Kennedy allegations: The beginning of a true Watergate Sequel?

[FauxNewsBlues]

What is as fascinating as Ted Kennedy's charges of a secret slush fund made out of the $1.5 billion unaccounted dollars that are being spent every month, is the first response several hours later by a republican official.

"The senator's comments reflect the tired old soft-on-defense attitude of the Democratic Party," the Republican official told CNN, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The response, after several hours of this "hanging in the wind" is fascinating on several levels. First, nobody would go on the record. Secondly, they refused to actually deny his allegation. It is a non-denial, denial. Third, the response was a classic 70's republican insult... "soft on defense", I guess "soft on communism" just wouldn't fit here.

This could be the real deal here people. I am waiting with baited breathe for somebody to go on the record here. Is this the financial issue that Cheney is involved in according to whispers? This might be fun stuff. My question is: Who is deep throat for this one? Time to rewatch "All the President's Men" again?

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Well this can be seen as

I can neither confirm or deny and we all know what
that means....

We have had way too many elements of Watergate like
events...

[homelandpunk]

26. why did K wait for hurricane news to bury this???

K knew this would not get the coverage if DESERVES. He knew this. Why, unless there is fear....like pretending you have finally spoken up to the bully, but really what happened was you were mumbling under your breath while he and his friends are 100 yards away, talking and laughing with each other. Yeah, you really confronted him, allright.
God, it's so cowardly. K used to be called a lion...this was just a purr...a mewww.

[FauxNewsBlues]

30. 16 hours later: NO Denial

Fascinating that still not one republican has gone on the record even anonymously to actually refute the charges. They are still allowing this to hang in the wind, irrefuted. It's 10AM on the east coast now. I just checked CNN/ABC/MSNBC/FOX. All have stories on Kennedy's charges, CNN has the anonymous non denial denial. No update. Why are the Republicans not challenging Teddy? Hmmmmmmmmm

[sistersofmercy]

2. This is definitely worse than watergate!

[Sliverofhope]

3. I hope this is for real

I've been getting so impatient waiting for more shoes to drop. And I know it takes time, but it would be so nice to get the scandal train a driving along. Letsee if we can get Walter Pincus or Paul Krugman to comment on this.

[hang a left]

4. they better come up with something better than that

cuz that dog don't hunt!

[Jacobin]

5. The most important missing element?

A free press which considers itself to be the watchdog of government.

The guy who helped bust watergate wide open, Bob Woodward has taken a job in the Bush Whorehouse and now writes books worshipping LordGodBush.

Faux? ABC? CBS? NBC? PBS?

They're all owned by the junta or scared shitless of losing funding if they don't toe the government line.

When the junta took over the media, this country became toast

[Barad Simith]

8. No one owns...

the Internet. It's too big for any one entity to get its appendages around. And I'm sure there are more like me, who get 95% of their news from the Internet. The major news outlets may have surrendered, but it's not over 'till it's over.

[Jacobin]

11. This is true

However, most voters get their "news" in 5 and 10 minute sound bites from tv.

[PurityOfEssence]

15. I believe that's lordgodkingbush, actually...

Get it right, will you, or the tumbrel may come for you too, d'accord?

[Barad Simith]

6. she's gonna blow

I recently heard someone compare Clinton and Bush this way: While the Clinton administration leaked like a sieve, the Bush administration is a pressure cooker that's going to blow its lid in a spectacular way. Your phrase, "they refused to actually deny his allegation," sent chills down my spine. This could really get interesting.

[calimary]

7. RED ALERT GUYS! See www.congress.org -

and go right to the directory section. You can find the phone numbers locally and in Washington, for EVERYBODY ON THE HILL!

I would do that at the start of business, first thing tomorrow morning. As I am in California, I call the DC numbers first, as early as I dare, out here, and then sometimes double it by calling the local people. START GENERATING SOME HEAT ABOUT THIS!!! We need to let our reps know this is an EXTREMELY LEGITIMATE CONCERN AND NEEDS TO BE FULLY AND THOROUGHLY INVESTIGATED!

Remind them, especially if they're rethugs, that one candidate george w. bush once said "it's your money."

Follow the money. It'll always getcha home...

[jburton]

14. FYI

DC gov't offices are closed Friday (hurricane)

[Beetwasher]

9. Ooh! You may be on to something!

n/t

[Kathy in Cambridge]

10. This is important-can we put together some bullet points

together to hit Senators and Congresspeople over the head once more details become available?

I will call Congress and Senate everyday. Seriously.

[Stephanie]

12. I missed this:

Is this the financial issue that Cheney is involved in according to whispers?

What are they whispering??

[FauxNewsBlues]

13. There were whispers on NPR local about Cheney and money

I thought they were talking about just the Haliburton deferred compensation brewing as a scandal. They still could have been.
This would be a corker though. Where the hell is that $1.5 billion a month going?

[Tansy_Gold]

16. Not Watergate -- Iran/Contra

Shuffling money around for international blackmail is the Poppy Bush MO. He got away with it once, and now with even more power, why wouldn't he think he could get away with it again?

Watergate really and truly was a third-rate burglary that got blown all out of proportion because Nixon was a paranoid nutcase. Other related issues -- the Pentagon Papers, etc. -- contributed to Nixon's downfall too.

