Why is McAuliffe now saying that Rove leaked the CBS documents?

[IndianaGreen]

Is Terry trying to cover all the bases in case the CBS story crumbles?

Amid Skepticism, CBS Sticks to Bush Guard Story
By James Rainey and Elizabeth Jensen, Times Staff Writers

Deflecting questions about whether Democrats had given CBS the documents implicating Bush, McAuliffe suggested it might have been White House political advisor Karl Rove who did so.

He offered no evidence to back that charge and White House spokesman Reed Dickens called the insinuation that Rove was behind the documents "complete nonsense."

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/2004/la-na-guard11sep11,1,6324867.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[krkaufman]

1. Because McAuliffe's a frickin' idiot

McAuliffe as Chairman of the Dem Party was one of the biggest mistakes following Bush's coup. It was a sign, to me, that the Dems had gotten the right message after the election (and 2002 proved it).

I remain baffled as to why he's still in charge.

[Guaranteed]

6. Yup. nt

[IndianaGreen]

7. He is in charge because he is a good fund raiser

but that's all one can say for him.

[GOPAgainstGW]

22. THANK YOU!!-McAuliffe Belongs in Jail Over Global Crossing! Total Scumbag

[grannylib]

2. The WH kept trying to make the point that the documents showed the

Chimp had met his commitment; maybe they have finally gotten so arrogant that they didn't think paperwork would be questioned. We have it, here it is, shut up - it seems to work with everything else. They lie, the press and everyone else but us believes it, move on to the next lie.

[fearnobush]

3. Because Rove has done this before. He bugged his own office to

enable the media to blame the Dem for it. (Bush's Brain)

[troublemaker]

4. Because his job is to be Pragmatic

Political operatives must be loyal but immune to partisan hysterias. It's a paradoxical and difficult job.

He knows (unlike some...) that there is absolutely no political upside whatsoever to pronouncing them real. None. Zero. It's a losing proposition no matter what the underlying facts are. I hope his view of the political aspects of the matter will prove influential.

[unfrigginreal]

8. He doesn't have to pronounce them real

but he also shouldn't cast doubt on them. What's the fucking upside of that?

He should be out there questioning the charges raised by the documents.

[troublemaker]

11. Because the way you handle a story when you do not know

the punchline is to keep your options open. You don't want outside events to be framed in advance, so he's advancing a heads we win, tails you lose option.

I know this has become a DU idealogical litmus test for some reason, but if God came down and gave me the option of "Fake=Bush wins, authentic=Kerry Wins," I wouldn't take it. That doesn't mean I'm sure they are fake. It just mean that I like our chances in the election, so why tie it to the authenticity of some frigging XEROX of something.

Muddying the waters is advisable, not fixing positions. For all I know swing voters are just catching "Bush service record" and "forgeries" and thinking somebody caught Bush faking his service records. That person hears Terry's comments and it is reinforced that it's a Bush scandal. Elections are sometimes decided by some pretty vague shit.

He is also reinforcing that he DOES NOT KNOW. Since he wants maximum distance between the memos and the DNC it's best that he has no real thinking on the topic. "Why are you asking me? Ask CBS, it's their story. Maybe Karl Rove gave them to CBS... how would I know?"

[yardwork]

5. I think McAuliffe is giving Rove some of his own back

The Democrats are learning to sling mud back the way it came. Doesn't bother me at all.

[seabeyond]

9. lol lol he probably reads du and got into that one thread

rove did it

[Mojambo]

10. Every time Rove's name comes up

in any way,

It's a win for us.

[formernaderite]

14. Bull...I guess it would be a huge surprise to you how many....

...people have NO idea, who rove is. Don't judge on what "we" as political junkies are familiar with. I don't know whether Terry was right to deflect or not. Let's just say, it made me assume the memos were forgeries. Now I'm not so sure, and think maybe Terry should have kept it shut a bit longer.

[Mojambo]

21. That's just the point.

They don't KNOW who Rove is.

By dragging this political cockroach out into the light, they get to see just how ugly and vile he is.

That is GOOD for our side.

[SoCalDemocrat]

12. our side is dumb sometimes

We should take every minute of airtime to push our issues or push the content of those reports into the spotlight. Why is our side so dumb at times?

[rocktivity]

13. Well he DID say "might"

He shouldn't have anything, but he did say "might." More to the point, where's the evidence that the Democrats did it? Why was the question asked in the first place?

:headbang:
rocknation

P.S. Also, consider the source.

[King Coal]

15. Because right wing bloggers had the forgery details out before

60 minutes was over. The immediately knew about the th, the porportional thing, the font, etc. The fact that the word was out all the cables and bloggers so quickly is highly suspicious.

[DaveofCali]

18. Who doesn't think that the Right Wing has spies in CBS?

Heck, the Right Wing takes this political campaign as a War!!! In war, intelligence is key!

[mccormack98]

19. DING! DING! DING! We have a winner!

Finally, someone with the correct answer. Someone posted the forgery claim a minute before the end of the 60 minutes broadcast. Given that 60 Minutes had given a copy of the documents to the White House beforehand, you guess the rest ...

[Cocoa]

24. yep

that fact screams "caution!"

[unfrigginreal]

27. What is so surprising about that?

CBS gave the memo's to the White House. You don't think that Rove would try to muddy up the charges by getting his minions to push a bullshit story? Of course he would. The smartest move he could make would be to cast doubt and hope that we would back off. He got his wish.

[DaveofCali]

16. You can't fight the Right Wing if you aren't prepared for the......

You can't fight the Right Wing if you aren't going to be prepared for the propaganda machine onslaught! You have to work as fast or faster than them! Otherwise they will destroy you before your message gets out into the mainstream!

The Democrats should not pretend like they have the courage to fight the Right Wing, they have to FULLY show that courage 100% in manning all battlestations to fight against the Right Wing Propaganda machine!

[gardenista]

17. MCauliffe should be fired. nt

[spooky3]

20. "He offered no evidence to back that charge."

In the future, I hope the LA Times and others remember to include that phrase in the first few paragraphs of articles dealing with RW allegations. Oh wait, you have to *demand* evidence first before you can say that, and we don't do that with RWers...my mistake.

[shlomi]

23. remember debate mole in 2000?

I don't know if was smart for McAuliffe to bring up the Rove question, but, if the documents turn out to be forged, the Rove hypothesis is certainly plausible, and there's something to be said for turning it into an issue for discussion in the mainstream media.

Remember how in 2000 a "mole" in the Bush camp sent the Gore campaign a copy of a Bush debate prep tape?

http://www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/10/01/gore.fbi.tape/

At that time, a contaminated political weapon was sent to the Democrats probably in an attempt to bait them into using it, in hopes of the weapon backfiring on them if they did. It's possible that something similar is happening now - dropping a piece of seemingly anti-Bush information bound to backfire if it gets any traction. Who could be behind these two developments in two Bush campaigns? Perhaps the Bush operative who, in a prior campaign, claimed his office had been bugged in an attempt to smear a political opponent?

[Pepperbelly]

25. Calm the hell down, guys! Geez ...

He was giving Rove a 3-Stooges eye poke. Good grief.

[dennis4868]

26. Is McCauliffe at least saying.....

that regardlesof the memos being forged or not there is still plenty of evidence that is undisputed that shows Bush went AWOL and lied to the government?