But, will it have a negative impact on his campaign?
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
While I'd be the last person to mourn Kerry's passing from the race -- I think he's the least-electable Democrat still running -- I should point out that we ARE talking about the Drudge Report, here, which is maybe a step and a half up from WorldNetDaily.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Link won't work. What did he do?
Posted by Derrell (Member # 6062) on :
Apparantly, he had an affair with an intern.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Are you serious? Or being funny?
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
By "apparently," what we mean is "the Drudge Report says that other actual journalists are researching the possibility that Kerry had an affair with an AP intern, and says that Clark said something about this a while back."
It could pan out. But it could also be a false -- and perhaps even deliberately leaked -- rumor. *shrug* So let's let the journalists dig up their own mud, before digging on the digging. Posted by Derrell (Member # 6062) on :
I've heard it was leaked by the Clintons.
Posted by scottneb (Member # 676) on :
New number one pet-peive about the Press: Jumping to conclusions.
The media is so fast to defame a persons character without first finding all the facts. A claim that a person is AWOL to fellow military members (like the media exploited about George W.) is almost the worst thing a person could do. Accusations shouldn't be made unless we know excactly what happened.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
"I've heard it was leaked by the Clintons."
Given that the rumor was only recently publicly aired on the Drudge Report, and given that no one knows the actual details of the rumor, how can we possibly speculate as to the SOURCE of the rumor with any more accuracy?
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
Psst, Tom -- I think that was an attempt at humor.
Posted by Derrell (Member # 6062) on :
A feeble attempt, I'll admit. Hey, I'm no Jon Boy.
[ February 12, 2004, 12:38 PM: Message edited by: Derrell ]
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Ah. I couldn't tell, mainly because some people on Ornery are ACTUALLY advancing that theory. Republicans cross over into self-parody too often for me to tell the difference anymore. Posted by screechowl (Member # 2651) on :
If we hear it, it must be true. Seeing it in print will do nicely, too.
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
I don't believe anything I read in print anymore. But if it's on the internet, well, then it MUST be true.
I'm adopting a wait-and-see attitude here.
Posted by hugh57 (Member # 5527) on :
You'd think that if there was anything to this, that FOX News would be all over it.
But, so far nothing from them, or MSNBC or CNN Posted by Kasie H (Member # 2120) on :
Well it is "under investigation"....honestly, I'd keep an eye on the Washington Post tomorrow morning. If any one of those news agencies listed breaks this story, it's bound to be them.
Posted by screechowl (Member # 2651) on :
Could anyone be so unintelligent (for want of a better term) as to actually run for president knowing that this type of activity was so obviously in his/her past? I mean, who would even bother to run with this kind of baggage?
Whoever said wait and see is absolutely correct.
Posted by Rhaegar The Fool (Member # 5811) on :
I just heard about this on Rush, I was about to start this thread, thunder stealer *grumble* But anyway, it is bad, and I'm a republican, this leaves Edwards in the lead if Kerry Ffalls, and frankly for a Republican like me thats a bad thought.
Rhaegar
Posted by hugh57 (Member # 5527) on :
FOX and MSNBC are now reporting that Gen. Clark is preparing to endorse Sen. Kerry, which would seem odd if Drudge were correct about Clark supposedly predicting that Kerry would implode over an intern issue.
Posted by Rhaegar The Fool (Member # 5811) on :
FOX just covered it in a brief schpeal. Nothign big, but they are acknowleding that thier is a story or feeding frenzy in the works, so did MSNBC.
Rhaegar
Posted by Tresopax (Member # 1063) on :
I think we should wait and see too...
The timing on this is very suspicious. For one thing, it would fall almost perfectly into the hands of the Dean campaign, after making Wisconsin their big stand next week.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Mainstream media HATES it when Drudge breaks it first. So of course they aren't going to quote Drudge, but are scrambling to establish their own sources to quote.
I'm sure we will hear much more in a day or two.
Farmgirl
Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
Couple of things - I expect there will be mainstream news stories on this shortly. Right now, newspapers in Ireland and Scotland are reporting on it.
One of the sources that Drudge gives is Wesley Clark, who allegedly told reporters (off the record - hah) "Kerry will implode over an intern issue."
Yet there is a breaking AP story announcing Clark is going to endorse Kerry's candidacy.
Is Clark going to endorse someone he thinks is going to implode?
