Ken Mehlman looked scared on Charlie Rose last night

[Cocoa]

Anyone else see this?

Rose did him the favor of having him on alone, with no balance from the Kerry campaign. Even so, the whole interview was weirdly somber, no confidence or swagger at all from Mehlman, he seemed defensive even when talking about Dan Rather, which is supposed to be a great coup for Bush.

I figure there's either something we don't know about, or else public things like the Iraq catastrophe, or Kerry fighting back, or Bush's evaporating bounce.

Whatever it is, the real mood of the Bush campaign doesn't match the sunny reports from Gallup, et al.

[nyhuskyfan]

1. I saw it - that guy looks freaky.

I also could refute every single talking point he gave in my sleep. The 87 billion charge, the anti-war president charge, the "we have a plan for the next four years" claim, the "hate coming from the DNC turning people off" claim, the "gloom and doomers have been proven wrong". One after another, he spat something out and I was shooting him down with ease.

It made me wish I could have been a DNC talking head for a day. Of course, put me in front of a camera with an audience and my ability to articulate my arguments would deteriorate in a hurry.

[shrdlu]

9. Mehlman was a robot, but...

...you would've needed to cut off his head to get him off message. Gotta give him that.

IMHO, leaving him alone and unchallenged revealed the heavily programmed (yes, freaky too) nature of the GOP apparatchiks.

It had to be apparent to the Charlie Rose audience.

[blm]

2. Gallup's been using FORGED POLLS for years.

Bushes have used a FORGED PUBLIC PERSONA for decades.

Bush used FORGED NIGER DOCUMENTS to take this nation to war in Iraq.

[Sparkle]

3. I'm having a problem with the gallup polls right now.

I always thought they were the most accurate (one reason is because I used to work for them). Right now they have Bush over Kerry by 11. Do you think they were using forged polls during the Clinton era?

[Stephanie]

4. WHY was he given all that time ALONE?

I was expecting to see a Dem come on after him but no such luck. What's the deal with that? He just gets to spout half an hour of lies and spin while Charlie agrees with every word and no rebuttal by ANYone from Kerry's camp? WTH?

[Cocoa]

7. email Rose and ask him

Ask him when the Kerry campaign will be on his program unopposed.

http://www.charlierose.com/feedback.shtm

[BootinUp]

13. done.

[kaitykaity]

25. Done. Thanks for the link.

Mr. Rose, as a regular viewer, I am becoming increasingly disgusted
by you.

When you interview a Democrat or a liberal, you badger them. You
pepper them with right-wing talking points and you interrupt them and
you create a hostile environment.

Last night with Mr. Mehlman, you were gentle. You asked leading
questions. You let him spout RW lie after RW lie after RW lie.

Mr. Rose, you have an educated, intelligent audience. Did you think
we wouldn't notice this nonsense?

Oh, and when are you going to have Kerry's campaign manager on for an
unopposed half hour? Hm?

Regards,

[jayfish]

12. Because They Will Not Go On...

when an opposition guest is run at the same time. They have nothing to argue on. Happens all the time, just ask Charlie Rangle.
Jay

[maine_raptor]

5. Noticed that with Ed Gillespie on CNN yesterday too

Wonder if the entrails are looking bad over at the GOP HQ?

[yardwork]

6. Evil portents!

Somebody leaked a report written in July saying that things were spiralling out of control in Iraq. If White House analysts were saying that in July, what are they saying now?

It could be that the White House has very, very bad news from Iraq that they are suppressing.

[babylonsister]

8. I think the cat's out of the bag...

Matthews on the Today show this a.m. talking about the really bad news out of Iraq, ie, 3 worst case scenarios which the WH has been sitting on since July. Even though * is putting on a happy face, Matthews said this could really doom him. The war * started is a total failure and hopefully people will start to listen!

[shivaji]

14. Unless things have changed, people will vote pocketbook first

Iraq is not a winning issue for either side. It is
the jobs, unemployment numbers, inflation, interest
rates, healthcare costs....etc...those are the issues.

