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Edited on Mon Oct-17-05 03:02 PM by hang a left
RE: preparing for the worst
The conference call on Friday was discouraging and not very clarifying. These are the best ideas we came up with, given how little information we have.
1. Finishing the opposition research on Fitzgerald, Judy Miller, and Matt Cooper is essential. We think it is still an open question how you should put that out, but the RNC seems like the best idea of those suggested. The press is obsessed with divisions at the New York Times and we can use that to obscure things for a bit.
2. Definitely also finish the research on past presidential pardons. Those precedents will be invaluable.
3. The public hates how much money these prosecutors spend, so comb through the Fitzgerald disbursements and see if any of his deputies have been staying at the Ritz, etc.
4. We are going to need some Democrats to decry the politics of personal destruction and the criminalization of politics. Try Breaux, Lieberman, Begala, and Lanny Davis. And Zell Miller.
5. Scott should not be at the podium when this comes down. Give him someone to refer questions to and do a background briefing in the Roosevelt Room with Andy Card or someone else of high stature.
6. We can't figure out how Tate approved of the language Scooter used in that letter to Judy Miller. Make sure there isn't anything else like that out there.
7. Don't get caught flat-footed without surrogates in the Old and New Media and on Capitol Hill. Karl and Scooter have been self-sacrificing and noble public servants who have done so much for America, but their images have taken a beating in the last few months. People need to be reminded of all the good they have done and that they are entitled to a presumption of innocence, even if they are indicted.
8. Be ready to have Ben and other trusted lawyers read any indictments as quickly as possible. A decision will need to be made in real time about whether to denounce the charges and/or the prosecutor in order to dirty up the indictment in the same news cycle, or to accept the seriousness of whatever Fitzgerald does.
9. Have congressional relations ready to call Hagel, McCain, LaHood, Shays, etc. We need everyone on the reservation until we make some decisions if there is an indictment.
10. Bring back Cindy Sheehan -- any way you can, as fast as you can.
11. Until/unless there are actual indictments, the press can be distracted by any news story that is surprising enough -- it doesn't even need to be new. We know your plans now call for the hurricane czar to be nothing but a "coordinator," but maybe Don Evans would take the job after all. Anything to avoid a full week of unremitting chatter about nervousness at the White House.
12. In case of indictments, the President needs a more confident and consistent answer to "WDHKAWDHKI" (as we like to call "what did he know..."). He needs to make one statement that acknowledges he discussed the matter but makes it clear he knew nothing about the gory details. Then stick with it. We can calibrate it at the last minute to see if we want to show distance from Karl. The White House press corps will argue that indictments mean that you can finally discuss the case; you need to point out to them resolutely that the case is ongoing as long as there are pending legal cases.
13. We know Dan will be inclined to go with his tried-and-true, all-purpose emergency ploy and have an East Room news conference every day, but more than three a week will be too obvious.
14. To dilute 1600-bleeding stories, try to get Arlen to have the Miers hearing sooner rather than later, as he now plans.
15. And, perhaps most important: If someone is indicted, they're going to have to go -- it's obvious to everyone inside and outside. So the President could help regain his footing and image of command by saying so in advance. In fact, this is conceding nothing -- it is just a statement of reality. But it would go miles toward making him look like the boss, not a victim or a weasel.
Good luck. Let us know how else we can help.
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