Bush/CIA/SOTU Flap/Story: Pure Karl Rove

[JCMach1]

I have begun to believe that the story leaked to CBS News from "Senior administration officials" is pure Rovean theatre designed to take attention from the real issue: massive manipulation of intelligence and intelligence gathering by the WH.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=7834&mesg_id=7834&page=

Rove has done this type of thing before. Simply leak a story and then cut the legs out from under it. It's like punching the media outlet in the nose and tends to put them off the real trail/story.

So, today, we get Condi Rice coming out with a firm denial of this. I have little doubt that President Rove is in charge while the puppet is away...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=8029&mesg_id=8029&page=

UNLESS the media can push this PAST the SOTU this story will have no legs... We'll see if they still have the stomach for hardball.

It deflects the issue from what did Bush know and when did he know it to

What did Tenet say and when did he say it?

It doesn't wholly change the story, just the focus... Rove did this during the campaign with questions about Bush AWOL and 'youthful indiscretions'

also check the Rove modus operandi in the book 'Bush's Brain'

http://www.thesyndrome.com/archives/00000372.htm

[Loonman]

1. Makes a lot of sense

But will the press do their jobs, or just mouthpiece the Condi/Powell/Rummy/Boosh gang?

[JCMach1]

2. That's the question at hand

up to this point, they haven't

[Cocoa]

3. I think this draws attention to intelligence failures

Even if this story stops dead in its tracke, right where it is, it's damaged Bush's credibility in a big way. Just like even if the Enron story doesn't come up again, it damaged his credibility.

And I think this Niger story is NOT stopping, and I think the Enron story WILL come up again. I see commercials showing Bush denying he knew Ken Lay.

[Homer12]

4. I agree with Cocoa

This story has now gained it's own life in the media, we should be well aware of this during the 1990's when they went to lynch Clinton.

It won't go away, all their secrecy and scandals will and have added up to discredit and damage Bushco's credebility at nearly all levels escept for the apologists whom ahve invested intrest.

[Homer12]

5. I agree with Cocoa

This story has now gained it's own life in the media, we should be well aware of this during the 1990's when they went to lynch Clinton.

It won't go away, all their secrecy and scandals will and have added up to discredit and damage Bushco's credebility at nearly all levels except for the apologists whom ahve invested intrest.

[JCMach1]

7. Yes, but I believe this is an act of DEFLECTION

In other words part of the story becomes the flap over what

DCI TENET did or didn't say...


instead of What did Bush know and when did he know it...?

[Cocoa]

10. this is where it STARTS

you can't focus on everything at once.

Start with something solid, which this is, do as much damage with it as possible.

Then when the next lie is exposed, maybe the al Qaeda connections, maybe the aluminum tubes, maybe something in the Sept. 11 report, Bush will be in a weaker position to defend himself.

There probably won't be time to get to ALL the lies, there are just too many, before 2004, they'll need to pick the most egregious ones.

[JCMach1]

6. ENRON, isn't that one of those countries

in Africa...

Remember the election is still a year away...

[loyalsister]

8. You're right

when the focus is on ONE instance of dishonesty the thing we lose sight of is intelligence manipulation and it's ultimate designs- PNAC.

[Bandit]

9. What is happening is a subtle change in how Media is informing us

It may be hard to recover from this one for Rove because every News Network has picked this up except possibly FOX. I haven't heard anything from Fox on this. The more polls we see the more Bush* is in trouble. People are starting to have doubts. Once those doubts have entered into the psyche of America it will be tough to eliminate them. Plus everyone knows not all is right with America and things are not getting better but worse.

[Homer12]

11. The seeds of distrust have been laid

Many people will probably think to themselves that Bush said he would bring honor back into the White House.

Obvioulsy, if he's not honorable and not a lier, his inner circle has a few in it.

Or that he's really incompetant, etc...

At DU we know what's up, but to a lot of the general public, they do not.

This is a good first step. Many might feel betrayed by Bush now, just like many dems felt about Clinton.

Not only did Bush lie about not lying, but he lied and manipulated people to invade another country.

Either way, they will not clean their reputations.

Using forged documents, willingly or incompetantly as part of a justification for war is not honorable, but dangerous.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

12. Good point, are they deflecting?

Rumsfeld couldn't get the false intelligence he wanted from the CIA, so he set up a private group to make up false intelligence for him.

I agree, that's the big scandal, and maybe this media blitz of the last few days is a deflection.

Oh, yeah, and where are the WMD?

[enough]

13. And remember, ONE BILLION DOLLARS A WEEK

for a war that just isn't fun any more. That is the inexorable backdrop of all this.

Even if everything should turn around quickly in Iraq and the people are doing democratic dances in the streets (which seems unlikely), there are no more big sexy media-friendly "victories" to be had, and that price tag, well .....

In this climate, I think the media may turn on him. Even THEY don't know yet whether they will, they're all watching each other to find out, I suppose.


The other big factor: Bush absolutely CANNOT function under pressure and criticism. Once it starts to go bad for him, it will get worse fast, which will feed the media what it always wants, fast ups and fast downs.