Message machine Rove built now comes to his aid

[sabra]

<<SNIP>>
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/12160224.htm

Message machine Rove built now comes to his aid

BY DICK POLMAN

Knight Ridder Newspapers


PHILADELPHIA - (KRT) - The vaunted Republican message machine, built over the last five years by Karl Rove, is now being employed to defend Karl Rove.

Stung by evidence that President Bush's political guru may have participated in the leaking of classified information - by allegedly helping to blow the cover of an undercover CIA operative who is married to a prominent Iraq war critic - Rove's surrogates, armed with identical talking points, are arguing his innocence in orchestrated e-mails, on radio shows, the floor of Congress, conservative blogs, the Republican National Committee Web site, Fox News talkfests, and even the Sunday morning circuit.

Republican chairman Ken Mehlman, a top Rove protege, drew the NBC assignment Sunday. It did not go smoothly, which was no surprise, given the tricky nature of his mission.

Back in autumn 2003, the White House had declared it was "totally ridiculous" to suggest that Rove had any involvement that summer with leaking the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame, as possible retaliation against her husband, former Iraq Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who had publicly (and accurately) disputed a key Bush rationale for war. Conservative columnist Robert Novak had used her name in print, and reporter Matt Cooper, writing in Time magazine, had identified her as Wilson's wife. But now, in the wake of disclosures over the last week, it is clear that Rove spoke to both Novak and Cooper.

<</SNIP>>

[clydefrand]

1. Mehlman must have forgotten Monica! Wow, short memory.

Mehlman said that Democrats in Congress owed Rove an apology. When Mehlman was asked how the GOP would react if the situation were reversed and the same national security controversy were unfolding in a Democratic White House, he insisted it was "unthinkable" to believe the GOP would behave the same way.

[vickitulsa]

17. What I love about this

is that not only does the GOP have a short memory when it comes to their failed effort to oust WJC from the WH, they seem to have totally forgotten the whole Nixon affair!

I've heard it said many times that even smart operators tend to stick to the plays in their well worn playbook, even if it has not brought them victory before. Why? How could they cling stubbornly to tactics that didn't work in the past?

Because of what you guys have been saying here -- it's a machine, a system they've had in place for a long time. They just don't have another machine prepared, up and running to switch to in order to handle this fast moving story.

So let's go back to the fall of the Nixon WH and keep checking for parallels to the Rove Leak Scandal. The GOP's memory is short enough that they aren't heeding the lessons they should have learned well in the early '70's. Not only did they repeat the mistakes made by Nixon and his cronies when they planned and executed the "get Wilson through his wife" plot, they are now forgetting that when one of their own "black ops" or dirty tricks begins to go awry and bring the spotlight on their skulduggery, they're not going to shut the developing story down by using methods that did not work for Tricky Dick!

Yet that's what they're resorting to nonetheless. They're doing what they know. They can't help themselves!

I posted a FWIW message on another related thread on this, wherein I speculated on the possibility of a repeat from the Nixon WH to W's WH in their handling of trouble like they've got on their hands now which begins with their offering up of Cheney as Nixon offered up AGNEW to try to "distract and appease."

Right now the focus is still mostly on Rove, but I think even he would be sacrificed in order to keep the current VEEP in place and running the government! Karl may have built the machine for W, but he did it under the tutelage of an old hand at such tasks: the "new" Tricky Dick! Rove is a virtual "trainee" under Cheney, and I suspect when Karl hits a snag or is stumped about what to do next when a crisis crops up, he turns to the VEEP, logically through his chief of staff Libby, for advice and guidance.

IMO, Cheney could be sacrificed as a major distraction and misdirection ploy, except as was done with Agnew, his leaving the WH would be for reasons unconnected with the leak scandal. His health would be a good issue to fall back on, since after all the man had four heart attacks in the past, has managed with extremely close preventive medical supervision to avoid having another one for the last five years, and the latest report on results of the VEEP's check-up revealed just yesterday Cheney's enlarged arteries behind his knees.

Sounds like that's not his heart, but in fact the two things are very closely related. If an enlarged artery behind Dick's knee threw a clot, it could cause the loss of a leg -- or worse yet, the clot could travel through his circulatory system to his lungs or heart where it could kill him. My uncle died from this very thing, and he was only in his fifties. A clot they believed had been thrown from an artery in his leg went straight to his lungs and killed him extremely quickly.

