Posted on 02/12/2004 1:02:55 PM PST by NYC Republican
Edited on 02/12/2004 2:06:54 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
CAMPAIGN DRAMA ROCKS DEMOCRATS: KERRY FIGHTS OFF MEDIA PROBE OF RECENT ALLEGED INFIDELITY, RIVALS PREDICT RUIN
**World Exclusive** **Must Credit the DRUDGE REPORT**
A frantic behind-the-scenes drama is unfolding around Sen. John Kerry and his quest to lockup the Democratic nomination for president, the DRUDGE REPORT can reveal.
Intrigue surrounds a woman who recently fled the country, reportedly at the prodding of Kerry, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
A serious investigation of the woman and the nature of her relationship with Sen. John Kerry has been underway at TIME magazine, ABC NEWS, the WASHINGTON POST, THE HILL and the ASSOCIATED PRESS, where the woman in question once worked.
MORE
A close friend of the woman first approached a reporter late last year claiming fantastic stories -- stories that now threaten to turn the race for the presidency on its head!
In an off-the-record conversation with a dozen reporters earlier this week, General Wesley Clark plainly stated: "Kerry will implode over an intern issue." [Three reporters in attendance confirm Clark made the startling comments.]
The Kerry commotion is why Howard Dean has turned increasingly aggressive against Kerry in recent days, and is the key reason why Dean reversed his decision to drop out of the race after Wisconsin, top campaign sources tell the DRUDGE REPORT.
Here's what I think: The Democratic nomination race started in a ball of confusion -- nine candidates. In the course of three weeks, Lieberman's gone, Clark is gone, Dean is toast (the first priority of the Clintons, btw), Edwards is running for VP most likely. Kerry has surged into the lead too early, and now appears to be the obvious nominee. What to do? The Clintons decide to go nuclear, and dump all the dirt they have on him, one item per news cycle at a time. The results are devastating. Kerry's poll standings plummet. The net effect is that this sends the Democrats into a wholesale panic since no one is left to save the Party.....Then the clouds part, and into the vacuum steps Hillary, "For the children, and for the Party."
I don't know what the rules are inside the Democratic Party in terms of which delegates are committed on the ballot to which candidate. But if the Clintons stir the pot, and they time a Hillary entrance for the right moment, they could derail Kerry.
All this stuff from Dick Morris about how Hillary should seriously consider the VP spot with Kerry is nonsense and misdirection, IMO. Hillary's spent her life being #2. She's not interested in the VP position. I believe they are angling for the stunner of all stunners -- Hillary's gaining the nomination by walking upon the dried corpses of the Nine Riders who actually entered the primaries. She gets the nomination, and does so without having to run in the primaries (where her own weaknesses would be exposed), thereby immediately inheriting a united, and desparate, Democratic Party.
Think of the worst, the most outrageous, the most diabolical conspiracy theory you can think of, and that's pretty close to what the Clintons are up to.
Drudge said "RECENT"
That word pretty much scotches the 'who' speculation and the Lehane story
Drudge said "fantastic stories"
Now this is interesting. Sex isn't going to disqualify Kerry. It needs to have an angle. Kink perhaps?
Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2004 It's hard enough to get used to the idea that a presidential candidate is your own age, as John Edwards is. It's even harder to get used to the idea that he's someone you've known for years, as I'd known Bill Clinton. But try getting used to the fact that a candidate for president used to date, and dumped, one of your close girlfriends, and ended up married to one of the richest women in town. That's how well I know John Kerry, who I first met at least 25 years ago. Of course I could blame him for bad dating behavior, but that's never how it works. Feminism notwithstanding, it's always hard to like the woman who ultimately lands the guy. She has to be quite a woman. Teresa Heinz Kerry is.
Luckily for John Kerry, George W. Bush was young and stupid once, too, and he wasn't even single. So this isn't a political issue but a personal one. I've known John Kerry long enough to know him when he was married, single and married again. I remember his man-about-town days in Boston and in Washington. I was the one who used to go back and forth, telling my girlfriend in Boston about the likes of Morgan Fairchild in D.C.
Don't waste your life on him, we all used to say. The handwriting is on the wall, if not in all the Washington papers. Her childbearing years were coming to the end. She was a grown-up, a lawyer, his former law partner, but that has nothing to do with being smart about men when you're in love.
This is all public record. I'm not revealing anything here that Karl Rove doesn't know about. This is not Monica Lewinsky. Everybody was age-appropriate, everything was consensual. No laws were broken. Only hearts. My friend eventually found a nice husband and had two kids.
John found Teresa.
At first, everyone laughed. Just a coincidence that she has a half-billion dollars, people snickered. I wonder if he's seeing green, cynical friends of mine asked. I hope he's miserable, more than one said. Stories were passed around about how Teresa still referred to her late husband, Sen. John Heinz of Pennsylvania, as "her husband," how she talked openly about Botox, how she would certainly kill John if she caught him looking at another woman.
A marriage of convenience, many people assumed. An expression of his ambition, they said. How will this half a billionaire connect with farm women in Iowa and rural women in New Hampshire, Kerry critics asked viciously.
Just fine, as it turned out.
I caught up with Teresa Heinz Kerry in New Hampshire. No Judy Steinberg Dean she. No Hillary, either. From the beginning, she was at her husband's side in this campaign, supporting him, because she wanted to be. She speaks from the heart. She has been winning support for her husband from women with whom she has nothing particular in common because they sense her authenticity, which matters more than her accent and her bank account. This is a real marriage, a real partnership. At least that's what all the women I talked to said.
They're right. Imagine that. I was in the backroom in Nashua when I caught the two of them in an unguarded moment. They didn't realize that anybody was watching. They embraced. At length. With real passion.
Most politicians embrace their wives when they see the cameras and prefer to talk to their aides in private. John and Teresa kiss in private. They're hot. I couldn't help but smile. How can you not like a hot 60-year-old couple? Watch out, Karl. This is what women want.
Let's see if she is true to her word !!!
I knew Dean was doing well in the delegate count before this week but I thought after tuesday he was done. With the Kerry news he may gain quite a few in Wisconsin.
Kerry's news is really making this fun.
Funny how the existence of anti-Bush rumors is story enough and they can be checked out later. Anti-Democrat rumors are not stories in themselves must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt before they can be acknowledged to exist.
But I wouldn't get too upset about the double standard. Within days, everyone but everyone will know what the big media aren't saying. The longer the Kerry campaign tries to simply stifle the story, the more hemorrhaging before the couple get their man-and-wife "stand by your man" interview on national TV.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.