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The Weblog at The View from the Core - Fri. 09/17/04 09:10:54 PM
   
   

Caddell on CBS & DNC

Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode CCCLXXIX

Pat Caddell has been on FNC talking about CBSgate and the Democrats — who won't be heeding him, I'm sure.

First, from Fox News Live. (Brackets in original.)

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GREGG JARRETT [FOX NEWS]: Joining us now to talk about the controversy, former Congressman Rick Lazio, Republican, who represented New York's 2nd District, Pat Caddell, Democratic strategist and former Presidential pollster. Welcome to both of you. Pat, are you troubled by the way CBS and Dan Rather handled their story both initially when it aired and then subsequently in its defense?

PAT CADDELL [DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST]: Absolutely. In fact, I'm really stunned, I mean, you would think this was the government during Watergate trying to coverup stuff. I mean, I am amazed because, you know, there are very very serious problems here, and the Republicans, this isn't a partisan thing. I think the press is sometimes amazingly irresponsible. For them to go out and say this story and these documents — and you know the person they quoted yesterday, for instance, I was on the internet looking this stuff, Marley, who said Oh no, the signatures are fine, this is a man who wrote an essay explaining you should never take a Xerox document. The signature, the ability to be able to commit fraud on the signatures is overwhelming.

JARRETT: Was that Marcel Matley you were referring to?

CADDELL: Yes, yes, and there's an essay he wrote on it. But the other problem is, they will not say, and there's no reason for this — these documents did not, this man has been dead for 16 years. His family says they didn't do it. They don't believe it's him. Now you've got contradictions, where some of these documents are signed, where the person is supposed to have been "forcing" the sugar coating had been out of the, had been retired for a year and a half. And other things like that. But they will not do, they will not tell us who these other sources are. And most importantly they won't say where they got this. They didn't get it from the Pentagon, and they didn't get these from the family. And I'm afraid what that's leaving there is that I'm afraid as a Democrat, I have a very very bad feeling where they got this. And it's going to come out in the end I'm afraid, and it's going to come something disastrous....

JARRETT: Continuing now with Pat Caddell and Rep Rick Lazio on the story that was broken by 60 Minutes on Wednesday about President Bush's National Guard service, and there are serious questions about the authenticity of the documents they used. Pat Caddell — and Rick Lazio, I'll get to you in just a second — but Pat Caddell, you said something that did not escape our view just a moment ago. And that is that you have a feeling where these documents came from. Can you elaborate?

CADDELL: Well, I'm just very bothered by the fact, there's no reason they should not be a news organization, saying, at least indicate where they got these documents. And they don't have the originals. And I know how this political thing works. And I think it's time for somebody to ask them directly, and get a direct answer, and I mean the other members of the news media, particularly the great prestigious, you know, Columbia Journalism Review, and the other people are supposed to be protecting the public from the journalists. And find out whether these were delivered by political operatives. And if it is, I'm really worried because if it's what I'm afraid of, it could be disastrous for my party. Because they got themselves in this so deep it's unbelievable.

JARRETT: Yeah, let me remind our viewers, you're a Democratic strategist, former Presidential pollster —

CADDELL: I think on 9/11, you know, some of us ought to think about being Americans first. And I, it would be nice to see our political process and the other people in it show just half the kind of honor the people who gave their lives here, giving their lives in the Middle East....

JARRETT: Pat, you said this to our producers and I have to ask you about it, and you're a Democrat. "There are idiots in the Democratic Party that do things that do not hurt Bush and continue to hurt Kerry." What do you mean?

CADDELL: Well, getting into this issue, watching, having Terry McAuliffe for instance go out and call the President of the United States a liar. Having a certain Senator, whom I happen to like very much, who was almost got knocked out of a Presidential race because that particular Senator had exaggerated saying he was a combat pilot in VietNam, when he was flying mail runs to Tokyo, and is out there calling the President a liar. All they're going to do is they're helping the President. Because every time this issue is on the table so is all the swift boat stuff. And these people, it's like World War I, it's like the Battle of the Somme, they just can't get it out of their system. That's what worries me about the connections.

JARRETT: Gentlemen, I wish we had all day to talk about this, it's not going to go away. Pat Caddell, Rep Rick Lazio, gentlemen, thanks so much for being here.

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Now, from Dayside. (Brackets in original.)

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LINDA VESTER [FOX NEWS]: It's all over the newspapers and tv. Democratic candidate John Kerry is behind in the polls, with persistent rumors that there's no one really in charge of his campaign. News reports, even the so-called liberal media, say Kerry is floundering and has missed his chance to fight back. When respected Democrats take to the airwaves to talk about this, you know it's got to be bad. Pat Caddell is pretty mad. As a long-time Democratic strategist and former Presidential pollster, he's got a list of all the screw-ups he has seen. Hi, Pat, it's nice to see you.

PAT CADDELL [DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST]: Hi, how are you Linda?

VESTER: So I have a little piece of John Kerry in an interview that is just out in Time magazine talking about what's going on in his campaign. The question is: People's views of the strength of your leadership have declined in the past few weeks. Is this in part because you were slow responding to the swift boat ads? Do you think you should have been more aggressive? Kerry says:

No I think we did absolutely fine, and I think we are doing absolutely fine.
What do you say?