But Iran/Contra brought virtually no one down, certainly not Unca Ronny, and Poppy came out clean as a whistle (ass). I think that's the real model.

[Beetwasher]

17. I Think This May be Related to Other Things Going on In the News

Discussed here too:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=363481

This further adds to my suspicion that one of the reasons they admitted no Iraq-9/11 link was that they were forced too. I think the Dems got the goods and they're making a play...

[OrdinaryTa]

22. Third-Rate Burglary

Watergate really and truly was a third-rate burglary that got blown all out of proportion

Nixon's resignation enabled the political class - both Republican and Democratic - to keep the damage to a minimum. In fact we don't know what the Watergate burglars were really after, or if they got it. Nixon's "paranoia" is said to be the reason he covered it up, but it's also possible that he knew exactly what he was doing.

[InkAddict]

27. U R so correct!

<<But Iran/Contra brought virtually no one down, certainly not Unca Ronny, and Poppy came out clean as a whistle (ass). I think that's the real model>>

Deja vu! YIKES! - IMHO, their MO was field-tested where there was no oil. However, for a hoot, there was another commodity that most Americans/Saudis both love and take for granted, it too dark, greasy, and cared for by the oppressed masses. The objective then, a field test, was even somewhat related to other fledgling goals that are now in full force though still either a bit obtuse and/or just plain irrational in chilling concept(PNAC).

From personal experience, escaping what may have been the sticky suction cups on a tentacle of the "baby Octopus" is/was not easy, fun, or profitable.

After all these years, I still have a hard time conceding to naysayers that the nightmare was only conjured up by the old noggin as a way to make sense of merely serendipitous happenings in an old little town of little people that only looked like a sinister plan from high places.

At the back of my mind, I never believed these, IMO, traitors' agenda and covert schemes had been "found out,", closed down, nor abandoned, merely put on hold and/or given a new coat of whitewash by token investigations whizzing right past monies for personal security fences and other more dangerous out-of-network dealings by guys in the shadow of a non-cooperative US government that "got the job done." Of course, the managers of these schemes managed to be spun out as American heros, escape prosecution, go on the lecture circuit, sign on as expert commentators, and head newly-planned and announced surveillance databases that are still happening outside the box, though the criminal expert has resigned the position.

Sorry, I apologize for what may seem like unsupported vagueness, but your post hit a nerve I thought had been anesthetized! That covert operation did bring people down (to the depths of despair)though not those one would expect. I'm dealing with it better, thank you.

[Stephanie]

20. By local NPR do you mean DC?

I haven't heard this at all. But Kennedy's remarks were stunning.

[FauxNewsBlues]

21. Sorry. Was local NPR in Los Angeles

I should have been more clear. Yesterday afternoon they were referring to talk of financial scandal with Cheney.

Has anybody heard yet, any republican on the record or off denying Kennedy's charge?

[FauxNewsBlues]

18. Stephanie's thread is important.

Why they lied, how they lied

If we tie in the missing loot, and the March 2001 Energy meetings that allegedly had Cheney dividing up Iraqi oilfields, 6 months prior to 9-11, we are on to something here.

Is there a worry in the White House about the Supreme Court not playing ball? Is this what Cheney is trying to hide? Not national energy kickbacks, environmental rules being slackened but an Iraq looting plan?

Are they afraid they can't Rosemary Woods the energy discussions vis a vis Iraq? Damn, I am getting paranoid now.

[fizzana]

19. The first thing the Democrats need to do is to hold up the $87

billion until there has been a full accounting of what's been done with the money thus far.

I believe there must be something to it if Kennedy is raising it. This administration is one major scandal away from collapsing.

[Wwagsthedog]

24. This link will help you contact your Congress people

You have probably heard of this before.

http://www.truemajority.org/

I just sent my two cents in. Might as well try.

[Carmerian]

31. I think one effect

of Kennedy's statement is to provide political cover for those Dem congressmen who want to oppose *'s $87b giveaway.

Something electric is in the air - this is getting interesting!

[Bossy Monkey]

23. Remember the Republican response to the Dem debate on Fox:

Just claiming that it had all been hate speech. Obviously, Rove is just going to trot out buzzwords for the next year in response to anything anybody says or does and trust Rupert, Roger, Sun-Myung, Rush and the boys to pass it on. Maybe this time it won't work.

[Cocoa]

25. It sounds like Kennedy knows something

that doesn't sound like something he would guess about.

But I wonder how illegal that would be. Maybe what's happening is legitimate, and Kennedy calling it bribery was just his way of describing it.

[Q]

28. The Republican response makes absolutely no sense...

...given that it's the Constitutional role of congress to keep an accounting of how our money is spent.

- It's telling that the RWingers give the same old 'tired' soft on defense response to serious questions pertaining to how they're doing their job. If indeed this is the 'people's money' as GWB* is fond of saying...then it's our right to know how it's spent.

[Merlin]

29. Here's EMK's email post site. Send him a message of support.

http://www.kennedy.senate.gov/index_low.html


GO TED!

[Octafish]

32. A kick to the pants of the BFEE.

:kick: BFEE