The Times Leaks on Arnold (Now he's totally peed off!!)

The LA Weekly ^ | Oct 3 - 9 , 03 | by Bill Bradley

[.cnI redruM]

Senior Democratic strategists knew the particulars of last Thursday’s L.A. Times exposé on Arnold Schwarzenegger well in advance of the story’s publication, the Weekly has learned from well-informed sources. This knowledge came not only in advance of publication but also before anyone outside a close circle at the Times knew of the story’s timing and particulars.

While the Times insists that its reporting uncovered the allegations of sexual misconduct on the part of Schwarzenegger, there can be no doubt that advance knowledge of the story was very helpful to Governor Gray Davis’ efforts to retain his office in the recall election.

Meanwhile, Sunday-night tracking polls seem to show the recall and Schwarzenegger running well ahead. Schwarzenegger strategists say their tracking poll shows the recall with a lead in the low double digits, and Schwarzenegger nearly 10 points ahead of Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante on the replacement portion of the ballot.

Top strategists for the governor were not available, and Davis spokesman Roger Salazar says he knows no Sunday-night polling numbers from the governor’s campaign.

Back to the blockbuster hit on Schwarzenegger in Thursday’s Times. According to a well-informed source at the paper, the story, which hit the political world with a thunderclap, never appeared on the paper’s internal or external publication schedules. Indeed, project editor Joel Sappell and the three reporters working on what the Times has described as a seven-week-long investigative project were very tight-lipped about both the scheduling of the piece and its contents. They discussed the story only with the paper’s senior editors. Although the story did not appear on the schedule, it was reportedly placed in the "write basket," in which other Times editors and reporters can look at upcoming pieces, after hours last Wednesday night, just a few hours before it appeared on the Times Web site.

Even with utmost secrecy surrounding the piece, senior Democratic strategists with long-standing ties to Davis knew not only when the story was coming but also the particulars of what was in it. These strategists felt that the story held the possibility of tipping the election away from Schwarzenegger and of defeating the governor’s recall.

Calls to Times editors on the internal scheduling and handling of the story were referred to the newspaper’s public-relations department. Times spokesman David Garcia said the story was extremely closely held and not shared "with anyone outside the building."

Whether or not the Times received all or part of the story from pro-Davis sources — and the Times continues to vociferously insist that none of the first story, at least, did — the advance knowledge of the story’s timing and particulars enabled Davis and the Democrats to design the closing burst of the anti-recall campaign, which we have seen unfold with an uncanny precision.

I had been very impressed with the alacrity with which Davis and the Democrats seized on the Times story and swiftly pivoted into all-out attack mode. A flurry of press statements and highly coordinated events and advertising involving politicians across the state and in Washington, D.C., ensued. It was remarkably efficient. But if you know what is coming in the news flow and when it is coming, it is much easier to design the close of your campaign.

Incidentally, the paper Monday backed off its previous contention that none of the women in subsequent stories came forward at the urging of Schwarzenegger’s opponents in the wake of the Weekly’s revelation that Jodie Evans, who pushed one of the women to come forward, is not merely the peace activist described by the Times but also a former close colleague of Governor Davis and longtime friend of chief Democratic hit man Bob Mulholland.

In another intriguing bit of Times reporting, Schwarzenegger’s huge rally Sunday outside the state Capitol was not referenced until the 18th paragraph of Monday’s story. The rally was twice as large as the 5,000 people reported by the Times. Of course, observers can vary in crowd estimates. But another element of the reportage was very strange.

"Protesters nearly drowned out the early part of Schwarzenegger’s nine-minute speech with a steady chorus of boos," the Times reported today.

Viewing from the press riser with most of the rest of the press corps, I didn’t hear the protesters. They certainly didn’t drown out Schwarzenegger.

[Truth666]

In another intriguing bit of Times reporting, Schwarzenegger’s huge rally Sunday outside the state Capitol was not referenced until the 18th paragraph of Monday’s story. The rally was twice as large as the 5,000 people reported by the Times.
California witnesses the largest fraud ever in a democracy (prophetic)
Polls : Polls help scripts come true. Example : "43% want to keep Davis" (SURVEY USA, 10/6/03) .
Facts about Davis rallies : Davies is not able to gather anything that even slightly resembles a crowd in his rallies. For instance a total of 35 supporters showed up to hear Davis at Long Beach. From footage I estimate that there were no more than 300 people at his final rally.
Facts about the electoral process : machines (touch-screen) to make even the most unbelievable of scripts come true
Prediction : we are about to witness the largest electoral fraud that ever took place in a democracy.
Explanation : the last minute stories will be used to justify the "results". But I also think that it is the tacit acceptance of such polls that lays the basis for the coming fraud counting the votes.
No THAT is intriguing : Schwarzenegger is not that different from Davies. So what's the reason for the Democrats to push the fraud to this extent ?

[sauropod]

Saw Zack on FNC last night. Big hypocrite. Clinton's groping, etc. was brought up to him. No problem!

[b9]

I guess it's fine to watch someone get mugged and not call it in to authorities... as long as the mugger shares the loot with you from the robbed man.

Arnold has been mugged, smeared, distorted, belittled, downplayed, castigated, demonized and downright hated.
Right here on FR.
All because he's not Tom McClintock.
If he wins today...and that's a very big IF, he will have the chance to prove what many of us have known all along.
He's absolutely the best man right now for California.

If he loses, I won't be blaming Gray Davis or the LA Times.

[cookcounty]

Maybe all these make-believe stories are in the LA Times because Southern California is crawling with so many unemployed make-up artists.

[Uncle Hal]

I grew up in the LA area and have read the LA Times my entire life. Believe it or not, until the mid 60's the Times was a very conserative paper. I remember my dad would follow their recommendations when he voted and dad was as conservative as they come. The Chandler family controlled the paper until they sold out to the Tribune a few years ago. As an example the Chandlers were very anti union and there have been various violent union protests over the years. But when the long time publisher Norman Chandler retired in the late 50's, his young son Otis took the reins. He was in his thirties and wanted to make the Times into a great (meaning liberal) newspaper. The Times began paying very high salaries, for the newspaper business, and as a result attracted a lot of reporters and executives from the eastern liberal newpapers. In the 60's and 70's the the paper gradually became a very liberal paper like it is today. As I understand it much of the Chandler family was not happy with the liberal leanings of the paper but none of them succesfully challenged Otis. Besides the paper was and is the dominate paper in LA and as LA grew rapidly after the war, the paper continued to grow and it was making a lot of money for the family. There must be some Freepers out there that remember the Times from the old days.

[.cnI redruM]

Interesting. It reads like a passage from 'LA Confidential' Cool post.

[BibChr]

Hm.

Do you suppose any of that was in the "Removed by Moderator" posts that dotted that thread?

Dan
(c;

[MeekOneGOP]

[Tamzee]

Yep, it's obvious... at least to those who have an artist's eye for faces :-)

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[b9]

:o)

[onehipdad]

GET OUT OF AHNOLD'S HAUS!!!

[MeekOneGOP]

Yeah, Gray ! Get out da house !! ...

This is the day that California is doin' the Great California Red October Flush ...

[Victoria Delsoul]

Bump!

[dr_who_2]

Senior Democratic strategists knew the particulars of last Thursday’s L.A. Times exposé on Arnold Schwarzenegger well in advance of the story’s publication....

Oooh! Oooh! Big surprise!

Shocking.

[Defender2]

LA Times....Aider....Abetter....Comfort Giver....To Our Enemies!!!!

[jimbo123]

LA Times Readers' Representative Office