Clinton is behind this.
You are so right.
The Clintons, ie Ickes, Hildebeeste, McAuliffe, and Carville, have a little rolodex. Inside the rolodex are cards, each with an "attack" of some sort, to be pulled and spun as they see fit.
Their guy took a terrible beating last week. The foreign leaders and the repub ad about Kerry's vote for money for Iraq were 7.3 on the campaign Richter scale.
Carville goes to the rolodex and boom. "How about we pull out Richard Clarke?" snakehead asks.
McAuliffe scratches his head in thought. "I don't know. That Nigeria/Plume thing is going nowhere. We used one of our big ones when we bought out those 9/11 families. I'm not sure we should use this right now. We should get Kerry back on the campaign trail before we put it out."
Hillary sniffed and tugged at her pointy hat. "Which is EXACTLY the reason we should get it out there now. As usual the new JFK is making an ass of himself. Harold you need to work on him some more. He can't stop trying to project himself as Mr. Tough Guy and it ain't working. But if we put out Richard Clarke now we make the pubbies take some heat for a while. Tell John to respond to reporters with a simple "I'm on vacation now. I think the facts speak for themselves. Think you can make him do that, Hal?" Ickes shrugged but didn't complain. They'd given him a sow's ear of a candidate and he was suppose to make him into a silk purse?
Bill fiddled with tie self-consciously. He too had been accused of pining for the spotlight and he felt a slight kindred for Kerry because of this.
"I think Hil is right," Bill said. He always thought Hillary was right.
"You still got a stack of cards in that rolodex, James?" McAuliffe asked. Carville pulled out a pile of cards numbering over 200, enough for almost every day of the campaign if they needed it.
"We still got the old abortion story," James said, flipping through the cards. "I think we should save that one until closer to November," Carville continued flipping through the cards. "Hey, here, I got about five Iraqis ready to talk about how they hate America in their country."
McAuliffe scowled. "We're saving that for when the pubs bring out the happy Iraqis. I don't want to waste that for Kerry's stupidity. It was him that came up with that foreign leader nonsense. We told him it was a political disaster."
Carville slammed the rolodex shut. "Okay, get Lesley Stahl on the phone and tell her we got a terrorist advisor ready to connect the administrations determination to hook up Iraq to Al-Queda. The polls are saying more and more Americans believe this. In time more truth is going to come out and we'll never be able to drive a wedge of doubt in the public's head. Remember our discussion. We've got to fight Bush on every front on this war on terror."
Hillary got up from her seat and dialed Lesley Stahl at a special private number only she had.
Forget my last post, RA...got my answer from leadpenny.
It appears to me that he's been more connected to Republican administrations than Clinton.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/DailyNews/bush_advisors_clarke.html
Oct. 9 — Richard A. Clarke was appointed today by President Bush to be the Special Adviser for Cyberspace Security within the National Security Council.
He will be charged with protecting the nation's telecommunications and information technology infrastructure against a terrorist attack. Experts have warned that hackers and terrorists could try and cripple systems — computer networks that monitor a city's water supply or air traffic, for example — to create further chaos.
Should such a crisis take place in cyberspace, Clarke would coordinate efforts with the private and commercial sectors to bring the affected systems back to normal.
Similar to his previous position as National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-terrorism, Clarke will remain on the president's National Security Council. In his new role, he report to both National Security Advisory Condoleezza Rice and newly appointed Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge.
Clarke is a career member of the federal government's Senior Executive Service, having started there in 1973 in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
Since May 1998, Clarke was the first National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-terrorism.
In that position, he led U.S. government efforts on cyber-security — and on counter-terrorism, continuity of government operations, domestic preparedness for weapons of mass destruction, and international organized crime.
In the role of counter-terrorism czar, he will be replaced by retired four-star Gen. Wayne A. Downing. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge will serve above Clarke and Downing in the new role as the president's Homeland Security adviser.
Clarke became well-known for his use of the phrase "electronic Pearl Harbor," when predicting the implications of a cyber-terrorist attack. Critics say he overstates the threat, perhaps as a tactic to win greater attention, support and resources for government computer defense capabilities.
In the elder Bush's administration, Clarke was the Assistant Secretary of State for Politico-Military Affairs. In that capacity, he coordinated State Department support of Desert Storm and led efforts to create a post-war security architecture. Clarke was appointed to the National Security Council staff in 1992.
In the Reagan administration, Clarke was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence.
The CIA later claimed that the factory was targeted by demand of White House NSC staff, specifically Richard Clarke, its specialist on terrorism. This rash action embarassed the State Department, which ended up paying damages to the Sudanese owner of the factory.
I'd believe what Bill Gerst has to say any day rather than a former Clinton appointee.