So if the new Tricky Dicky were to be "excused" from duty at the WH due to his health problems, W and crew could be hoping such a big story would divert the attention of the "sharks" now circling over the Rove leak affair. And the first of (hopefully) many dominoes could fall....

I don't think it would work any more than sacrificing Agnew worked for Nixon, but again, these people have forgotten all that.

Of course I'm speculating here, but the longer this leak scandal story goes on, the more that comes out about it, the more I am reminded of the stage play that was the Nixon WH collapse.

Is this happening to anyone else here?

[AlGore-08.com]

24. Not just the impeachment, but the 2000 election

In the impeachment, at least there was an actual crime driving the flap - - Clinton actually did lie under oath. (Whether that was worth impeaching him over is a different discussion.)

But during the 2000 election, the GOP and media spent 2 years destroying Gore's character based on nothing. They - - both the GOP and the media - - painted Gore as a "serial exaggerator" based on true statements that Gore had made, stripped of their context and misquotes by the media. Gore did nothing to deserve this other than to be the Dem candidate running after the failed impeachment attempt.

Rove used the public's disgust with the Starr report and the impeachment as the centerpiece of the Smirk campaign. Rove's publicly stated strategy was "America will think 'Clinton' every time they see Gore". Smirk spent the campaign accusing Gore of committing crimes that Gore was innocent of (esp. the "Buddhist Temple" bs), solemnly vowing to "restore honor and dignity to the White House".

The media's reaction to the GOP spin was to praise Smirk as an authentic, truthful outsider and hammer Gore, claiming Gore was a "serial exaggerator" based on true statements stripped of their context. It was a totally bizarre moment in our history, and the GOP had little to do with it.

All before Rove was in power in DC...

Even if Rove or even Team Smirk gets the heave-ho, the problem won't be solved. Not by a long shot.

[vickitulsa]

29. You are so right about that!

The only "serial exaggerator" in the 2000 campaigns was the serial liar on the GOP ticket.

And evicting W&Co won't "fix" everything in one fell swoop, but even at the stage the situation is now, where JQP has finally begun to question the wisdom of backing W as a straight shooter, regular guy, honest abe redux sort of fella, THAT has provided the premise on which a lot of cleaning up can be based.

You are right in your analysis of the 2000 presidential election. And in connection with that, SmirkNRove's plan for repetitive responses to continuing ire among the Dems over the theft of the election was and still is to call Dems with legitimate complaints and accusations CRYBABIES. Stop yer whining, they say, mockery and laughter emanating from their sorry souls through their obedient brains and out their mouths. I get so sick of the repetition response tactics I could just scream. The "our terrorist enemies hate our freedoms" is anathema to me and one of the worst of my peeves about W's verbal behavior.

Unfortunately, they know what they're doing with the repetition -- it's a proven method for teaching, or brainwashing, as it were. When JQP hears their little 12-step style slogans over and over for literally YEARS, the idea does get imbedded in the minds of those who are not holding W&Co to account for all their lies.

Also unfortunately, Gore was a pretty easy target ... not because he wasn't smart but because he did come along as VEEP to a verbally adroit WJC and the impeachment proceedings that did, after all, result in a minor victory for the Dark Side. What's amazing to me is that when you hold up Clinton and Gore alongside W and compare the two sides for simple intellectual ability, W comes off looking like a complete moron. Many believe he truly is one, but again I feel he is savvy enough and has enough careful guidance from others (like Dicky and Karl) to "pass" as sufficiently intelligent.

I say, put their feet to the fire, all of 'em! They're squirming already, and with good cause. Their machine has taken a hit in an important spot, and to mix metaphors, machines are like houses of cards in that respect. The whole thing collapses and comes to a screeching halt when a vital part/card is disabled. Depending on which part it is, the machine can continue to operate, though less effectively, for a little while -- or not, if the part is truly a crucial one. But eventually they run out of tactics with which to compensate, and the crumbling picks up speed. Like sand on the bed of a river "scouring" away the massive piers on which a causeway or bridge stands, in time the topheavy structure hasn't enough substance at the base to keep it in place.

Lies repeated endlessly take on the aura of truths, as far as JQP is concerned, I'm afraid. But I have some faith in the ability of the average U.S. citizen, duped by W&Co or not, to see the light and turn on the ones who betrayed them!

And I shouldn't use GOP interchangeably with W&Co, you're right about that too. I was lazy and imprecise! :D My bad. :dunce: ;)

[mitchum]

37. He thinks she's all...icky (since she's a girl and all)

[lapislzi]

2. Well, we knew this would happen....

Fortunately, the only thing these assholes can't buy...is Fitzgerald and the grand jury.

