It's Saturday Night, time for my take on the Kerry "Bimbo Eruption"

[Walt Starr]

Please take this for what it is, an analysis of what I've seen all week.

This "bimbo eruption" has worked in Kerry's favor. Here are the facts as I see 'em:

1) There is no evidence, only allegations.
2) There was originally a non-denial denial that was later followed up by a firm denial. We can only assume the non-denial denial was natural politician instinct at work.
3) There are no pictures of the "bimbo" in question in the "eruption", ergo, television as the primary medium for conveyance of the story has no story. With a picture, it would have had more play, but there are no pictures.
4) The parents of the woman denied it firmly.
5) It is getting only en passe mention on the talking head shows.
6) And finally, the entire thing was an attempt by Rove to throw something at the wall to see if it would stick. It slid right off. This actually makes Kerry stronger.

This thing ended up being win-win for Kerry, he's more electable now at a time when Bush is going into the tank. Whatever you feel about Kerry, he's won this one an will be a stronger candidate for it.

[MurikanDemocrat]

1. And those who desperately want Kerry to fail jumped on it like

flies on shit.

[lucidmadman]

8. Who, possibly, could you mean by that?....

The guy suffering from the 'skiing flashbacks' from Viet Nam?

[janx]

12. that's unecessary. It's an insulting reference to Dean,

but Dean in fact refused to talk about it. He wouldn't touch it.

[lucidmadman]

33. OK. Fair enough...

...but 'we' wouldn't get to talk about AWOL with him in the driver's seat. Do you 'get' that? Fine man. I appreciate him stirring up people, but will they turn out to vote? Evidently not so far.

[MurikanDemocrat]

18. I mean those who gleefully latched on to a known right wing shit source

from a known liar in the hopes it would revive their candidate's failing campaign.

[Duder]

21. Ah, but there's the rub...

The story didn't originate on Drudge but was reported about a week earlier on watchblog:

Rumor: A Kerry Affair & Push Polling
February 06, 2004

Rumor has it that John Kerry (D) is going to be outed by Time Magazine next week for having an affair with a 20 year old woman who remains unknown. The affair supposedly took place intermittently right up to Kerry's Fall 2002 announcement of candidacy. At present, this is nothing more than a rumor; and after such sordid tactics as the "push polling" that took place in South Carolina in the 2000 elections, can such rumors be credible during campaign cycles? Could this create a Democratic backlash against Republicans for perceived scandalmongering?

http://www.watchblog.com/thirdparty/archives/000780.html

[MurikanDemocrat]

26. But it didn't catch fire till it became a right wing shit story.

And Time never did a piece on it.

[Duder]

27. Yup, Drudge gave it legs

To clear up my own source of information on the Kerry affair, I was told that Time magazine was going to be running a piece about Kerry having an affair with a 20-year-old up to the time he announced his candidacy. This was an insider on Capitol Hill who noted that this was not something that was news to the higher Democrat eschelons (which I found the most appalling).

http://www.watchblog.com/thirdparty/archives/000809.html#more

[girl gone mad]

2. When did..

the parents deny it? I haven't been paying much attention.

If there's nothing to this story, it will make the Republicans look worse than they already do.

[Walt Starr]

3. They said it yesterday I believe

I heard the quote. They did deny the story.

This is only the beginning, fortunately, they've started on a negative note. They can only go downhill from here.

[ithacan]

4. you forgot the timing: AWOL

it happened just as the AWOL story is heating up, guys saying Bush wasn't there, Scott spinning pathetically...

[Walt Starr]

5. I think that's the only reason there even WAS a "bimbo eruption"

Rove was trying to distract the press from the AWOL story onto a negative about the Democratic front runner.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

13. What I heard is it was "payback" for the AWOL story - but it fell flat

It might have been just intended as a "shot across the bow."

[WiseMen]

6. Hate This But: Woman Denied, Parent Denied, Kerry Denied. Must be true?

NOT!!!

Even Fox had to acknowledge that the "story" seems to have been
a concoction from 2 or 3 suspicions over a 10 year period (note that
woman was variously 24 , 37 and 27 years old.

They report the suspected object of the story has flatly denied it.

The main "story" to chase is who, when, why came up with the
concoction.

[Walt Starr]

7. There is a real story in all of this

How can Drudge have so much ability to get absolute trash out there?

That's the real story.

[HalfManHalfBiscuit]

11. Good point

I think his ability to spew trash will be severely damaged by this Kerry attack BS.

[looking glass]

9. Inside job

Disagree on #6.

Everything points to Chris Lehane. He started the cycle, though I have no idea why he did it.

And Clark did nobody a favor. I'm willing to chalk it up to lack of media savvy, but the fact remains that at least one high-level AP stringer heard him say "Kerry", "intern", and "implode" in the same sentence.

There is definitely an internal struggle going on. I do not pretend to know all the details, but it is more interesting than the primaries themselves.

I think that this story is over, but the in-fighting over McAuliffe's position has only begun.

[WiseMen]

14. Drudge Not Doing this for nothing. Big Bucks involved, not from Lehane

[kerry-is-my-prez]

15. This was a "Rove" operation not a Lehane thing.

n/t

[looking glass]

19. Clark got sucked in

I'd like to believe that he was more likely to be misled by an insider, instead of a Rovian political stunt.

Clark's comments made this non-story live. He's the oxygen that made it spark.

