Limbaugh suggested Edwards camp "leaked" false information to ... "jump start" campaign

marmar

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Thu Mar-22-07 09:06 PM
Original message

Limbaugh suggested Edwards camp "leaked" false information to ... "jump start" campaign

Edited on Thu Mar-22-07 09:08 PM by marmar

Now this is low, even for this disgusting, trough-feeding sow. - OP's comment

from Media Matters:

Limbaugh suggested Edwards camp "leaked" false information to Politico reporter "to jump-start the campaign"

On the March 22 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh suggested that the presidential campaign of former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) intentionally "leaked" false information -- that Edwards would "suspend" his campaign because his wife's cancer had recurred -- to Politico reporter Ben Smith in order "to jump-start the campaign." At a press conference earlier the same day, Edwards announced that his wife, Elizabeth, had been told that she has Stage IV metastatic breast cancer, but that the Edwards campaign would continue. Smith incorrectly claimed that Edwards would announce the "suspension" of his campaign in a March 22 weblog post on Politico.com. Referring to that post, Limbaugh stated that "this business about" Edwards announcing that he will continue his presidential bid "makes me think that the leak that was planted today was purposely wrong to create surprise." Limbaugh reiterated that the inaccurate leak "ay have been done on purpose."

Smith identified the source for his incorrect blog post only as "an Edwards friend." The Associated Press reported: "Quoting but not identifying 'an Edwards friend' as his source, Smith reported" one hour before Edwards' press conference "that Edwards was suspending his campaign and may drop out completely because of his wife's cancer." Smith explained further in a separate posting, "How the Politico Got it Wrong"
...snip....

From the March 22 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: We will get to your phone calls here in a jiffy, folks, but first, three sound bites here. Two from John Edwards and Elizabeth Edwards, and then one from (Newsweek chief political correspondent) Howard Fineman.

...snip....

Now, I made mention mere moments ago that the new website Politico has broken two scoops this week, both proving to be untrue. The first was that Alberto Gonzales is going to quit and that the White House had asked Republicans out there to find potential replacements. The second one was just this morning, that Edwards was going to suspend the campaign. And just the opposite happened.

But lookit -- he's right. There's been a -- people are sharing -- in the old days, this announcement would not have been public, and it certainly wouldn't have been tied to a campaign. It's a different era now. This is -- I'm telling you, this is to jump-start the campaign. This is to see if it'll jump-start the campaign. And we'll find out the next three or four days or whatever, week, if that happens.

But this business about this being a surprise makes me think that the leak that was planted today was purposely wrong to create surprise, to make sure everybody thought, "Oh, we know what's coming." And then have it blown away. The campaign's -- "Ooh, the campaign's going to go on. Oh, well, we thought it was going to be suspended.".....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://mediamatters.org/items/200703230001