However, you can probably look forward to another "Saturday Night Massacre." In all probability, the same guy who fired everyone back then will do the firing again; he's still around you know. (10 points and a lime-green leisure suit for guessing his identity.)

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.

[MsLeopard]

36. Robert Bork?

[lapislzi]

38. DIng..ding...ding...ding....WE HAVE A WINNER!!!

Johnny, tell her what's she's won!

Well, Bob, MsLeopard has won 10 points that she can use in any way she likes, or she can trade them in today and get 100 S & H Green Stamps.

Also, she wins a mint condition, lime-green, all-polyester Leisure Suit. Just like the kind that every would be macho man wore in the seventies.

Way to go, MsLeopard!!!

And thanks for playing!

[Wetzelbill]

3. I heard Mehlman say that no Republican would ever do a thing...

like attack somebody when they were only being accused of something, etc. John Podesta told him "Well, the Republicans must have slept through the 90's." But, really, a few times Podesta really should have nailed him and he kind of did a little. I wish Dems would just blatantly put these guys in their place.

[Ilsa]

33. Didn't Podesta accuse Mehlman directly of sleeping through

the 1990's? Podesta had a look of incredulity on his face when Mehlman lied about Rethugs being above political witch hunts.

[Wetzelbill]

40. yeah he said that to him

Podesta looked like he bit into a lemon when Mehlman said that, lol.

[madeline_con]

4. What can Rove use to distract us...

like he did when he "discovered" (gasp) that Democrats had bugged his office back in Texas?

(Those horrible partisan meanies used a device that had a six-hour battery, making it necessary to retrieve it and change the batteries 4 times in a 24 hour period! Damn Dems!!)

Something's going to break. Hence, the silence from the WH of late; they're scheming, coming up with "the next big thing" that will rivet our attention and make us forget all about this treasonous shmuck who has the country by the short hairs.

[emulatorloo]

16. Don't forget to note that Rove had actually bugged his own office

for those that don't know. . . .

[madeline_con]

18. I thought for sure we all knew that...

update: People, he's been a crooked piece of s#it since Jesus was a teeneager!

[sam sarrha]

5. are they using their own spin releases as evidence..??

[Wetzelbill]

8. hahaha

it seems like it. "Joe Wilson lied about Dick Cheney flying the plane over to Niger and dropping him off. Frank Luntz's memo even said so. See!" Oh, it must be true then. :)

[TankLV]

41. But they trot out CONVICTED CRIMINAL G. GORDON LIDDY and he's a credible

spokesperson!

[madeline_con]

20. Naturally.

I wonder how many pukey pundits take the ball and run with it, parroting their talking points all week.

[Massachusetts]

6. For what its worth department...

I thought "pumpkin head", made Mehlman look like a fool yesterday. (IMO)

[Wetzelbill]

7. I thought so too

I also thought Russert and Podesta both let Mehlman ramble on too long. The key is you interrupt those guys in the middle of a lie and put 'em down hard. Call a liar a liar. Russert can't do that, he's a good journalist and not a cheap shot artist -we all wish he'd get after Repubs more but the guy is a tough interview - but Podesta or someone in that position sure can. Otherwise if you let them talk, by sheer repetition people start to believe or only remember the BS they say. But, Mehlman didn't look good that's for sure.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

11. Russert is a good journalist? When did that happen? Perhaps you've....

...forgotten his actions during the Clinton Administration, and the way he behaved during the 2000/2002/2004 elections?

[Wetzelbill]

13. Well, good as far as these guys go

which isn't saying much.

[central scrutinizer]

19. video clip of Russert, the journalist in action

<>

[madeline_con]

21. Oh, my...

Just show it to him, Bill, so he'll shut up!!!

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mandomom]

10. The next big distraction is already here.

Saddam's trial, along with the Iranian "threat", will be 24/7.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

14. Why would they want to draw attention to Saddam's "trial"....

...especially since it is beginning to dawn on most people that the U. S. is in Iraq because of the lies generated by the NeoCon Junta?

And why would they say anything about Iran when the conflicts in both Afghanistan and Iraq are not going well from a NeoCon perspective?

There is no hidden undercurrent of support for either topic.

On the other hand, the Plame case and the resulting fallout is generating quite a bit of interest, interest that will build as more revelations become public.

