Ridge Lied About Political Activity During Election

[ckramer]

Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge met privately with Republican pollsters twice in a 10-day span last spring as he embarked on more than a dozen trips to presidential battleground states.

Ridge's get-togethers with Republican strategists Frank Luntz and Bill McInturff during a period the secretary was saying his agency was playing no role in Bush's re-election campaign were revealed in daily appointment calendars obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act.

"We don't do politics in the Department of Homeland Security," Ridge told reporters during the election season.

His aides resisted releasing the calendars for over a year, finally providing them to the AP three days after Ridge left office this month.

chb

[ramapo]

1. I'm shocked

I can't imagine Republicans doing such a thing and thinking that they could get away with it.

[wellst0nev0ter]

2. I Think Ted Hitler - I Mean Stephen Colbert Said Yesterday

"you wouldn't BELIEVE what these guys are getting away with!"

[applegrove]

6. Steven scared the pants off of Jon. Steven obviously replaced

some phony name with Ted "Hitler". That was so funny. Even Jon was in shock!

[cosmicdot]

12. thought that was a powerful 'commentary' by "Ted"

" 'Fact' Obsessed Bloggers " is up at comedycentral.com

http://www.comedycentral.com/mp/play.jhtml?reposid=/multimedia/tds/colb/colbert_10022.html

or link to video from

http://www.comedycentral.com/tv_shows/thedailyshowwithjonstewart/


... Ted, you're sort of Old Media ... (bwahahahaha)

... I'm out there busting my hump everyday at the White House ... transcribing their press releases ... repeating their talking points ... that's how you earn your nickname from Pres. Bush ...

... access ... status ... money ... power ... breed complacency ...

(some good stuff)

[ohioliberal]

3. Yeah, right

They don't do politics in the Dept. of Homeland Security.

[fooj]

4. So...how many fuck-ups does this make?

They are all a bunch of lying bastards! I'm tired of this-when will it stop? OMG...EVERYTHING they do has NO consequence!

[Beaverhausen]

5. Yahoo also has this story- rate it up!

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050217/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/ridge_gop_pollsters_2

Ridge, Pollsters Met During Bush Campaign

Thu Feb 17, 8:37 AM ET White House - AP Cabinet & State


By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge met privately with Republican pollsters twice in a 10-day span last spring as he embarked on more than a dozen trips to presidential battleground states.


Ridge's get-togethers with Republican strategists Frank Luntz and Bill McInturff during a period the secretary was saying his agency was playing no role in Bush's re-election campaign were revealed in daily appointment calendars obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act.

"We don't do politics in the Department of Homeland Security," Ridge told reporters during the election season.


His aides resisted releasing the calendars for over a year, finally providing them to the AP three days after Ridge left office this month.

more...

[cosmicdot]

11. done

Mission Accomplished ~ No Accountability = free as a bird

[driver8]

16. Yep -- business as usual. "Go ahead, guys...do whatever you want."

It doesn't matter because they will never be called on it. The thing is, they know it. Why shouldn't they try to get away with as much as they can?

I am waiting for their judgement day...how sweet that will be.

[Generator]

7. Security alerts-all Propaganda?

Wake up America, you've been had.

Frank Lutz is propaganda central.

His "1 Talking point:

Connect everything to 9/11.

Someday the history books will vindicate this nightmare of lies and disinformation we are living in. Stone cold comfort: at least some of us weren't that dumb.

[modrepub]

8. Scuttle

Yet another scuttle of a moderate Republican.

List: Whitman, Powell, Ridge

All of them got what they deserved; lie down with a dog and get fleas.

[pinerow]

9. Ridge Moderate...???? Where is the documentation

for that statement???

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

10. He is pro-choice and opposed some missile defense systems..

He was talked about as a potential VP candidate in 2000 but the right-wing zealots/neocons refused to let him on the ticket.

[yellowcanine]

13. Maybe thay are just friends - shooting the breeze and talking baseball

[Roland99]

14. "Politics is about two things," says McInturff.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/security/stories/dionne081498.htm

McInturff is a leading Republican advocate for what he describes as the "reduce the juice" strategy for November. The idea is to take the power out of Democratic issues rather than confront them. With many incumbents, ample money and the drag of the president's Monica Lewinsky distraction on the Democrats' ability to project themes, Republicans should do just fine in holding Congress and most statehouses, if they avoid picking too many fights.

"Politics is about two things," says McInturff. "Mobilizing your voters and not mobilizing the other side. They're both valid goals." The key to winning an election "is not just what you do for your own folks, it's also what you take off the table to deny the other side the capacity to develop their message."

Democrats, McInturff goes on, "want to paint us as the pro-tobacco, pro-HMO, anti-minimum wage and anti-Social Security party." That being the case, he says, Republicans need to pass an HMO bill of rights and a "limited tobacco and drug bill" and "not engage in a substantive debate on the future of Social Security."

This last piece of advice will go down badly with ardent Republican advocates of partially privatizing Social Security. They want to build popular support for their ideas. McInturff counters that there isn't enough time for that between now and Election Day. "Who, in 60 days, with an electorate that will be 30 percent over the age of 65, wants to engage Democrats on the topic of Social Security?"

[LinuxInsurgent]

15. Oh YES YOU DO!

"We don't do politics in the Department of Homeland Security," Ridge told reporters during the election season.

OH YES YOU DO....LIAR!

[saltpoint]

17. Is it just me, or does Tom Ridge remind anyone else of --

-- the Frisch's Big Boy?

In some states there are Big Boy restaurants and the "Big Boy" icon is usually a medium-to-large statue of the Big Boy himself, holding a big Boy platter of double-stacked burger fries, often going around and around in the front of the restaurant.