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.
Oh yeah right! Just like the partisan reaction from democrats to anything a republican has ever done is worse right media?
The media is totally without shame now, with no morals, scruples, or credibility.
Think Martha Stewart, only this time, it's a conspiracy to obstruct a gov't investigation. Clarke and maybe others will be indicted as well as Berger. Maybe the Stewart case was a test drive on a new menthod of prosecuting white collar crime. And here I thought that the Stewart case was a waste of time and money.
This could be a bombshell and bring down the whole house of cards for the Clintons.
I'm not holding my breath though .. my only hope is believing GOD's WORD when HE said, "everything hidden will be revealed". Maybe the "timing" of these revelations is GOD's way of protecting America.
Well .. I sure hope having Kerry for president over your precious issues is worth it to you ..!!!
Bush is not perfect. To expect him to be perfect is totally unrealistic. But .. to say you'll withdraw your support because of YOUR OWN PETTY little issues is just plain stupid.
"maybe the missing stuff isn't all that bad"
And .. you think a man would ruin his political career for "stuff" that "isn't all that bad" ..??
What I want to know is this: What information does Bill and Hillary have on Berger that would cause Berger to do something so stupid as stealing (and destroying) classified documents ..??
Instead of interrupting this thread with an off topic, why not find a thread where this is being discussed ..??
Or .. why not start a thread and get people talking about the problem. Why not get people involved in protesting the Planned Parenthood facilities.
Wouldn't that serve your purpose better than whining about what the republicans are not doing to suit you.
But .. Ashcroft had seen it and talked about it in his testimony before the 9/11 commission.
Exactly! Which is just another example of the "projection technique" in action .. accuse your enemy of doing what you are actually doing. Works for me!!
The reason I've never believed it was our Navy was because Clinton hated the military so much that I figured he wouldl have loved to have made fools of them.
What crimes did Berger commit in New York? The National Archives are in DC.
What were these stolen TS CW documents about? Anyone know?
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.I've seen it here on FR that Billary are sacrificing Berger, knowing he's going down anyway, in order to send a message to Kerry. This is plausible to some extent, and this Davis quote shows it could easily have unfolded that way. One way for Hillary to reach the White House is for Kerry to lose and GWB to not be able to run for a third term.
Yes, electing Kerry would certainly show those Republicans who was in charge, wouldn't it? As frustrating as it is sometimes, the only thing worse that a government lead by ineffective Repubicans is one lead by effective democrats.
Note the distinct possibility that Hellary could be implicated by what Handy Sandy stole -- and the rats are 'all about' protecting her!
***I'm in Arizona which is a swing state and my vote will count. If the Republicans fail on either issue I hope they lose Arizona by 1 damn vote, MINE!***
Oh, real smart, Lester! You want to be THE man who defeats Bush and puts the commie-loving Kerry and his cohorts into the Oval Office.
Yes, I agree. I think there was more going on than Berger just trying to protect x42; I think he was trying to get at the list of security boo-boos under his watch, as well as discarding bad things Bill and Hillary may have written on those documents.
Berger's loyalty is misguided. True loyalty stops at criminal activity.
"It was Berger whose calls Bill Clinton ducked in 1998 when bin Laden was briefly vulnerable to missile attack."
Predators were not armed until 2001, so it would have had to have been a cruise missle strike, taking a few hours. Not that they should not have tried it anyway, just that it was not a case of bin Laden sitting under the crosshairs.
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