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Right now, it's hard to know what to make of it - but that is typical of Drudge, who is pretty upfront in his preference of being first rather than right or comprehensive.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
See, this is why I blame Buchanan more than Perot for Bush Srs. loss in 92.
An incumbent unopposed in the primaries has such a huge advantage. Dean and Kerry are going to end up damaging each other before the primaries are over, and the longer it's even perceived as competitive the more damage they'll do to each other.
Believe it or not, I don't necessarily think this is a good thing.
Dagonee (OK, I mostly don't think this is a good thing. )
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
Am I going to get pelted with sharp objects if I point out that democrats haven't demonstrated that this sort of thing exactly bothers them over the last decade? I mean, a lot of folks think Kerry is kind of stiff (well, me and OSC). His own campaign could have leaked this to make him more human to voters. This isn't 1984, and he's not Gary Hart.
Edit: I admit I may be confused.. when was Gary Hart?
[ February 12, 2004, 04:03 PM: Message edited by: pooka ]
Posted by UofUlawguy (Member # 5492) on :
I think Hart was 88, but 84 is the only other possibility.
Posted by Jay (Member # 5786) on :
Kerry’s got an inter? Wow…. Guess the Bo Tox worked!
And now Ralph Nader is considering running for president again in 2004. I was kind of hoping Dean might run as the Reform party nominee too. It’s good to have plenty of choices. And if Nader is there for Green it could be a nice four person debate.
Drudge Story:
quote: XXXX DRUDGE RETORT XXXX 12:49:18 UTC FEB 12 2004 XXXX
Rumor leads America deep into John Kerry's pants!
Media observers and political junkies are waiting to see how quickly and deeply the mainstream press follows serious newsman Matt Drudge into John Kerry's pants.
This morning, Drudge pulled out the flashing siren with a giddy claim that Time Magazine and other media organizations are looking for a young woman who privately caucused last year with the Democratic presidential front-runner.
Reported Drudge: "Intrigue surrounds a woman who recently fled the country, reportedly at the prodding of Kerry, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned."
That wouldn't be the only prodding she received from Kerry, according to the completely unsourced story, which is reportedly being chased by Time, ABC News, the Washington Post, The Hill, and the Associated Press.
The tail tale first appeared in WatchBlog, a non-partisan political weblog that offers space to liberal, conservative, and moderate authors.
A Feb. 6 item in WatchBlog claimed that Time Magazine was looking for a "bimbo eruption" in John Kerry's past and would be going to press with it this week:
"Rumor has it that John Kerry (D) is going to be outed by Time Magazine next week for having an affair with a 20 year old woman who remains unknown. The affair supposedly took place intermittently right up to Kerry's Fall 2002 announcement of candidacy. At present, this is nothing more than a rumor ..."
The journalism industry publication Editor & Publisher pondered how long it would take the mainstream press to follow Drudge's lead. [Our guess: Four or five hours tops.]
As Editor & Publisher reported, "The Drudge site also declared that General Wesley Clark, in an off-the-record chat with reporters earlier this week, predicted that the Kerry campaign would soon implode due to an 'intern.' It would seem strange, however, if he really believed that, that he would drop out of the race, as he did yesterday."
Lending less credence to the story: Clark is going to endorse Kerry this weekend in Wisconsin, according to AP.
The unsourced rumor about Kerry is remarkably similar to a false accusation in 1992 linking Bill Clinton to a wire service reporter, as described by political reporter Walter Mears on C-SPAN:
C-SPAN HOST BRIAN LAMB: Former Congressman Guy Vanderjack (ph) did something you thought was a slanderous lie.
MEARS: In the final -- absolute final phase of the 1992 campaign when Bush was going down the tubes, he with -- with, I think some push from some of the people around the Bush operation, he was at the time -- he'd been defeated in his primary but he was still the chairman of the House Campaign Committee in him name, and using a statement that he put out at a press conference that he had. They accused Clinton of having an affair with a woman wire service reporter covering his campaign, which was not so. There was only one woman wire service reporter covering his campaign, a very hard working and very attractive and talented reporter. And I thought it was just slanderous.
LAMB: And working for AP?
MEARS: An AP reporter, and so I would have thought it was slanderous if she worked for UPI, but because I knew a good bit about this woman and her work, I thought demeaning her journalism that way just was totally unfair. And I seldom got angry at politicians, but I remember being very angry that time.
[ February 12, 2004, 04:19 PM: Message edited by: Jay ]
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
Wow. Those before and after shots are almost as convincing as the before and after shots on weight loss pill commercials.
