Clark supporters helped push the "Kerry intern" story

[Paragon]

"The Education of Alexandra Polier"
http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/politics/national/features/9221/index4.html

...Writing about Clinton recently in Vanity Fair, Robert Sam Anson added to my suspicion by suggesting that “Clinton types” in the Clark campaign had been vigorously pushing similar rumors.

I called Lehane himself, who, having backed the wrong team, is now running his own political PR firm in San Francisco. I asked him where he’d first heard the rumors about Kerry and me. He blamed political reporters. I asked him if he had used the rumors to try to help Clark. He denied it. “There are just so many media outlets out there now, Alex, that these kind of baseless rumors can easily get turned into stories,” he said smoothly, and then the phone went dead.

I called him right back, but he didn’t answer. I called again less than an hour later, and this time his outgoing message had been changed to, “Hi, you’ve reached Chris. I’m traveling and won’t be able to retrieve my voice mail.” I wondered how he was able to run a PR company without retrieving voice mail.

Our conversation was unsettling, but it was hardly conclusive. I tried to understand the chronology of events, and then discovered that Drudge’s “exclusive” wasn’t even an exclusive. On February 6, six days before Drudge, an obscure political Website called Watchblog.com ran a commentary by someone calling himself Son of Liberty. “Rumor has it that John Kerry is going to be outed by Time magazine next week for having an affair with a 20-year-old woman who remains unknown,” Son had confidently predicted.

Watchblog was the creation of Cameron Barrett, who—as it happened—went on to work for the Clark campaign. I enlisted some reporting help from Robert Kolker, a more seasoned political journalist who works for this magazine. He reached Barrett by instant message.

Without even being asked, Barrett declared that Son’s story had nothing to do with himself, Lehane, or Clark. A day later, Son himself e-mailed, saying that he was willing to be unmasked as Stephen VanDyke, a 25-year-old computer programmer in Atlanta. Claiming to be inspired by James Thomson Callender, the original American muckraker who chronicled the scandals of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, VanDyke says now that he was merely trying to make a name for himself by posting the rumor. “What I tried to break,” he explains, “was that the rumor did exist. I didn’t know whether it was true or not.

I know now it’s not.

“It looks as though someone may have been just passing out disinformation,” he continued. “And I may have become part of that cycle.” Kolker asked him if he knew why I had been named. “She may have just been convenient,” VanDyke suggested. “Someone who ran off to, where did she go, Kenya? It made an excellent opportunity for someone to finger-point at her.”...

[blm]

1. GOP operatives were working in EVERY primary candidate' s camp.

I have no doubt about it.

The GOP has been using this tactic for decades.

Clark and his real supporters would never have pushed that story.

[robbedvoter]

2. You and her go far to smear us

All you find out was that Son of Liberty was NOT Cameron . As for lehane, isn't he pushing a Clark/Edwards ticket since practically that day?

[MontecitoDem]

3. So where does it say that Clark supporters helped push the story?

What is the point of your post?

[Paragon]

5. Gee, you're right.

It doesn't actually say "Clark supporters helped push the 'Kerry intern' story" word-for-word.

Shame on me. :eyes:

[Sopianae]

12. It doesn't even imply it!

:shrug: It only says that a wannabe rumormonger used a website set up by a Clark supporter to make a name for HIMSELF.

[Paragon]

14. Head, meet sand.

...As I continued to try to understand what had happened, I found that shortly after his first story, Drudge had posted a leaked private e-mail from Craig Crawford, a political columnist at The Congressional Quarterly, to some colleagues at MSNBC: “Drudge item on Kerry intern issue is something Chris Lehane has shopped around for a long time.” Drudge quickly dropped the posting, and Lehane complained to Crawford that it wasn’t true, but Lehane’s name was familiar to me. I knew he was feared by rival campaigns as a master of the black art of leaking political-opposition research. A former spokesman for the Kerry campaign, he had quit amid some acrimony and gone to work as a strategist for Clark.

He was a sufficiently controversial figure to have earned his own recent profile in the New York Times, in which he was described by some as a “devious communications strategist.” The piece quoted rival politicos complaining that it was one thing to attack Republicans but quite another to attack rival Democrats, “spilling blood in our house.” I wondered if Lehane had been the source, especially since he had switched horses mid-race. As Steve McMahon, a Dean media consultant, put it to me: “To work for someone and then walk across the street and work against them is beneath contempt. The one person who should hope John Kerry doesn’t become president is Chris Lehane.”

Joe Trippi, Howard Dean’s former campaign manager, told me he’d also heard Lehane had been shopping the rumor—presumably on Clark’s behalf...

