Caddell: Dan Rather May Have Cost Kerry the Election (the cracks are starting to appear)

Newsmax.com ^ | Sep 10, 2004 | Newsmax

[Hank All-American]

Friday, Sept. 10, 2004 12:59 a.m. EDT Caddell: Dan Rather May Have Cost Kerry the Election

Longtime Democratic strategist Pat Caddell said Friday that if documents aired by CBS newsman Dan Rather Wednesday night turn out to be forged as alleged by experts, the presidential race "is over."

"It would be the end of the race," Caddell told Fox News Live. "It would be the end of the race," he repeated.

"[Democratic officials are] so involved in this," the former Carter pollster worried. "They have gotten themselves so involved in this issue, [in] the last 24 hours, that somebody's going to, if they're not authentic, they're going to be blamed for it. It's incredible to me that they've gotten in this." Caddell said he wasn't trying be sensationalize the issue, explaining that instead, "I'm trying to save my party, you know, by telling the truth."

He said that forfeiting the presidential race would be the least of his party's problems if Democrats are tied to any forgery scandal.

"The race is over - and we've got bigger problems than that," he warned.

[Hank All-American]

They don't know what to do, so I'm sure many are starting to panic. We must keep the pressure on. I won't rest until I watch Bush drag their (political) carcasses around the arena a few times.

[Paraclete]

Look for Pat C. to be smeared.

[joesnuffy]

Dan Rather Costs Kerry Election

Jess doing hees job main...

[mnehring]

This made me think. ::Kooky Theory:: The Kerry campaign can see the signs on the wall, they know they will loose, and loose badly. They have been attempting to set up the excuses on why they lost (with out blaming the candidate).

So.. the campaign leaks these obviously false docs so they later can say that the Republicans won through dirty triks... Setting up a 'revenge' run in '08.

[GeorgiaFreeper]

We could call CBS's Toll Free order line for copies of 60 Minutes shows and complain :D. I called and the phone was answered "CBS" ...

Videocassettes (most cost around $29.95)
60 Minutes/60 Minutes II 1-800-848-3256
48 Hours 1-800-934-6397
CBS Sunday Morning 1-800-242-7747

[rlmorel]

The Timing of This is Suspicious.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

If they do end up getting into trouble on account of it, it'll turn out to have been all for nothing. Bush's military service isn't an issue in this race, because Bush hasn't made it at issue. But since Kerry's service is the only issue being pursued by the Democrats, they feel obliged to fight the Swift Boat Vets' allegations by attacking Bush on that score. They've obviously grasped at these documents as the only means of taking back the offensive.

[wideawake]

I think Caddell is being too pessimistic.

The rest of the mainstream media will do their level best to downplay the blatant forgery.

I hope Caddell is right, of course. A landslide for Bush would give him the mandate that the Florida antics deprived him of.

Even better, it would give him very long coattails - we need a 10 vote majority in the Senate and a 50 vote majority in the House.

[okiegop]

I think it's clear that this story hasn't reached critical mass yet with the mass media. If See BS continues to stand by their story, what can the real media do to expose this as an obvious forgery? I suppose they could keep asking questions, but if they keep getting the same answer from See BS, what then?

[hobson]

Jimmy Carter is readied at the typewriter, Pat will hear from him soon.

[Redcoat LI]

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys/gals/transsexuals.

[Reagan Man]

If these forgery allegations hold up, at the very least, the Kerry campaign is seriously damaged and rightfully so.

Kerry showed poor judgment when he hired Lockhart, Begala, Carville and Sasso. The librats ship is sinking.

[Lunatic Fringe]

Forfeit?!

Oh, I get it. It's kinda like when Michael Johnson pulled up lame against Donovan Bailey.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Thanks for posting this. Like many FReepers I respect Caddell as a plain-speaking Democrat. For him to be saying this must be absolutely devastating to the Dems.

Can anyone imagine what it must be like inside Kerry HQ? First day after day of horrendous polls. Now this.

[wideawake]

Setting up a 'revenge' run in '08.

Unless Senator Kerry wins this year, he will never be the Democratic presidential nominee again, no matter what the circumstances.

[Hank All-American]

Kerry doesn't think he's going to lose. He thinks he's the second coming of JFK. He was born in the West Wing, for Pete's sake! So was my daughter, at the same hospital, and thousands of other people, but that's beside the point. No, this was a case of people being blinded by their ambitions and their loathing. I think they were banking on having witnesses who would confirm the content of the memos, not realizing the scrutiny they would come under from so many sources so quickly.

[Aquinasfan]

"I'm trying to save my party, you know, by telling the truth."

Now that's a Democrat idea I can agree with.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The timing of this is suspicious...

Don't question John Kerry's patrtiotism...

Rathergate is Bush's fault...

[bayourod]

John Kerry: "Mr. Bush, make them stop talking about forged documents."

[Mikey_1962]

This was over already...