Does this Sandy Berger thing really have legs?

[fujiyama]

Among the general public, how many actually even know who Sandy Berger is?

All they will hear is something about a guy stuffing documents down his or her pocket. It has already been investigated and nothing has turned up. There will be a bunch of noise like all the other fake Clinton scandals, and nothing will come about.

Berger was smart enough to dismiss himself from the campaign. That's good, because I think he realizes that there is some potential to damage the campaign.

But looking at all the major stories we claimed that would sink the Bush admin -- energy task force, Joe Wilson and the yellowcake, and ultimately the Plame outing and inquiry, and Richard Clarke -- nothing really brought him down. Now, all these stories were real and there was most wrongdoing on the part of the admin, but people didn't really care.

This will strengthen the base of the republicans, but will just as likely be dismissed by democrats. Most independants will shrug and figure it's partisan wrangling. Many will also think the timing is weird.

While the media will go with this a bit more because it is a mouth piece for the right, I think this story will also collapse because several people have already made it clear that while this behavior wasn't proper it wasn't very uncommon. I think Woolsey did. Gergen made it clear.

My own question is, have these documents been declassified since the time it occured? These were copies of documents right?...and weren't these documents dealing with issues he was intimately aware of during his time as NSA? These were documents dealing with the millenium bombing plans, weren't they?

Ultimately, I think Berger F*cked up. It may have been a minor one, but it was unecessary. I don't really think he did anything that could jeapordize national security in any way (unlike the Plame outing) so I can't see this going very far.

[izzie]

1. Who knows but keeps the Los Alamos thing off the front paper

Do you recall how bad Clinton got it when that happened when he was in office.? The GOP is still saying he sold things to the Reds. More I read about Berger thing the more it sounds like the 'rulers' have a right to do as they wish thing.Even ex-type rulers. You know we pay for these things how come they are not in the open?

[fujiyama]

6. I heard about that

the other day, and I heard they were shutting Los Alomos down. That's very serious and I remember the fuss the GOP made when there were some breaches during the Clinton admin.

[tom_paine]

2. What I think is that the Busheviks are now VERY accomplished at playing

the Mighty Wurlitzer.

That all those 'picayune' FCC Rules, which we all bought the Bushevik (NOT the Raygun, who was a senile puppet by this time) Line that "the technology will provide us with choice".

But human beings remain human beings, as the Founding Fathers knew.

If they made Whitewater, which was equally trivial and ultimately fabricated, last for 5 years, (and that was a DECADE AGO) they can do this without breaking a sweat.

And of course the Imperial House leaps into action, which it didn't at any one of a HUNDRED junctures far more deserving of investigation.

[TomNickell]

3. Yeah, but the tune is getting old....

The unity and passion that drove Whitewater is mostly gone.

I think they badly overplayed the Berger story.

"Distinguished Democrat loses important papers"--worth a few points.

"Distinguished Democrat stuffs important papers in underwear in order to destroy draft of report of which there must be many copies"---look silly.

[tom_paine]

11. I don't know. I hope you are right, but history shows that BIG LIES

seldom have to make sense to work.

[Fed Up]

4. D. Rather and P. Jennings don't even seem to bring it up anymore

So it must not have any legs.

The fact is that Berger is not a high profile name. It lacks that je ne sais quoi that makes eyebrows shoot up.

Nobody but rw websites and cable news seems to care. IT's only a scandal on Newsmax and Freep Republic and Fox nazi news.

Ho Hum.

[Shopaholic]

10. Yeah but the cable networks & talk radio are pounding away on this one

Chris Matthews was possessed last night talking about it!

[TomNickell]

5. Berger is well-known and popular (in Washington)....

Another reason.
Berger is part of the Wash. crowd. Wolf Blitzer likes him.

Wolf Blitzer didn't like Bill Clinton.

[CWebster]

7. Compared tp Abu Ghraib, it does. nt

[peekaloo]

8. "a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest"

la la lalala

It's had the desired effect. I've heard many a Clinton hater barking that Berger stole documents that would have implicated his administration in the 9/11 attacks. :eyes:

Now the librul media/9/11 commission is covering Big Bill's arse.......

and so it goes.

[emulatorloo]

9. and what do they say when you point out none of the originals are missing?

oh well, logic is not their strong suit or purpose.

[Carson]

12. Nice lyric, I love Simon and Garfunkel

:party:

[JayS]

13. The story has planted the seed that it was meant to. The link...

...between Clinton and Kerry and "the guy that was associated with both that stole some stuff to make Clinton look good" has been made. And yes, Berger screwed up royally.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

14. NO...it does NOT...it's a worm

[ClassWarrior]

15. "NO."

e.o.m.

[yardwork]

16. The WH and Justice Dept screwed up their chance....

When they went overboard with the "stuffing papers in his socks" story, a lot of people tuned out the whole thing. It's so obviously ridiculous.

Sure, the freepers will continue to cradle and hug it as another morsel of satisfaction that "Bill is bad, m'kay?" but it isn't having any impact on undecideds.

It's a within the beltway story, and there it will stay.

[markses]

17. No...it has socks

:evilgrin:

[dennis4868]

18. it's funny how....

the house republicans will investigate this because of the national security implications but will not investigate the Plame affair.

[maggrwaggr]

19. gosh, that would be up to the corporate media now, wouldn't it?

All the crimes of this administration, and they put this bullshit on their front page.

Absolute proof of their favoritism

[Granite]

20. No net loss of documents

That's the key. No original documents were missing, and the 9/11 commission had access to all of them. There couldn't have been any attempt at "cover up" because all the documents that were removed were copies. I don't know what he was thinking when he removed copies of certain documents (although he was preparing for his testimony, and there were thousands of pieces of information that he had to review).

The whole notion of "stuffing stuff into his socks" is just so over the top and ridiculous that even some Republicans refuse to believe it.

[drdigi420]

21. Artificial legs

prosthetics by FOX