CADDELL: Well he went on, Linda, in that interview to also say that he didn't know what they were talking about when they were talking about a Bush bounce. You know, you ought to ask your audience, people in your audience, people in America are not stupid. They know he's had a bad month. What is it about politicians that they can't simply be honest with the people and say, it's a tough process, we've made some mistakes. But I'm going to be fighting every day, and the big day that matters is election day, and I'm going to prove myself. No, to say something honest is somehow contaminated, apparently, in whatever in the world that Washington has become.

VESTER: So what do you think is the problem, really the problem?

CADDELL: I think the problem is, first of all, I don't think the campaign has a definition. It didn't have one in Boston. The reason we had the problem with the swift boats is not because George Bush rounded up the swift boat veterans. It's because the Democrat campaigners decided they would make John Kerry's campaign about VietNam. And when you take that scab off, the natural result was going to be to bring people out who have very strong feelings. Nobody in history has ever run for President as a hero. You become a hero because people know you're a hero. You don't run and say you're a hero. [applause]

VESTER: Well, you've clearly got a lot of agreement from the audience on that.

CADDELL: Well, it's just true.

VESTER: Something else that's interesting is that right now, you know how he travels with the national news media, and they trail him and record everything he does. He hasn't talked to them, he has not talked to them, given them an interview in 34 days.

CADDELL: You're kidding. I wasn't aware of that.

VESTER: And we're this close to the elction. Why is that?

CADDELL: Linda, because there's an arrogance. First of all, we have some what I would call, as a Democrat, we have some what I would call political crypto-gangsters who have taken over the heart and soul of the Democratic party in Washington. And their job is to hold on to power and hold on to money. And these are the people advising a good man like John Kerry. And I've known John Kerry for many years. For him not to talk to the press is a mistake. He isn't the President, he's the challenger. But you know what, I'll tell you what they're counting on, which I find ridiculous. They're counting on things like what's going on at CBS this morning, with those documents, which are just unbelieveable. Why does the Democratic party want to get into the issue of National Guard? National Guard leads to swift boats, and that is the last issue in the world John Kerry needs to be into right now. [applause]

VESTER: OK Pat, then explain to me why the DNC is launching this campaign that they call Operation Fortunate Son starting today.

CADDELL: Because they are--

VESTER: And it's all about basically releasing people out in all the swing states saying that George Bush sought favoritism to serve in the National Guard.

CADDELL: Let me tell you, when you have National Chairman, Terry McAuliffe, who put in $100,000 into Global Crossing and walked off with $18,000,000 as your National Chairman, it tells you the moral and integrity level my party has been reduced to at the DNC. You're going to have Terry McAuliffe going out as he did the other day calling the President of the United States a liar? What is wrong with these people? [applause] I don't care if people agree or disagree with the President; they don't like political hacks going around calling the President of the United States a liar, whether he's a Democrat or a Republican. We should be talking about vision, we should be arguing about what we're going to do to change the country. And I'm fearful, I've been saying this for months, and I'm afraid the same people who have taken this party down to defeat in 2002 and 2000 are taking it right down to defeat again, hand in hand with some of the national media. Look at NBC today. They put on Kitty Kelley? Why don't they just put on the National Enquirer? [laughter] For three straight days. Do you know, I went back and checked because I read and couldn't believe this too, you know that O'Neill and the swift boat people has never been on The Today Show?

VESTER: Really?

CADDELL: Now what are the voters, ask your audience, what do they think about the media?

VESTER: You're not surprised?

AUDIENCE MEMBER: No surprise there. I wouldn't have expected to see them on any of the major networks.

VESTER: Well, so do you think that the so-called liberal media are part of the problem?

CADDELL: No I don't think that they're part of the problem politically. I think they're a threat to our liberties right now. The reason the founding fathers gave us the 1st Amendment was not because they liked the press. Just read Thomas Jefferson. They did it to protect the American people. When the press decides that its job is to decide who should be President and who should be not, what truth you should know, what truth you should not, they destroy the very premise for a 1st Amendment, and that threatens our freedom. [applause]

VESTER: See, I told you Pat Caddell was fierce.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: He should be a Republican.

VESTER: Are you saying he should be a Republican?

CADDELL: I'm not a Republican, I'm a Democrat.

VESTER: You're a Democrat, but Zell Miller might be calling next.

CADDELL: Look, there's some values that are more important than your party registration card. We've got people out there giving their lives in the service. I served on the West Point board; I'll tell you one thing I've learned. I would never, ever put partisanship above being a citizen. Young men and women put their lives on the line every day for our citizenship. We owe them at least the right to stand up for truth as we see it. [applause]

VESTER: Pat Caddell, thank you very much; we'll probably be talking to you again soon. Thanks Pat.

CADDELL: OK, good to talk to you Linda, thank you.

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Caddell is also here and here.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Fri. 09/17/04 09:10:54 PM
Categorized as Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode.

   

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