[lancdem]

20. That allegation about Lehane is not new

If you recall, Clark strongly endorsed Kerry right after the rumor came out and has been a strong supporter ever since, as well as a very viable VP candidate.

[Sopianae]

21. Yeah, right....

I am not a fan of Lehane but there's absolutely no evidence that Lehane had anything to do with this. It is all hearsay at this point. I can believe that he would do it but show me some evidence. Btw, I don't believe Joe Trippi any more than I believe Lehane. Trippi flat out lied about Clark during the Dean-Clark VP brouhaha.

[madmax]

4. This has been hashed and re-hashed

:boring:

btw, just got the new Clark Biography by Antonia Felix from Amazon.

[Paragon]

8. And hashed again.

Considering the writer of this piece, I'd say she's entitled to a little latitude.

[LandOLincoln]

43. And I'd say we're entitled to know who you support now and who

you supported in the primaries, and why you're so willing to stir up ancient and disproved Sl(dr)udge.

I think you also need to assure us that you can distinguish between Chris Lehane--who leaves a slime trail wherever he goes--and a political neophyte and perpetual Boy Scout like Wes Clark, who clearly didn't realize what a serpent he was taking to his breast when he hired Lehane.

And as longtime Clarkie who worked on Wes's campaign here in New Mexico, I can tell you that when Lehane went on MSNBC (or maybe it was CNN) the night of the Iowa primaries (IIRC) and promptly slimed with his catty, nasty presence what had been a night of celebratory Dem unity, and all of us Clarkies flooded the official website with our demands to "Get his FUCKING FACE OFF THE TV*," and were listened to, I therefore have to ask you this:

Do you think it's even remotely possible that Lehane--who's a registered Republican, after all--might have done his goddamnedest to bring down both Kerry (who'd fired him) and Clark (who'd listened to us and marginalized the SOB) to the best of his sleazy, slimy black ability?

You think?

[Paragon]

52. John Kerry.

Voted for Howard Dean in the Ohio primary, even after the so-called "Scream".

A lot of buck-passing on this thread on behalf of Wes Clark, predictably from (still) voracious Clark supporters. It bothered me then, and bothers me moreso after reading responses to Polier's account on this thread.

[Name removed]

57. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[sandnsea]

6. This is not useful

It's old news, it doesn't matter, politics is a harsh business. Lehane is an ass. We ought to drop all this primary bullshit. At least half of it was just politics, I don't understand why people don't get that.

[Padraig18]

10. I agree.

Its' time to let it GO, folks! Move past the primaries--- we have a general election to win!

[madmax]

15. Yes, we have bigger fish to fry.

We should focus on the big issues and the consequences of another 4 years of bush.

[cjbuchanan]

7. Isn't this old news

This was a low moment in the Dem primary, but haven't we moved on? Isn't there something more important then who started what rumor? Is any time we spend dealing with this going to stop Bush & Co. in November?

Every campaign did somethings they shouldn't have, but looking at those now is just a bad idea.

Let's spend our time working to re-defeat Bush and take back Congress.

[Paragon]

9. "Old news", "not useful"

Tell that to Alexandra Polier.

[cjbuchanan]

11. I did not use "not useful" in my post

So I guess that quote is from someone else.

How is starting a flame war going to help Alexandra Polier?

[sandnsea]

32. But what is YOUR purpose???

What's the point of posting the article at DU??? What's the point of stirring up old animosities??? I don't understand it.

[Paragon]

35. Locked.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x540067

[sandnsea]

46. "Alexandra Polier clears her name"

Then why didn't you post that? Or why didn't you just add to Will's post of the same article?

Why the need to bash Clark supporters in your title? That's the question.

[LandOLincoln]

60. I understand it, and so will you if you give it any thought. n/t

[LandOLincoln]

47. So--you're her official spokesperson? Can we see some

credentials? Can we know your name so we can check with her?

[Justice]

13. Revealing Piece

The writer is entitled to write it. It is interesting though as she only reports one facet - the results of her phone calls with all of the names reported by the media.

It is very revealing how the media (who hound other people) are themselves adverse to any discussion with the media.

It would seem that the real fruits of the story came from her republican friend (used by republicans). After that, people were just repeating rumors. (Even Dean's people expressed interest in benefiting from the story, if true).

I am an avid Clark supporter. I can say this - today, Clark and Kerry genuinely like each other, Clark has been a strong supporter of Kerry since he dropped out - both in deed and in words. If Kerry thought Clark did something inappropriate, we'd know. Kerry's actions and interaction with Clark tell me that whatever happened, Clark did not do anything inappropriate. So, I am not worried about what others may say (more rumor, just repeating the nonsense). Neither should DUers.