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
I want to point out that a lot of the conservative media are working very hard to get Dean the nomination. Andrew Sullivan specifically, but I've seen others.
Posted by Jay (Member # 5786) on :
Dean would be great. He'd be a lot of fun. Saturday Night Live could acutally be funny again with him as the nominee
Posted by Richard Berg (Member # 133) on :
quote:The media is so fast to defame a persons character without first finding all the facts. A claim that a person is AWOL to fellow military members (like the media exploited about George W.) is almost the worst thing a person could do. Accusations shouldn't be made unless we know excactly what happened.
What were the facts? Last I heard nobody outside the Bush family knows where GW was during the '72-73 period in question. And blaming the press is kind of silly -- I've heard people say this since at least my time in TX during the Ann Richards campaign, yet the majority of the media only picked it up recently, even then hardly as vociferously as the nature of the claim merits (vs., say, Lewinskygate).
/back to Kerry-bashing
[ February 12, 2004, 05:01 PM: Message edited by: Richard Berg ]
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
So you think Dean is the McCain of this election? I totally think Kerry is. But they both might be.
Posted by screechowl (Member # 2651) on :
I get closer to moving to Canada every day.
Posted by hugh57 (Member # 5527) on :
pooka: IIRC, Gary Hart ran in both 84 and 88. His sex scandal doomed his chances in 84, and he wasn't taken too seriously in 88.
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
If this is true, who is going to care? After the standard Clinton set, will it matter? (following up on what pooka said)
I mean, why should we care what Kerry did after Clinton did it in the oval office, and lied about it on camera and the American people didn't seem to care overly much?
I care, because character is important to me, but I wasn't going to vote for Kerry anyway. WIll it really deter anyone who was thinking of voting for him? Or do you think it will have an effect on undecideds?
Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
Belle,
Just a reminder - the infidelity pandemic on the Hill isn't limited to Democrats. Plenty of Republicans have gotten their dirty laundry aired and survived politically. Henry Hyde? Newt Gingrich? (Gingrich had to go away, but it had nothing to do with his marital and extramarital history.)
quote:Livingston's confession Thursday that he had been unfaithful to his wife drew first gasps, and then a standing ovation and declarations of support from Republicans at a closed-door caucus.
Posted by Kasie H (Member # 2120) on :
I just think it'll beat him up so badly and that he'll have to spend so much money fighting down in this primary that he's going to show up very much weakened against Bush. And who knows what effect this will have on his phantom "electability."
The other thing, too, is that Clinton never had to fight for reelection following his scandal. All we had to go on is polls, and we know how faulty they can be.
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
I mean, why should we care what Kerry did after Clinton did it in the oval office, and lied about it on camera and the American people didn't seem to care overly much?
Some American people didn't seem to care overly much. Some were (and are) pretty annoyed about it. And some (like me) don't especially care what a politician does with their genitals as long as they work it out with their loved ones, but care very much how truthful that politician is about it when it becomes public, and what lengths they go to trying to cover it up.
Posted by Primal Curve (Member # 3587) on :
You know what I love about Bush? He has never lied. He has so much integrity.
[/sarcasm]
Posted by Anna (Member # 2582) on :
I hope you won't take that as a critic of America, but this couldn't happen here. We consider that privte life is, really , private, and does not concern the public, unless someone commits a crime, like a rape. But here if someone asks you something about your sexual life, even if you are a public person, you have the right to refuse to answer, or even to lie if the questions are too pressing.
Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
Latest news:
Kerry was on the Imus show today and made the following statement when asked about the Drudge allegations:
quote:"Well there is nothing to report, so there is nothing to talk about," he told MSNBC television. "There's nothing there. There's no story."
Seems to me, the right-wing sites had better be sure they're not overplaying their hand on this. If Kerry is telling the truth, the mainstream press coverage is going to focus on how Drudge, Worldnet, and Rush pushed the story with no substantiation. Is that what they really want?
OTOH, whether or not its reasonable, this statement of Kerry's will maximize the damage if there turns out to be any degree of truth in the vague and unsubstantiated allegations.
It's a risky game.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
quote: The other thing, too, is that Clinton never had to fight for reelection following his scandal.
Which scandal? The other democrats were trying to take him down in the race of '92. I remember, I was a democrat back then. But criticizing Clinton is like fishing using dynamite. :yawns:
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