Dean Campaign Responds to Washington Tag Team

[artr2]

From Tricia Enright, Communications Director for Governor Dean:

"Today's New York Times story, '2 Dean Rivals Unite Against Mutual Threat', uncovers the desperate tactics of the Gephardt-Kerry Washington tag team. It's no secret that campaigns talk to each other, but these coordinated attacks from Washington insiders cross the line. While their attitude is 'the more the merrier' when it comes to trying to tear down Howard Dean and his grassroots campaign, we understand that the American people are tired of this kind of politics. If these guys hope to beat George Bush, they're going to have to stand for something and not just against Governor Dean.

"We certainly expect the Gephardt-Kerry Washington tag team to attempt to justify themselves. Hopefully they'll get together and tell the American people something about what they stand for and not just who they're against."


AND

It Takes Two, Baby

The New York Times reports today that two of the other campaigns have decided that neither one alone has what it takes to defeat Howard Dean:

2 Dean Rivals Unite Against Mutual Threat
By David M. Halbfinger

MANCHESTER, N.H., Oct. 11 — Perhaps it was not so surprising to see Representative Richard A. Gephardt and Senator John Kerry arm in arm, all smiles, whispering in one another's ears on stage at the Democratic debate Thursday night in Phoenix.

These two presidential contenders, who for months have been eclipsed by the surging campaign of Howard Dean, have been fairly chummy of late — at Dr. Dean's expense.

At a debate two weeks ago in New York, for example, when Mr. Gephardt questioned Dr. Dean's support for Medicare, it was Mr. Kerry who came to Mr. Gephardt's side, saying his tactic was fair.

Aides to both men say there is no overt conspiracy, but they acknowledge that at least at a staff level, the Gephardt and Kerry campaigns are more than friendly: they are sharing information about Dr. Dean that helps fuel each another's attacks.

Joe Trippi responds in the same piece:
"It's the Beltway boys hanging out together," said Joe Trippi, Dr. Dean's campaign manager. "This is the kind of inside Washington politics that people are sick of." <...>

Mr. Trippi, of the Dean campaign, said there was "no way that we'd work with another campaign," though he added that with a large staff, "you can never say you never did." As for the Gephardt and Kerry attacks, he said: "They have a mutual interest right now in trying to tear us down, but that's all it's about, it's not about us. And it's the tearing down that I think people are really sick of. People want to hear a real debate, not a hammer job."

This campaign is about bringing people back into the political process and standing up for the Democratic values that the Washington establishment has lost sight of. That is why I am proud to support Howard Dean!

[Bread and Circus]

1. What about this?

Another danger is that the informal information swapping can be made to look sinister, or at least unsportsmanlike.

"It's the Beltway boys hanging out together," said Joe Trippi, Dr. Dean's campaign manager. "This is the kind of inside Washington politics that people are sick of."

But Steve Murphy, the Gephardt campaign manager, said Mr. Trippi was being "totally hypocritical," adding: "Two weeks ago he ran into me and some of my staffers at Dulles airport and suggested that instead of attacking Howard Dean on Medicare, we should help him and Howard Dean attack Wesley Clark. This was a lengthy conversation."
____________________________________

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/12/politics/campaigns/12CAMP.html?hp

____________________________________


This all seems very creepy to me.

[Kahuna]

2. You beat me to it Familydoctor. There is another thread on ..

this topic with outraged Deaniacs. I take it they didn't read the entire article before they expressed their outrage. I'd like to hear from those outraged Deaniacs now.

[JI7]

6. well, i'm sure some will show why that was ok

but wrong while kerry did it.

[JaneQPublic]

9. How lucky for Gephardt

That his manager just happened to run into Dean's manager 2 weeks ago, so he'd have this great "they do it too!" story.

It's especially lucky that Gep's manager had some of his staffers with him to "corroborate" the story, but Dean's manager was apparently all by himself.

What was luckiest of all is that the reporter of this NYT story never bothered contact Dean's manager to get his side of the story -- or to say it never happened at all.