[gasperc]

16. if war goes badly, so will the economy...oil shock, consumer confidence

a lot of factors could send things into a tailspin quickly.

I'm sure the GOP will spin it on the terrorists destroying the economy so keep us in to fight the terrorists

But we have to be doubly figorous to argue that GOP foreign and economic policies have incubated terrorism and led to the conditions we are now experiencing.

If a terrorist blows up a prominent US landmark in the coming days, we have to argue hard that GOP policies have led to this action. If the economy nosedives in Oct because of this we have to stay focused and argue how poor security has been prepared etc. We should argue this now to reinforce these massive vuneralbilites.

[Cocoa]

10. you mean MORE really bad news from Iraq

we already know from the NYT that they've been suppressing very very bad news from Iraq for months.

But there could easily be more such bad news, no question.

[yardwork]

11. Exactly. The leaked internal reports are months old

Imagine what more recent internal reports are saying. We can tell by what the news is actually reporting that things are getting much worse in Iraq at an accelerating rate.

I think that the White House has always suppressed the worst news, hoping that by the time the truth comes out things will have improved. Instead, the situation gets worse and worse. The shell game is coming undone. They can't hide it much longer. That's why the Republicans are urging their voters to vote now via absentee ballots.

[faithnotgreed]

19. absentee ballots - precisely! and why NOW would hagel & lugar

speak so openly as to call it beyond pathetic etc... i know they are 2 of the more straight shooters but right now , 6 wks before election?

this crowd knew things were a complete failure months ago. and they geared up the absentee ballots big time. even people on du got gop ballots sent to them and they had n connection to them whatsoever

[Joe Turner]

17. Bingo!

"It could be that the White House has very, very bad news from Iraq that they are suppressing."

I think that is the case too, or something like it. This criminal administration has bottled up their sinister activites from day one and it looks like something is about to break.

Those who live by the sword.......

[Booster]

24. They could also have some very, very bad news

regarding Valerie Plame, which I don't understand why the Dems don't hammer the fact that Bush can't even find this person who supposedly is in the same building he is. If this doesn't show incompetence, I don't know what does. Kerry could also know what's coming on this case and maybe that's why it's not brought up.

[gasperc]

15. waiting to bomb Fallujah

I'll edit in the quote from the dailykos later. But a former general was commenting on the seriousness of the situation in Iraq, basically things are going to hell in a hand basket but the administration is waiting to go into Fallujah until after the election, which says it all(his words not mine)

I think Melhman and the GOP are sweating bullets over the uncontrollable situation in Iraq and are hoping against all hope that a major offensive doesn't have to be launched until after the election. Which would likely be extremely high in casualties and freak the public out. Even the most diehard republicans.

[Nicholas_J]

18. I posted that in a bunch of other posts

He looked like he swallowed a turd.

Kerry finally asked the Osama question, and accused Bush of letting him escape in order to turn attention to Iraq. Mehlman knows that if Kerry can convince enough of the public that this action made another act of terrorism more likely, and that Iraq had nothing to do with terrorism, Bush's chances are finished.

Kerry's speech yesterday to the National Guard covereed all ofv that terrirtory, and pointed out that Kerry has been consistantly staingt this from the day that he spoke on the seante floor about passing the act giving Bush authoization to use force in Iraq if necessry. Kerry mad it clear that we had to finish in Afghanistan nad finish capturing all AL Qaeda leadership before goining into Iaq, and he repeated this in his speeches later and in his op-ed pieces in the New York Times. Mehlman was having a canary because if Kerry repeats this over and over again, in light of the recent CIA report about Iraq that Bush tried to keep hidden, this could have an effect on the image of Bush as the president keeping us safe from terrorism.

Cheney tried the fear route satting that choosing Kerry would result in another atack. Kerry just turned it around. He directly stated that the Bush administration has had to say "WHEN AL QAEDA HITS US AGAIN: and not "IF AL QAEDA HITS US AGAIN" becasue Bush allowed Al Qaedas leaders to escape and has given them three years planning time for their next actions against U.S. interests.