[Paragon]

17. see post #14

[Justice]

19. I Already Read #14 - What Is Your Point?

It is about Lehane. Not Clark.

[lancdem]

18. I agree

I'm just glad the story was proven false, and Drudge was made to look stupid.

[lancdem]

16. Miss Polier has every right to her opinion

although I doubt we'll ever know the real source. However, since Clark very well may end up as VP, I'd say the Kerry camp doesn't think so or moved beyond it.

[Jai4WKC08]

22. Read the whole article critically, will ya?

There are three connections to the intern rumor from the Clark campaign.

1) Clark himself, alleged by Drudge to have mentioned it in TN, a day or two before he dropped out. Aside from the obvious fact that it would have been stupid to drop out if he really thought Kerry would "implode" (a word attributed to Dean in this article btw),much less endorse Kerry two days later, that he said anything about it all has been disproved by the reporters who were actually present. Period. I think Ms Polier can be forgiven for not knowing this however.

Good lord, people. How hard is it to figure that Drudge takes his marching orders from the RNC and was out to sink Kerry AND Clark?!

2) Chris Lehane, accused by Craig Crawford in an e-mail. Lehane denies having shopped the rumor and Ms Polier offers no proof he did it, altho her losing the connection is suspicious, I'll admit. But if you check other sources (it was in either the WP or NYT, I forget which, and repeated by Eleanor Clift), you will find that Crawford admitted it was just what he'd heard and he had no direct information. Lehane may or may not have done it--his reputation isn't the best--but there is no proof or even first-hand testimony that he did.

3) Cameron Barrett--this one Ms Polier debunks completely, and I'm glad to see it put to rest. I would have preferred that Polier had pointed out that Cam left Watchblog long before the rumor surfaced there, but at least she outted the individual responsible.

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Jai4WKC08]

27. What are you talking about?

I said nothing about starting the rumor, only about who, if anyone, spread it.

Clark didn't. That has been proven. You need the link?
http://www.campaigndesk.org/archives/000556.asp
Be sure to follow the links within the article if you need more proof.

Barrett didn't. That's proven in Polier's article itself

Lehane may or may not have, it's not proven either way. The one piece of evidence offered by Polier HAS been proven to be hearsay. I would submit the burden of proof lies with the accuser.

[Name removed]

54. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Spazito]

23. Wow, talk about third party hearsay!

I talked to so and so and they said so and so said so and so said this. What a hoot! By that standard Saddam did have WMDs about to hit Britain in 45 minutes!

[FrenchieCat]

24. Based on what she's been through....

I very much sympathize with Ms. Polier. She wrote this story to once and for all clear her name....and for that I give her kudos. However, she did not write this article to clear any other parties' named within her story....so that is left somewhat ambigious. What I know is this.......Those reporters that were on site when Wes Clark allegedly made the comments as they were written up in the Drudge report quoted by Ms. Polier in the 2nd paragraph of her story have denied that Clark said anything relating to the "intern story".....

May 18, 2004
Echo Chamber
The Drudge Report: The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Back in February, Matt Drudge wrote an undocumented story claiming
that one of John Kerry's interns had fled the country at the
candidate's request, just as Kerry was fighting off a "media probe of
recent alleged infidelity." In the piece, Drudge claimed that Wesley
Clark had told a group of reporters that "Kerry will implode over an
intern issue" in an off-the-record conversation.

The Kerry intern story turned out to be bogus, as did the claim that
Clark had spread the rumor. As Campaign Desk noted at the time (and
has written about subsequently as well), The New Republic's Ryan Lizza
and reporters we spoke to on background who were present for the
comments all confirm that Clark never said anything about an intern
during the conversation in question. The retired general did say he
believed there was a story coming out that might damage Kerry, but,
according to one reporter, he didn't seem to have any idea what it
might be.

Thankfully, the rumor about Kerry's infidelity seems to have faded
into the ether. But, maddeningly, the claim that Clark spread the
rumor has endured. An alert reader emailed us today about a Boston
Globe piece by Peter Canellos containing the following paragraph:

Then the last days of his campaign, Clark reportedly told a few
reporters he was hanging on because he heard Kerry might be exposed as
having had an affair with an intern. The affair never materialized,
but Clark may have revealed a problem of his own, not being able to
keep his mouth shut.

