Did the Dems "punk out" Drudge on the Kerry story?

[NNN0LHI]

You never know? But if they did it was very good strategy. Guess Drudge can go back to searching for Clinton's illegitimate child again.

Don

[Jack_Dawson]

1. Has ANY "Legit" outlet picked up the story?

[Cush]

2. nope

[progressivebydesign]

4. The point of Drudge's piece was the the media was investigating now. N/T

[NewYorkerfromMass]

7. they are looking for something

that isn't there.

[seventhson]

6. the fonda images took a day. This will take less, I guess to make Aaron

Brown

[YNGW]

9. It took the press four or five days after Drudge broke....

.... the Clinton/Lewinsky thing before they picked up on it.

Drudge has been burned before. Given that, I would have to believe he's got something. No one goes to press with this and purposely wants egg on their face.

Wait and see.

[lancdem]

12. I thought the press picked the Lewinsky story up immediately

I could be wrong.

[Uzybone]

25. You are correct

the other poster is wrong. I swear I havent seen as mich disinformation on this site ever. The Lewinsky story was broken by Isikoff of Time, Drudge had it the next day and the media was asking about it that same day.

[progressivebydesign]

3. I'm sorry what does "punk out" mean?

I only know that the story is running rampant all over the internet right now.. and around water coolers at offices everywhere. Why hasn't Kerry made any kind of denial today, while there's still time to stop this? The internet spreads things exponentially.

[NNN0LHI]

8. "Punk out" means suckered into a BS story to make Drudge look...

...like the idiot he is. Hey, its election year.

Don

[bobthedrummer]

14. I hope they did.

eom

[lancdem]

5. You mean they gave him a false story knowing he'd run with it,

making him look like an idiot? The thought did occur to me.

[Robbien]

10. The freepers are talking about this non-stop

and are sending slews of freepers over here trying to keep the story alive over here. Their posts are full of "we dems are screwed! Dump Kerry! Vote Dean/Edwards".

I wonder if this story is a distraction also meant for them because of the Amnesty/outsourcing of jobs issues. Bush's financial adviser is promoting outsourcing and the GOP minions are getting upset enough to start complaining.

[Sagan]

11. that's starting to become my working hypothesis

I mean, if you draw Drudge out and smack him this early, anytime he rears his stupid hat down the road, you can just say "Oh, it's just Drudge reporting it.. remember when he tried that Kerry sex stuff? Gimme a break."..

[LostInTheMaise]

13. Broken clock maybe?

Was drudge right about Clinton and his intern?

[NNN0LHI]

16. He reported on Clinton's illegitimate child about 6 years ago too

I am still waiting for that story. Even one of the major DC papers ran with that BS.

Don

[Spider Jerusalem]

19. The Washington Times...

hardly counts as a "major" paper...major propaganda organ of the right wing, yes.

[EX-CONservative]

15. Alternative view...

It's better for any crap to come out now than to come out a few days before the election...

I have heard that there is A LOT of stuff being collected by the Shrub's little Merkins on Kerry.

I also heard from a DC source that the Merkins can't find anything on Edwards.

I like Kerry a lot. However, there is a lot of stuff the Merkins are sitting on for a massive shitstorm in October.

Just a heads up.

-- Ex-Conservative

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

17. Right Wing Echo Chamber Technique

Step 1: Drudge publishes anonymous rumor. He can do this since he is not a real "news" outlet with any kind of standards, but just a rumor clearinghouse.

Step 2: Right Wing Talk Radio all talk about the rumor (Rush, Hannity, and all of the various flying monkeys on the various Clear Channel AM stations).

Step 3: Just the fact that the RW news outlets are talking about it causes "mainstream" outlets to start talking about it.

Step 4: Just because of all the negative publicity, even if the rumor is debunked, the target suffers a negative hit by association.

Drudge is right sometimes (Lewinsky, Rush pill popping) but also wrong a significant amount of the time because of the lack of investigation and source checking. This bogus technique of rumor mongering is very destructive though, and the "Echo Chamber" technique should be called attention to. I'm guessing Rove's hand in putting this new rumor out, tired of being on the defensive all week, an entirely new posture for shrub and not a good one.

[snippy]

21. Newt Gingrich has explained how he has used those tactics before.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

18. I've been hearing that this was "payback" to the Dems for the awol story

It could have been a "shot across the bow" or they may have been hpoing that it would get more traction than it did.

[Snivi Yllom]

20. Drudge was just whoring himself on Sean Hannity's radio show

He said there is video of an interview with the supposed intern.

for what it's worth.....

[59millionmorons]

23. So let me get this straight

So somebody who had a relationship with Kerry was on her way back to her country and a reporter just happens to be there and starts recording. And that reporter has been sitting on that video for 5 or 6 years. Makes sense to me. Hell Drudge is not even claiming he has a story. He is claiming someone else does.

[Qutzupalotl]

22. I wouldn't think it was a good strategy.

A candidate gets elected because of good will and good reputation. Rumors like this sully that. Besides, Drudge has been wrong so many times before...like the Blumenthal "wife beating" crap...why would they shoot themselves in the foot just to do what he's already done? It doesn't make sense.

Drudge full of crap, now THAT I can believe.

[NNN0LHI]

24. Do you think it would be better to wait until September and let stuff...

...like this come out knowing the Rethugs would push a story like this even though it is not true? This is the best way to put an end to these kinds of attacks. Give them a BS story and see who runs with it. Even Fox news was smart enough not to take the bait. What does that tell you?

Don

[Qutzupalotl]

27. They might be waiting until Kerry's the nominee.

Then we can't run to Edwards or Dean. If they run with it now, we might choose a different candidate.

[NNN0LHI]

26. This is starting to look more and more like it was the case n/t