It seems that Kerry is going to get simple in his message. If you choose me, my priorities will be stopping Osama bin Laden, and not a wild goose chase in Iraq. Ih he keeps repeating this it will be more effective than Bush repeating "Krerry is a flip flopper"

[tblue37]

23. And yet

when I saw clips from the speeches that Bush and Kerry gave this past week to the National Guard (where Kerry made those points), the guardsmen cheered and applauded Bush--and sat silently for Kerry. Somehow, despite the obvious truth of Kerry's accusations, these fools are not buying it.

[sadiesworld]

20. B/t the "leak" of these months old reports,

and McCain spinning about how the situation in Iraq will deteriorate b/c "they" want to influence our election...I'd say the whole place is getting ready to blow.

[vogonity]

21. I'm tied up in knots

God I am so upset about all of this. That fucker has put us all in a situation where it seems that the only thing that will sink his presidency is a catastrophe that costs thousands of lives. I hate him for what he has done. And I want him out. With every fiber of who I am I want him out. I want his policies to fail, fail, fail, yet when those policies fail, the costs are in human lives. I cannot reconcile the conflict within me. I need to hear bad news for bush and his policies. I need to know about every failure large and small. But every time I find more evidence of his failed policies, that evidence represents death, mayhem and destruction.

What he has done is unforgivable. Today I cannot joke. I cannot laugh. I cannot celebrate the fact that his presidency has been a spectacular failure. Not when the evidence for his failure is written in blood.


Daniel H.
New York City

[grasswire]

22. welcome to DU, Daniel

Thanks for a touching and honest post. You've come to the right place to find some like-minded people.

We ARE going to dump him. We ARE. Tens of thousands of us are fighting every day. You must believe that truth and the love of democratic values will prevail.

Join in here. Lend a hand. There are fliers to print and pass out, and research to be done, and media contacts to make.

[faithnotgreed]

27. sorry isnt enough but i am sorry. this administration has wrought

untold havoc all across the world, and very much including their own country

warm welcome to du and hope youll find some small measure of peace knowing were all here fighting and pissed right along with you

i do know that it is going to be ok. i dont just say that. i believe strongly that we will beat back the evil empire
hope youll keep whatever faith you have.... its going to be a beautiful day when kerry wins

[The Magistrate]

26. The Truth Is, Sir

The professional campaign polling these people recieve will be very different from the "prole-feed" set out by the Gallup organization.

The vote at the polls this November will count out to a five point victory for Sen. Kerry.

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[amandabeech]

28. Yes, I think that the internal polling is quite different, too, sir.

If one watches where ad dollars are spent, where the candidates are campaigning and what changes are made in ads and campaigns, it is possible to get some idea of how things are going.

Thank you for another excellent insight, Magistrate.

[Strelnikov_]

29. I Have Noticed A Haunted Look In A Number Of Admin Officials Lately

I raised this same issue in a post a few days ago. What could be the reason:

- Deterioration in Iraqnam? Probably not. They have not really given a damn up to now.
- Resurgent Kerry campaign? Again, probably not. Whatever this bunch is, when it comes to electoral politics, they are fighters.
- Terror Attack Prior To Election? This has my vote.

They know that if there is a terror attack in the U.S. before the election they could be in serious trouble. Their entire campaign (when not smearing Kerry) is based on how well they have been protecting us and fighting the ‘war on terra’. An attack before the election would probably shave off enough voters previously leaning Boosh on this issue to swing the election decisively to Kerry.

What do you think the FBI's '04 Threat Task Force’, reported in the news today, is about? I feel the terror threat in October is no greater than in September or November. And they haven't been very interested in homeland security up to now. The only difference is that there is an election (result) to protect the 2nd of November.

Edited To Add: GOP absentee ballot push we have been hearing about.