The irony here is that Clark did show, in the episode, that he
sometimes says things he probably shouldn't. He just didn't say what
Drudge, and subsequently Newsweek, the Associated Press, and, now, The
Boston Globe, say he did. The rest of Canellos' story is excellent,
and far from a hit piece: It concludes with the statement that "Kerry
could do far worse" than selecting Clark as his running mate. It's
just too bad he didn't bother to check up on the validity of a claim
that's been debunked many times -- and that originated with a source
who pegs his own accuracy rate (generously) at 80 percent.

--Brian Montopoli
http://www.campaigndesk.org/

[FrenchieCat]

30. Based on information from those who were there

Clark DID NOT SPREAD the rumor, and that is what is important to me and Clark supporters. Certainly Lehane may have been acting independently....lord knows he is known for that. Clark's largest mistep in this instance may have been to have hired Lehane in the first place. But I don't even blame Clark for that as he was so new to politics and may not have known what Lahane truly represents in the world of campaigns. Again, he got the "leftovers".

The reporters on site have repeatly stated that Clark did not say anything about an intern....and that's good enough for me.

Again, I don't blame Ms. Polier for attempting to clear her name...but that is all that she did. The rumor appeared to have been originated by one of her Republican "friends" (with friends like that, Ms. Polier had in them her enemies)that she had known since the 10th grade! Now, that's sad!

The spreading of the actual rumor was done by many in the media. Their habits of picking things off of blogs and not checking the voracity of the information is a crime that they should avoid. That really who is responsible...those Irresponsible journalists, IMO.

Ms. Polier may have purposefully not cleared those that she had an opportunity to...because AP's Nedra Pickler was still spreading the rumor as of a couple of weeks ago. Ms. Polier may have been doing Ms. Pickler a favor by not making clear those who may have been responsible. Ms. Polier was an AP intern....remember.

Here's Ryan Lizza 2nd statement reiterating the fact that Clark spread no such rumor:

http://www.tnr.com/blog/campaignjournal?pid=1655

"Maybe Kerry's aides have additional evidence of Clark spreading the rumors about an affair, but as far as I know it's a false accusation. I believe the birth of this story is a bizarre press conference Clark had at a deli in Nashville on the day of the February 10 Tennessee primary. I was there that day, as were at least a dozen other reporters, and the whole thing was captured on video by more than one person. What happened was that reporters were dogging Clark with questions about when he was going to drop out of the race. He didn't quite snap, but Clark got a little frustrated and made some terse comments about why he was staying in. Then he told us that what he had just said was off the record. It's a close call as to whether any of us there have a responsibility to treat his comments as such, but I'm not breaking any rules by reporting that Clark did not spread any rumor about Kerry and a young woman. I've previously checked with other reporters who were there, and they have confirmed this. If I'm wrong, the videotape is out there somewhere."

[AP]

26. Say Lehane was the source, you can hardly blame Clark.

You would imagine that Lehane would have tried really hard to convince Clark it was true, and Clark certainly would trust his own staff.

And Clark was very judicious in dealing with the story (and if he really thought it was true, thanks to Lehane's actions, it certainly would have been something that could have changed the direction of the campaign).

The way in which this story is interesting is that it makes you wonder if Lehane was behind things like bitching about Shelton. Did he oversell those attacks to Clark too?

It also makes you wonder what Lehane is up to. He got kicked off of Kerry's staff, and Kerry's campaign turned around. He goes over to Clark's and possibly usese his position to make a neophyte a vehicle for saying really unhelpful things about other democrats. Who does this guy want to win the election?

[Jai4WKC08]

29. Well there is one difference there

Shelton actually did say what he said, and he was working for Edwards, and Edwards refused to disavow or distance himself from the smear (when asked point blank and publicly) and Edwards' communications director added to it publicly with her accusation that "many senior military doubt his leadership" but without naming names or elaborating further.

But I agree that Lehane is suspect. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but he is sort of proof positive of what we've said all along about Clark having to take left-overs thanks to having started his campaign so late.

I can't remember who recommended Lehane to Clark. I'm thinking it was one of his former Clinton/Gore staff, but I just don't recall. While I don't buy the assertion that Clark's being a "rookie" and non-politician made him any less effective a speaker, on TV or on the stump, it certainly put him at the mercy of his advisors when it came to hobbling together a campaign staff. Lehane was by far NOT the worst of his problems on that score.

[Padraig18]

36. Shelton didn't 'work for Edwards', ever.

That has been debunked repeatedly.

[Sparkly]

38. That would have made it even easier for Edwards to say something

distancing himself from Shelton and his remarks.

But we digress...

[Padraig18]

59. The whole subject is a digression.

:)

[Jai4WKC08]

63. When? How?

I'll be the first to admit I could have missed something--I don't visit DU everyday, and I don't read every thread. But otoh, I know FOR A FACT that Shelton's name was on Edwards old campaign website, and I know FOR A FACT that Edwards admitted Shelton was advising him when he responded to the Clark campaign.