If it wasn't true, why did he not just say, "I NEVER said anything about Kerry and an intern in front of reporters, off the record, or otherwise. Ever."

He's a plain-spoken guy. Either he screwed up, and gave this legs, or it was a lie. Either way, he could knock the last lingering bit of this story out of the park with one call to the NYT. Why doesn't he?

This is a separate issue from his endorsement.

[maryallen]

29. Previous remarks no better than Drudge's ...

First of all, you come strolling in here and claim definitively that "Clark did it." What? What are your sources and why are they any better than Drudge's? They're not.

Secondly, Clark DID DENY making any such remarks to reporters.

Third, Drudge first reported that Clark talked "off-the-record" to THREE reporters; the next day, he reported that Clark talked to a DOZEN reporters. I don't think so. A four-star-general is not going to go loose-lipped with 12 reporters he doesn't know.

Go tell your "story" to somewhere else.

[looking glass]

35. My source is Thomas Oliphant

Today's Boston Globe confirm's Clark's "off-the-record" mistake.

Today's Sunday Times confirms that the rumor initially came from Cameron Barnett, who was hired by Clark's campaign to set up his blog.

This does mean that I was wrong about Lehane, BTW.

But it confirms this was not an outside attack.

[formernaderite]

23. Lehane's specialty is opposition research...

The reporter from roll call was quoted on a news station stating Lehane had shopped the story for a few months. Pat Caddel, former democratic strategist stated Lisa Meyers told him that LeHane was the source for the infamous Dean dissing Iowa Canadian broadcast tape. Though Kerry must have pissed Lehane off pretty bad, for him to stoop so low.

[janx]

32. Everybody's trying to disown this story and blame the leak

on someone else. I've read so many stories about who actually leaked it...But I'm with you in that Lehane is one very obvious suspect. He seems to have regard for no one, ultimately, but himself.

[Adelante]

24. The Congressional Quarterly reporter

said specifically it was not Lehane when he gave his retraction and that it was coming from rival Democratic campaigns. Not Clark's. Not Kerry's. Not Kucinich's (I refuse to bring him into this). So who's left? It's Dean or it's Edwards campaign operatives who put this out.

And welcome to DU :hi:

[shivaji]

10. Drudge has photo of the supposed Kerry girl

Click on the right side where it says...she was attractive..etc

[lancdem]

16. I like your take, Walt

:hi:

[KoKo]

17. The father of the AP Reporter involved called Kerry a "sleaze ball!" What

why are you leaving this out??? :shrug:

[MurikanDemocrat]

20. So what? Is someone calling a candidate a sleaze ball worth

national coverage?

[Dimsdale]

22. If Kerry's a sleaze..

what does that make the Smirking D-bag in the White House? I'm running out of superlatives. Don't know what you'd call somebody orders of magnitude below a sleaze.

[WiseMen]

25. And How would he know. All he has is a false rumor he does not believe.

Guess it really sleazy to invite a beautiful woman to work on your
campaign.

In that case Dean has a huge problem -- endless beautiful women are
rumored to have worked on his campaign.

Please let's stop this. It monstrously insulting.

[WilliamPitt]

28. Kerry should drop out, then.

:eyes:

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[Adjoran]

30. I think it is premature to say "Kerry won this one"

because of the way the press works. Dozens of outlets have assigned reporters to this, and they are desperate to make something of it.

They won't take a written denial with no further comment approach. They will want to question the woman themselves - not necessarily at a public press conference, but at least off the record, before they are satisfied.

The type of questions will be:
How long have you known Kerry?
How did you meet him?
How many times have you met with him? Ever privately?
Why did your father call him a sleazeball? Does he hate Democrats, all politicians, or did he have some other reason?

Etc. They want to get enough details - names, dates, places - so they can check out the story. Until they do, they will keep circling like vultures around this young woman.

It's not nice, polite, or appropriate, but it is the reality of the situation.

[janx]

31. Yeah, it's still out there.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/02/15/wus15.xml

Tabloid fodder.

[On the Road]

34. How Can You Say It Hasn't Hurt Kerry?

The news cycle isn't even complete. Most voters have not even heard the story.

There are alleged specifics. There are photos. There might be more. Or it might fade quietly. We don't know yet.

The question is not whether it's true. Or even whether there's enough evidence to prove it. It depends on whether a consensus develops that it's true, and how that perception affects voters' views of Kerry.

There were two Jennifers in the 1992 campaign. One almost killed a candidacy; the other was barely mentioned. Alex could be either.

[Timefortruth]

36. Did Time report anything?

Or was that part of the Drudge story made-up also?

I have avoided all threads and "news" about this and since it is dying down I'm trying to catch up.

The thought that there might be a real scandal was more then I could bear when all of this came up so I just avoided it. Now I want the good news.

[kstewart33]

37. As long as the woman refuses to comment...

The story will remain a rumor. I read that she's getting married. Good for her.

[Leilani]

38. I disagree with several things

First, there is a picture of the girl; I've seen it in several places.
Next, I heard the parents said rotten things about Kerry. Next, Craig Crawford was the person who originally named Clark & Lehane, which was leaked to Drudge. Crawford withdrew the accusation, but it was too late.

Therefore, this was a double hit, on Kerry & Clark.

I don't believe the story, & I think it was a right wing attack, because the AWOL story had become too hot & they wanted to change the subject.