Clark & the intern comment

[AnnitaR]

I may be wrong here, but didn't this same type of comment come up quite a while ago??? I know I heard something about this before.

I swear I remember reading about it here on DU. I remember back then everyone giving Clark hell for thinking anything was "off the record". Seems like it was before Iowa. Does anyone remember?

Either it came up back then or I am having deja vu here.

[leftyandproud]

1. I don't know why Clark did it.

maybe to spite Kerry...maybe because he wants someone else to get the nomination...maybe because he really isn't as smart as we all thought he was..

Imagine a presidential candidate speaking about a rival presidential candidate to reporters...with juicy stuff like a new 'Monica-gate 2004' story..

"off the record"..?


yeah right..
Clark blew it...intentionally.

[Leilani]

2. Too many people here always believe the worst

about Clark, & it stinks.

Several weeks ago, Drudge took excerpts from Clark's testimony before Congress re:Iraq war, & Fox repeated the story, & RNC repeated the story, & many people here jumped on Clark.

Now, people are taking a story off Drudge again, & bashing Clark.

I am not ready to accuse Kerry of an affair, or blame Clark, based on Drudge.

Also, according to the Chicago Sun Times, Al Gore talked about Kerry story last week, & no one is mad at him.

[Name removed]

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[Adelante]

11. Al Gore did?

I hadn't heard that, but I'm not surprised, really. It may connect the dots in the mystery of which Democratic campaign is behind this.

As Joe Conason reports:

The Drudge item blaming Lehane quoted Craig Crawford, a former Democratic operative who now works as a consultant and columnist for MSNBC. Within 10 minutes after Drudge posted the Kerry intern item, Crawford sent a memo to his superiors that said the story was "something Chris Lehane (clark press secy) has shopped around for a long time." According to Crawford, someone at MSNBC promptly leaked his memo to Drudge. But when Lehane called Crawford with a loudly indignant denial, the MSNBC columnist quickly issued a public retraction. He said:

"The comments attributed to me are from a private email to television news associates based on conversations with Democratic campaign operatives. I did not consider any of it confirmed enough to report or publish. I can only verify that Chris Lehane's rivals in other Democratic campaigns made these claims and I have found no independent source to confirm it. Which is why we did not go with the story. But then someone sent my email to others, which is the only reason it got into the public domain." In other words, there is no proof that Lehane circulated the rumor, let alone that the rumor has any basis in reality.

Source: Joe Conason, Salon, 2/13/04

[girl gone mad]

3. If the story is true,

and that's a BIG if, Kerry is the one who blew it.

And I don't believe that Clark would have dropped out of the race and would be endorsing Kerry if he believed that Kerry was going to implode over an intern scandal.

[Killarney]

4. Exactly - if this is true and Clark knew it...

he would not have dropped out of the race.

[Eurobabe]

5. the media needs a story

to satisfy the feeding frenzy now that most of the primary excitement is behind us.

frankly I think this whole thing is B.S., from the accusations against Kerry, to the accusations that Clark "leaked" it.

KKKarl is up to his old tricks again. I don't think the Dems put this out there at all...

[neebob]

7. I was hugely disappointed when I read about this yesterday

and waited all day for it to hit the mainstream news, but didn't see anything about it. I'm wondering why Clark would endorse a candidate he expects to implode. That's just stupid, not to mention incredibly hypocritical. It certainly seems most un-Wesclarklike to me.

If it's true that Kerry had an affair, I'm disappointed about that, too - not so much because of the cheating as because of the part where he supposedly made her leave the country and the expectation that someone a thousand times worse and his cronies will surely use it to attempt to destroy Kerry and probably succeed.

Mostly, though, I'm wondering about Clark. Is it possible he never said that?

[flpoljunkie]

8. Perhaps a Rethug effort to lessen strong support of women for John Kerry

After the way John McCain was treated in South Carolina by the Rethug slime machine, at the behest of Ralph Reed, ex-Christian Coalition head, we can expect no less from these unethical slimeballs.

[Bad Thoughts]

10. Clark was not the source of the story

Drudge does not credit Clark as the source of the story. The original article states only that Clark made references (in passing and off the record) about a developing scandal involving Kerry and an intern. According to Kos' work, the press had known this story would be leaked for weeks.

[funky_bug]

9. Come ON, guys! We didn't call him "General Smackdown" for nothing, right?

Clark has NEVER been a mad of "words" alone. He is a man of action. Look how he has handled every bit of right wing nonsense... he doesn't give credibility to their words by arguing with them. He discredits their words by ACTING against them.

His announcement today will be, actions speaking volumes. The translation will be, "fuck you, media whores. Spin THIS."

No longer will anyone wonder if Matt Sludge was telling the truth. It amazes me that people can't see the connection.

Sludge says, "But Clark said this..." and Clark responds by showing support for Kerry. Is there any doubt that Sludge is full of shit?

Please, we didn't call him General Smackdown for nothing.

[Adelante]

12. I keep remembering

Clark in one interview where he talked about how the country was distracted for ten years from the business at hand by the right wing witch hunt against the Clintons. Remember that one? He recommended the viewing audience read "The Hunting of the President"? He was in smackdown mode that night -- I was cheering.

[Donkey007]

13. I really believe Wes Clark is beyong high school days

I really don't see him saying this. What does it prove. He truly wants to help the democratic party in any way, and he knows that this is not a good thing to be popping up.

Its NOT true.