phoned Karl Rove lately?:crazy:

[Old and In the Way]

27. What Kerry does in campaign strategy and what Cheney did on

national public energy policy (or pre-war Iraq oil field partioning) are 2 very different animals. I have no problem with Kerry keeping his strategy close to the vest....I have a whole different perspective about public policy being made behind closed doors.

[atre]

30. Completely unrelated issues

A private political campaign vs. a policy-oriented meeting held by an elected official in the capacity of his elective office.

Guess which one the Freedom of Information Act doesn't apply to.

[bluestateguy]

7. Good work

They (Kerry) need to be ready to deal with major events, lest they look like a deer in front of headlights when shit happens.

[Solidarity]

17. It Seems He Can't Deal With The Major Event Happening Right Now!

You mean like Kerry looks regarding the Iraqi prisoner issue? Where is the outrage? Guess I'll have to listen to Kucinich, McCain, Clinton, Kennedy, etc., if I want to hear any go after the Bush government on this.

Has Kerry lost his ability to speak?

[juajen]

24. "He's outraged and saddened". Now, you've heard from him.

N/T

[Just Me]

14. Oh, this really tickles me. Throwing out "October surprise" is so cool.

This is really spectacular. They are confronting their "enemies", in no short form.

Kerry definitely makes me feel safe. He is heading off the "attack dogs"!!!

I love him!!! :loveya:

[liarliartieonfire]

16. If President Kerry plays chess in his real life

I would bet he is very good at the game.

[Solidarity]

19. How About Hardball?

Does Kerry know how to play hardball. Guess not.

[Just Me]

28. What's your name? n/t

[Media_Lies_Daily]

29. You're posts are....

...already getting VERY old.

You sound like you have a personal problem...take it to a chaplain.

[mulethree]

33. not hardball it's more like tv rasslin

Georgeous George keeps working on that right knee of Big John's
He's trying to get him off his feet, neutralize his height advantage
Ooh ouch another low blow! John really needs to wear a cup when he
faces George. Must be what George meant when he said John was
weak on Defense!
Whoa and John pulls a DDT out of no where, looks like the champ is
out cold!
Ack! whats he doing here!? Dastardly Dick is at ringside and he's
got a chair!

[Minstrel Boy]

25. If Cheney gets wind of Kerry preparing against an "October Surprise",

he may call him a "conspiracy theorist" again, like he did during Iran/Contra.

[sofa king]

32. Which brings up a poor joke.... and some stories for the kids.

...What's the difference between the October Surprise and Iran-Contra?

The Freedom of Information Act.

Now here's where I send it down the vortex by explaining the joke for our youngsters. Those of you who remember know that Bud McFarlane, some other Reagan acolyte, and a conveniently forgotten Iranian national met in one of those shitty D-Street SE offices during the 1980 campaign in September/October.

At the time, 50 or so American hostages were being held in captivity in Tehran. It was killing the Carter Administration in the polls, and they were in not-so-secret negotiations to release the hostages. Carter was trying to angle his own triumphant October release before the election.

Here's what we know for sure: the American hostages touched down within minutes of Ronald Reagan's inauguration as President of the United States in January of 1981.

All we know beyond that is that when the balloon went up in Iran-Contra scandal of the mid-1980s Reagan's National Security Advisor Bud McFarlane got cozy with a bottle of pills. Then, when he woke up having failed to meet a just reward he eventually testified to Congress that yes, he was there at the meeting in 1980, but no, he couldn't recall a thing about who was there or what happened at the meeting.

That's not the first time McFarlane's barbituate-addled National Security Advisor mind failed him. McFarlane had to plead guilty in 1988 to four counts of withholding information from Congress when he denied that Oliver North was providing arms and assistance to the Contras in Nicaragua. Part of his plea bargain was to provide honest testimony thereafter, which presumably includes his testimony on the October Surprise hearings, which ended inconclusively in the early 1990s.

So maybe he really did forget--because nobody promises not to lie to Congress and gets away with it if you're not Republican. Or maybe he should have temporarily replaced the American flag for so egregiously violating everything this country stands for. Maybe that's just my opinion, because it certainly wasn't that of Congress at the time.

Count the days between the first Tuesday in November, 1980 and Inauguration Day in January, 1981, and I think you will find that the hostages in question accrued significant vacation time. This is "trickle down" economics on a microscopic scale.

Other people, LIKE ME, might call it treason.

Forget all that bush!t about George H. W. being in France to seal the deal after McFarlane's meeting--although he can't remember where he was on the days in question and the American media apparently can't help him out on that score. He probably wasn't at those secret Iranian-Reagan candidate meetings in France. FRANCE. Former OSS man and CIA Director Bill Casey might have been--he was after all giving a speech to some of his old OSS allies in London the night before the meeting supposedly took place.

Knowing the son as you know the father, would you have taken George H. W. along? Hell, no! They were trying to steal the election and run the country! Why bring a Bush along when you're felling the forest of Democracy? They get planted after the victory is won.

[sofa king]

34. Uh, citations forthcoming.

I'm sorry. The above is obviously a text document without linked citations. Unfortunately, the linked citations are... not there. The above post is bush until I figure out how to link text. That's gonna take me a while, because I didn't save the hyperlinks.

It took me a while to compose the original, and I swear it would have made sense. I'd like to blame it on conspirators, but this is all dumb ass truly.

Damn.