> >"Mr. Wilson is a liar and this was a well planned operation by somebody."
>
> I was thinking that perhaps Chris LeHane got the ball rolling. He resigned from Kerry's campaign around September 15th of last year. The Wilson story broke around the 27th or 28th of September 2003. No proof, but it sounds like something LeHane would do.
I'm trying to reconstruct how the Democrats must've concocted this operation. At what point did they conceive the idea to undermine the credibility of Bush's intelligence on Iraq? The plot must've been in place by the time that leaked memo describing the Democrats' plans was published in November 2003 (
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1014682/posts ), so we can take the date of that memo as a terminus ad quem starting point. I'd infer the plot must've emerged out of the UN debate over the WMD back around September 2002 at which time the US and UK's case for war was being undermined by Tariq Aziz, Scott Ritter, Hans Blix, etc. Here's one old article I just dug out of my archives which tends to support that:
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/944219/posts The TRUE Capitol Hill Blue story the PRESS IGNORED:'Dems plan to undermine
America to beat Bush'
FR - thru Capitol Hill Blue ^ | January 6, 2003 | DOUG THOMPSON
Posted on 07/11/2003 6:02 AM PDT by Ragtime Cowgirl
Dems plan to undermine America to beat Bush
CapitolHillBlue ^ | January 6, 2003 | By DOUG THOMPSON
Posted on 01/28/2003 2:07 AM EST by JohnHuang2
Democrats plan to undermine public confidence in President George W. Bush by
challenging his credibility and raising doubts about America, sources within
the party tell Capitol Hill Blue.
A multi-pronged attack against Republicans and the President will focus not
only on economic issues, but question American values, raise doubts about
how this country is viewed by other nations and question the patriotism of
Bush and his party.
The extensive campaign, developed by senior Democratic consultants and party
leaders, was launched last week with attacks on the Bush economic plan by
Democratic presidential hopeful Rep. Richard Gephardt.
In coming weeks, Democratic elected officials will question the President's
intentions on the pending war with Iraq. Writers and broadcasters friendly
to the Democratic cause have already been provided talking points suggesting
the war is about oil, not terrorism. "The talking points were developed
before the end of last year and sent out to operatives and friendly media,"
one Democratic consultant confided. "No Democratic member of Congress will
question the President's patriotism openly but we will use the media and
other surrogates to raise doubts."
Capitol Hill Blue obtained a copy of the talking points when the Democratic
National Committee sent them to a news outlet recently acquired by CHB's
parent company. The talking points outline a strategy to raise public doubts
of the President's real intentions, including: --Saying the war is about oil
and will be fought to benefit oil companies that have long supported Bush
and the Republican party;
--Claiming the Bush administration has "manufactured" evidence against
Saddam Hussein and used that evidence to encourage Britain and other allies
to join the American fight against Iraq;
--Suggesting a wartime economy is the only way the administration can revive
the country's lagging economic situation.
"It is clear that the current approval ratings of the administration are
tied directly to strong American feelings toward traditional values," the
talking points say. "To counter this, doubt must be raised as to America's
true position within the world community and the true intent of the Bush
administration in waging war."
Some Democrats admit privately they are uneasy with the party strategy to
undermine American values in an attempt to get Bush.
"My boss doesn't want anything to do with it," one senior Senate aide told
Capitol Hill Blue on Monday. "You don't undermine this country to win
elections." Others, however, are willing to try anything to put the White
House and Congress back under Democratic control. "The real war isn't in
Iraq," one Democratic consultant said. "It's right here at home, at the
ballot box in 2004."
Among the other points Democrats hope to make in the coming weeks:
--Both President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are controlled by oil
and defense industry special interest groups.
--The war on terrorism is a failure because Osama bin Laden is still at
large.
--America is unprepared for another terrorist attack because of White House
preoccupation with Iraq. --War will increase the country's economic
woes. --Bush will be forced to raise taxes to finance the war.
"It's time to take the battle to the people and make them understand just
how dangerous George W. Bush's policies are to the future of America," the
talking points conclude.
Democratic sources say the talking points were developed by Democratic
Chairman Terry McAuliffe, former Clinton campaign strategist James Carville,
Senate Majority Leader Daschle and former House Democratic Leader Gephardt.
"This is a classic, Jim Carville, scorched earth campaign," crows one DNC
staffer. "Take no prisoners. That's how you win elections." Democratic party
spokesmen would not return phone calls seeking comment on this report.
© Copyright 2003 Capitol Hill Blue
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Given that time frame of late 2002/early 2003 as the origin of the plot, does this imply that the Democrats originally got the idea to attack Bush's intelligence claims from one of the foreign intelligence agencies seeking to undermine Bush and Blair's case for war at that time? If so, it seems to me like the source of the idea must've been closely linked to whoever Scott Ritter and Hans Blix were/are working for. That's my current line of thought. Anyone else have any theories?