[central scrutinizer]

22. because Saddam is the raison du jour

for being in Iraq - haven't you heard. Saddam was a bad man who gassed his own people and the world is now a safer place that he has been deposed and the Iraqis have ink on their fingers to prove freedom is on the march. Never mind that it was all WMD all the time in early 2003 - that is so yesterday!

[madeline_con]

23. "There is no hidden undercurrent of support for either topic."

The neocon perspective is only so much chest-beating. The weenies fancy themselves would-be "Warriors on Tera", and shout catchy phrases like "Bring it on!"

Truth is, they could be bitch slapped back into line, if we'd just do it. :spank:

[sam sarrha]

25. the Iranian threat is a diversion for invading Syria, Israel decided we

need to take out Syria first.........

[Botany]

12. The spin machine also uses CREATIVE RESPONES CONCEPTS too

Google Creative Response Concepts of Arlington VA ......
they used to have an outside e mail but it is closed now.
Something I did? They did AWOL bush & Dan Rather, Swift Boat Vets,
and Tom Daschle slime job w. the help of Mr. Gannon.

But it will be real hard for them to spin treason, bringing down an
entire CIA front company (which got us intel inside Saudi Arabia),
getting contacts killed (allegedly), and attack a man's wife.

[C_U_L8R]

15. Isn't this Conspiracy ???

If there is coordinated effort that is propogating
FALSE STATEMENT in order to detract or decieve
the people (and the judiciary) away from
COMMITTED CRIMES..... is this not conspiracy???

A conspiracy involving high ranking reich wing officials (including POTUS amd VP)
surrogate companies like Creative Response, Media Companies
such as Faux, Party Reps such Mehlman, Spokespeople such as
Coulter, etc etc....

And the proof... the printed and emailed talking point memos.
A field guide of lies and distortion design to COVER UP CRIMINAL ACTS
commited by the the White House and it's cronies.

Can a case be made???

(ps... i'm an artist not a lawyer... so please forgive any legal naivity here)

[goclark]

26. Kick for an answer ,could this be a conspiracy ?

[Old and In the Way]

27. The Republican Party should be renamed the Republican Syndicate

This is no "political" party we are fighting. It's a highly evolved money machine that is designed to maintain the political status quo through interstate election rigging (RICO, anyone?) and the transfer of our national wealth into the hands of a few.

Take a few steps back and see the actions of this Party over the past 3 decades. Watergate, Guns-for-Hostages, Iran-Contra, BCCI, the Clinton smear campaign, the stolen elections....they are the Party of un-American activities. And they've co-opted our media in the process.

Perhaps we are seeing the 1st opening to deal with it...if so, we need to excise this cancer completely, even if we expose a few Vichy-Democrats who have helped make this possible.

[wli]

28. RICO baby RICO

[goforit]

30. Can anyone tell me what the article means when he says "It did not go

smoothly..."

Was Mehlman nervous...defensive..sweating perfusely???

[goforit]

31. Dupe...(sorry)

[autorank]

32. This is the Republican Dien Bien Phu

That's the battle where the North Vietnamese finished off the French once and for all in Viet Nam. They all came and they lost.

Let them sing in chorus. Let them lie. Let the public see what they've had to endure for five years. Bring it fucking on.

I'm sick of these people. It's time to go head to head and take back the country.

They lie. They distort. They shout and interrupt. They are repellent. Every one will see them wrong at one time.

The link below shows where this is all headed. They will topple, * will go below 40% and the public will then learn that these bastards stole the election.

A comprehensive explanation of fraud--text and key links

[goforit]

34. And the question still remains...will the 'people' do anything about it?

[autorank]

35. Good news for you.

The public is over 50% opposed to the war.

The public is over 50% opposed to Bush Social Security.

The public doesn't trust Bush by over 50% on health and environment.

The public actually voted for Kerry (see link) in 2004.

...ALL this without much of a peep out of the major information sources, the CM (Corporate Media) which campaigns for Bush all the time.

The public is locked and loaded -- they don't rise up because we have a wimp-ass Democratic leadership. That leadership fails to take advantage of the public mood.

The public will rise up because a leader will emerge. Not one of the permanent Mandarins but a real leader. Who? I don't know but the time is ripe and there are enough smart, ambitious people in our party to produce one real leader with the ability to get the message across: Impeach Bush.

A comprehensive explanation of fraud--text and key links

[Supersedeas]

39. no involvement means no technical violation of the statute--simple message

[liveoaktx]

42. Talking points on message vidclip

Talking Points papers

Vid Collection