Posted on 07/22/2004 7:18:54 PM PDT by wagglebee
I'm more convinced more than ever, based on what I've heard of this report so far, that it might've been the Democrats, knowing that Sandy Berger was in serious trouble, who leaked his problem so it wouldn't come up closer to the election. There is nothing in this report that the White House – which saw the report a long while before now -- would want to leak this to "cover up," as the Democrats charge. F. Lee Levin, our legal advisor here, went back and did some research last night into Clinton apologist / spinmeister Lanny Davis.
In his book, Davis wrote: "When bad news is coming, get your version, an alternative story line, out first." Davis gives an example of some damning information about Clinton that they leaked to the Associated Press – which, by the way, was first to get the Berger leak. I'm not saying there was any connection or attaching any name to this. I'm just telling you this book was written by Davis.
Today's Philadelphia Inquirer's editorial says that the partisanship in reaction to the Berger leak is "worse than what Berger did or is just as bad." That's how you create the alternative story line when you're leaking something that's bad for you: blame the other guys and come up with this alternative story line -- in this case, that story line was "the nature of the timing." The Washington Post has finally delved into this after burying it on the first couple of days. It turns out the employees at the National Archives suspected Berger, and set up a sting to catch him taking these documents on the Al-Qaeda millennium terrorist bombing plot.
The Post: "Berger found himself in a criminal investigation, one that he chose not to tell Kerry's campaign about until this week." We don't know that, of course. That's simply what he claims. Similarly, they report as fact Berger's assertion that "despite searching his home and office (he) couldn't find" the classified documents he illegally took with him. "An archives employee called former White House Deputy Council Bruce Lindsey to talk about this." Bruce Lindsey was the Fixer, capital F, who handled all the Clinton cover-ups. So you've got somebody here a government official with knowledge of the investigation, called Clinton's guy, while the Democrats are out there trying to say that the Bush team was in on this and leaking all this stuff. Lindsey and Berger, by the way, were both with Clinton when he testified to the commission -- the myth that he brilliantly testified alone while Bush needed Cheney there is officially B.S. thanks to NewsMax.
We now know Bill Clinton probably knew about this before George Bush did. The Post reports that Berger "took 40 to 50 pages of notes"! Now, you can take notes, but you can't take them with you – and you certainly can't stuff them in your pants, socks, briefcase, etc. The question remains: What papers were important enough for Sandy Berger to risk his reputation and career and fall on his sword for this way? What did he take notes on? That's what needs to be released here. Not who leaked what and not the timing. We don't need to hear about what a great public servant this guy is or was.
Speaking of which, I urge you to read the column by Martin Peretz, editor-in-chief, chairman and co-owner of the liberal (though not as liberal as it once was) New Republic and a big friend of Algore. He's known Berger since the McGovern campaign, but says he does not like him because Berger "believes there is no international dispute that can't be solved by the U.S. walking away from it." Quote: "Berger did run the Kerry foreign policy team at the writing of the Democratic Party platform a few weeks ago when the only opposition easily pacified came from a handful of Dennis Kucinich loyalists." The Kucinich dream won't die.
"So my question," writes Mr. Peretz, "is, did Berger, who knew that he was under scrutiny since last fall, alert Kerry to the combustible fact that he was the subject of a criminal probe by the justice department, the FBI? My guess is not. Kerry is far too smart, too responsible to have kept him around had he known. But if Kerry didn't know, it tells you a lot about Berger. Too much, really." A more important question, of course, is: What was contained in the papers that Berger snatched? The answers to that question might answer another. Maybe Clinton's top national security aide didn't want others to see what they documented.
The bad news/attack with more bad news, MO of the Left; is simply a more personalized but time-honored war tactic; ' the best defense is a good offense'. . .
As to whether Sandy gets away with this; for some reason, perhaps the demrats history; this calls to mind the old question: if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there; will it make a sound?
The worst thing the reps could do right now is look like fanged attack dogs. IMHO they are setting an above-it-all sort of tone that is working, albeit not perfectly.
This reminds me of ABSCAM the perpetraitors were arrogant.So you had congressmen like John Murphy[from a rich family risking jail for a few thousand dollars.They usually got away with it many times before.
There is another like it:
If a man is standing in a forrest, talking, where no woman can hear him, is he still wrong?
Here in Sacramento CA, the local rag we conservatives refer to as Pravda (Sacramento Bee) ran the berger story on the front page lead story. I was shocked. Since then, it has been buried. Guess they realized what they had done, or were notifed of it, and are now towing the line.
They are turds.
bttt
100,000 dead shredded aborted babies last month, 100,000 dead shredded aborted babies this month, and likely 100,000 dead shredded aborted babies next month.
I am not taking 'talk', above-it-all tone or not, over results. The Republicans better do something about this slaughter.
and...
The Bush Administration should take the better suggestions of the 9.11 Commission, improve upon them and put bills in the Congress before it adjourns for the election season.
Another possibility is that Berger knew that the Bush people had never seen this memo, so he need to look at all the drafts of it again to recall what was in it that he may have failed to brief Bush's NSC staff about. Surely he knew that Bush, Cheney, Rice, and Ashcroft were going to tell the 9/11 Commission exactly what he had briefed them on. He needed to make sure he had the right recollection of what kinds of options the Clinton administration considered but never told the Bush people about, so he and Clinton would not trip themselves up in their own testimony.
Either of these scenarios would make it important enough for Berger to risk apprehension and prosecution by taking the documents and making notes of them. It doesn't have to have been a suicide mission for the Clintons, just his own ass-covering.
The way Clinton jumped on news cameras from the get go, makes it another Clinton cover-up.
Definitely. It means Berger isn't loyal to Kerry, but to Clinton---who also isn't loyal to Kerry. Poor JFK, everybody knew and nobody would tell him...
A 2nd Bush admin. should devote much resources to bringing the entire klinton crimminal operatio to justice and reveal everything.
I found the timing of this whole Bergler story very suspicious. It came out one day before the 9-11 report. Brilliant move! Berger is the lead story for one whole day, then comes the long-awaited 9-11 report and whoosh! Berger is no longer front page news. Only the Democrats would have anything to gain by this "suspicious timing" that they touted on every news channel.
bump for later!
... follow the links, some very curious things here...
If the Republicans leaked this they would have done it friday. Closer to the DNC convention and would play better on the sunday shows. So the dems leaked it early hoping it would die out. The NEW MEDIA will not let it.
I hadn't thought about this but I think Rush is on to something. Of course we know, that whatever the Dems accuse the Republicans of doing, they are actually the guilty ones.
bttt
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