You'd think if this little Dulles encounter really did happen, the Dean people would have declined to make an issue of the Kerry-Gep Tag Team effort, knowing full well Gephardt's people would be throwing this supposed Dulles encounter back in their faces.

How lucky for Gephardt.

[quaker bill]

3. Do they know how desperate they look? (Kerry and Gep)

Desperation is never a good sign during a campaign. These boys voted for Iraq and still haven't come up with good cover for it. They never will because we know now that their vote was for political expediency and not on principle. At least Lieberman believes in what he voted for. Lieberman is consistent, simply wrong. Kerry and Gep disemble and it works no better for them than it does for Bush*

Dean has the winning hand for this move and he seems like just the type to play it.

It appears more and more like Clark is the only one with the cards to challenge Dean. Clark needs to step up soon and seem like he is getting his political legs. He started slow, but he finished the last debate strong. I loved it when he told the serving members of congress that "we can't wait until 2005 to do something about Bush*, you folks have the jobs, do someting now!"

Give Clark a couple more weeks of getting pecked at and he may start letting a few more zingers fly. He can think on his feet and once he warms to the fight could handle himself quite well.

We will soon see.

[KaraokeKarlton]

4. It's really sad that Gephardt and Kerry have to tell lies to criticize

Dean. At least when Dean made criticism of then it was the truth. And if I were Gephardt and Kerry I'd be a lot more concerned about the things Dean could criticize them over and hasn't been. Arnold won because Democrats yet again tried to make the campaign about things that have nothing to do with politics or the current set of problems. Had Gray Davis chose to go around and tell people about the part Bush played in the mess in California instead of Arnold's gang bangs he probably would have won. Kerry and Gephardt are using up all their energy trying to hurt Dean that they have none left to actually help themselves. Let them keep it up, because then they are sure to lose.

[Gin]

5. Neither one of them will get my vote.

gin

[Julien Sorel]

7. Dean lied to criticize Clark.

At least when Dean made criticism of then it was the truth.

[KaraokeKarlton]

11. I like Clark

However, I have to tell you that seeing clips of him doing a fundraising speech for Republicans left me with the same impression it obviously left Dean with. Clearly, Clark has to own that and do his best to explain it. I would bet that Dean wasn't aware of this, because he had some very good things to say about Clark previously. To be perfectly honest with you, I suspect that Dean is really disappointed about those comments and that speech, otherwise he would not have mentioned it at all. Frankly, if Dean was going to say what he did, I would have preferred he said that Clark wasn't a registered Democrat 25 days ago. That would have been a better choice of words. At the same time, questioning Clark's loyalty is perfectly acceptable when you consider that speech and fundraiser. It's a valid concern that does need to be addressed. Does that mean I think Clark is a bad guy? Absolutely not. But it does mean that I think he has some "splainin" to do.

[JI7]

8. clark being republican 25 days ago was true ?

when dean said clark was a republican until 25 days ago it was the truth ?

[quinnox]

10. Trippi's just sore that Gephardt's campaign didn't go along

with his deal. Sorry, Joe, but when you go after two heavyweights like Kerry and Gephardt it's bound to rebound on you something fierce. Too late now to rectify your mistake.

[KaraokeKarlton]

12. "Heavyweights"?

That's what you call ex-frontrunners in Iowa and NH who are lagging behind someone who is supposedly "unelectable"?

Mmmmmkay...

[IndianaGreen]

13. Yep, Gephardt is quite a heavyweight, so much so that....

there is no other way to properly weight this appearance of his alongside Bush in the Rose Garden in the ceremony in which Congress annointed Bush on his war in Iraq:

President, House Leadership Agree on Iraq Resolution


President George W. Bush along with bipartisan leaders from the House and Senate announced the Joint Resolution to authorize the use of the United States Armed Forces against Iraq. "The statement of support from the Congress will show to friend and enemy alike the resolve of the United States," President Bush said during the announcement in the Rose Garden, Wednesday, October 2, 2002. White House photo by Paul Morse.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/10/20021002-7.html

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/10/images/20021002-7_d-iraq10022002-th-1-515h.html