I dunno how you define "worked for" -- he didn't have to be paid to be a member of Edwards' team, ya know. I'm not saying he wasn't paid--I have no idea.

On second thought, he most certainly was "paid"--with a Congressional Gold Medal, IF nothing else. You don't think there was a pay-back owed for that?

[sangh0]

28. DUers pushed the story too

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=342742#343472

[Nederland]

50. Yup

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=529075#529540

And I distinctly remember when I suggested that we simply agree to disagree, the Clarkies couldn't walk away. Even when I stated that I believed the whole thing was Chris Lehane's fault and Clark himself had nothing to do with it, they couldn't walk away.

So who is it that won't let this die?

[Sparkly]

53. Who is it that won't let this die?

I suggest it's people who start threads on this old story, or drag in older threads on this old story...

[in_cog_ni_to]

31. Unbelieveable.

Nowhere in that article does it say that Clark supporters helped to push the intern story. In fact...Lehane DENIED using the story. How the hell did you come up with your title? I think you need to change it.

[Paragon]

33. see post #5

"Lehane denied using the story" -- guess we have to take him at his word, eh?

:eyes:

[Jai4WKC08]

40. In the absence of proof

Yeah, that would be the judicious thing to do. Especially when the only evidence to the contrary has in fact been discredited.

But maybe you don't believe in "innoscent until proven guilty." Too liberal a concept for ya?

[Name removed]

49. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Sparkly]

34. I'm sure you meant to title your thread differently

Something like, "Clark campaign was NOT involved in Kerry intern story."

Stephen VanDyke is not a "Clark supporter." Neither is Matt Drudge.

[Paragon]

37. Nope.

Cameron Barrett IS a Clark supporter. But he can't be blamed for spreading a rumor...can he?

Watchblog was the creation of Cameron Barrett, who—as it happened—went on to work for the Clark campaign. I enlisted some reporting help from Robert Kolker, a more seasoned political journalist who works for this magazine. He reached Barrett by instant message.

Without even being asked, Barrett declared that Son’s story had nothing to do with himself, Lehane, or Clark. A day later, Son himself e-mailed, saying that he was willing to be unmasked as Stephen VanDyke, a 25-year-old computer programmer in Atlanta. Claiming to be inspired by James Thomson Callender, the original American muckraker who chronicled the scandals of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, VanDyke says now that he was merely trying to make a name for himself by posting the rumor. “What I tried to break,” he explains, “was that the rumor did exist. I didn’t know whether it was true or not.

I know now it’s not.

“It looks as though someone may have been just passing out disinformation,” he continued. “And I may have become part of that cycle.” Kolker asked him if he knew why I had been named. “She may have just been convenient,” VanDyke suggested. “Someone who ran off to, where did she go, Kenya? It made an excellent opportunity for someone to finger-point at her.”

[Name removed]

39. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Paragon]

41. By that rationale...

...so is Alexandra Polier.

That bitch!

:eyes:

[MontecitoDem]

51. "by that rationale"

Hey, your logic leaves a lot to be desired!

[in_cog_ni_to]

44. Yes and this thread should be locked

because the title has nothing to do with the article.

[Paragon]

45. see post #14

[Sopianae]

56. There's NOTHING in that post that justifies your title.

In fact, your title at best is misleading, at worst is a LIE.

[Sparkly]

58. Even if you accept every piece of hearsay as fact

you can count TWO supposed supporters who supposedly pushed the story, max. (And that's pushing it, imo.)

[Paragon]

61. Wow.

Now Polier is the one spreading lies.

Fun.

[Sparkly]

62. Huh?

What does that mean?

[Sparkly]

48. The fact that Barrett ran a story by VanDyke on his blog

is hardly evidence that the Clark campaign was involved.

As for "supporters" -- "supporters" of all the candidates did all sorts of things! Kerry supporters, for example, put glossy fliers on cars in New Hampshire while Clark was inside speaking, accusing Clark of all sorts of things (especially of being a Republican). That wasn't the Kerry *campaign* necessarily, we were told.

We could dredge up everything a supporter did or said during the early days of the primaries and get into all sorts of mud. Why do it? It has nothing to do with the candidates themselves, and has nothing to do with the present tense, imo.

[Name removed]

55. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[robbedvoter]

42. Yup. me too. And he also wanted to clear Polier's reputation - his

overriding purpose. And BFEE just wanted to liberate the Iraqi people and bring them democracy.

[Moderator]

64. Locking.

This has degenerated into a flame fest.