Leaked video shows Dole agreeing that Bush smears

Slate got its hands on a leaked video from the notorious Dole/Blitzer interview that shows Dole saying "he's right" after CNN played McCain's "You oughta be ashamed, Governor Bush" clip.  

I almost feel sorry for Dole.  Given his behind-the-scenes reluctance, he clearly doesn't revel in being a hatchet man these days.  But he seems to have done it out of some misbegotten sense of loyalty.  By participating in Bush's smear campaign, however reluctantly, Dole tarnished his own carefully-maintained rep as well.  

What these self-loathing "loyal" Republicans like Dole and McCain have forgotten is that their loyalty should first be to truth and country, and only second to their party.  Instead, GOP motto has become Republicans first, Americans second, decent, honorable human beings third.  

Sad, really, what that party has become.

•  Well, I take back the nasty stuff I said about

  Sullentrop...

  by JamesB3 on Fri Aug 27, 2004 at 05:20:59 PM PDT

•  The Reluctant Republicans

  You look at Mc Cain, Dole, Swartzenegger, Pataki, Gulliani, etc.

  None of these guys could be called a true Bushie...it's like the RNC has blackmail pictures of all of them I guess.

  Bush trots them out and says "hey I am a nice guy"...but these guys know better.

  by California Dreamer on Fri Aug 27, 2004 at 05:24:40 PM PDT

  •  Swartzenegger, Pataki, Gulliani...

    all have higher aspirations. Thus, their loyalty to a corrupt party. Thus they expose their own internal corruption.

    BTW, the best Pataki can hope for is a cabinet postition or something similar that doesn't require him to speak much. The man can't make a speech worth a tinkers damn.

    by RonV on Fri Aug 27, 2004 at 05:38:40 PM PDT

  •  Schwarzenegger

    What exactly would qualify as a blackmail picture for him?  That stuff is mother's milk to Ahnuld.

    by elizsan on Fri Aug 27, 2004 at 06:21:38 PM PDT

    •  his package

      Da Stete of Cullyfionia's Guvehna apparently likes to tell the ladies or likes to think he is a massive uberschlong. Quote: " I hear all kind of lines, including 'Oh, you're hurting me; you're so big."

      I think the bastards got ahold of a naked pic of him brandishing his lil' pecker.

      by Louisville Liberal Lion on Fri Aug 27, 2004 at 07:51:34 PM PDT

      •  Hate to disappoint you

        but there are pictures of Ahnuld in the buff floating around the internet.

        He wouldn't need a sock for his "Mission Accomplished" photo-op.

        by elizsan on Fri Aug 27, 2004 at 10:18:54 PM PDT

        •  Wouldn't need a sock?

          And if you were saying by that that he wouldn't have any bragging rights, then you're right. S. has a typical body builder body. All the biggness goes elsewhere.

          by blackmahn on Sat Aug 28, 2004 at 06:50:46 AM PDT

  •  Why reluctant?

    They seem pretty gung ho to me, even going so far as to shill for Bush and speak at the RNC.  

    No, they aren't foaming-at-the-mouth Bible thumpers, but they'll slash taxes on the rich while the middle class takes it over a barrel and the lower class starves, all with no worry of staining their conscience.  Some even like to sexually assault women on a regular basis--how much more redneck republican can a person get?

    by Subterranean on Fri Aug 27, 2004 at 06:56:54 PM PDT

•  Unbelievable

  Lot's of excellent diaries today -- I gotta recommend this one too.

  by Jsea on Fri Aug 27, 2004 at 05:27:20 PM PDT

•  I'm glad Dole showed his true feelings,

  but don't forgive him one bit, just as I don't forgive him for hitman job he did during the re-count battle of 2000. He's a big boy and mature politician who knows the difference between fair political discourse and dirty slander. Unfortunately, he chose the latter and is now too cowardly to admit he was wrong about Kerry and his purple hearts. Basically, he's just another in the long list of GOP bully/cowards...

  by historyrocks on Fri Aug 27, 2004 at 05:50:36 PM PDT

  •  To smear John Kerry

    when Dole knows that it's a smear, that's totally unforgivable.  That's beyond politics, that's shameful dishonesty and a disgrace to the men and women who served in our armed forced.  Bob Dole has always been a partisan hatchet man, but this is truly a new low.

    He sold himself out.  For what -- Bush?  I can't imagine anybody sinking any lower than this.

    by existenz on Fri Aug 27, 2004 at 07:02:47 PM PDT

    •  He's either

      a partisan hack or he's stupid.

      Bob Dole's brain The attacks on McCain are dishonorable.  Kerry is a Democrat, so it's o.k.

      by Unstable Isotope on Sat Aug 28, 2004 at 07:06:05 AM PDT

•  Dole's "tell"

  Something I noticed back in '96 -- when Dole is nervous, he blinks-blinks-blinks-blinks-blinks. It's interesting how after he confesses that McCain was right, he stops blinking.

  by Zackpunk on Fri Aug 27, 2004 at 06:07:00 PM PDT

  •  maybe it's morse code

    and Dole's blinking 't-o-r-t-u-r-e'

    by sendtoscott on Sat Aug 28, 2004 at 11:09:35 AM PDT

    •  Hmm...

      Maybe Dole is how they signal directives to the SBVT.

      by Zackpunk on Sun Aug 29, 2004 at 12:06:54 AM PDT

•  damned microsoft

  Mac users don't have the priviledge of seeing this video.

  -fink

  by fink on Fri Aug 27, 2004 at 06:14:15 PM PDT

  •  re

    I used mediaplayer (microsoft) and was able to view it on my mac.

    OSX 10.3

    by cookiesandmilk on Fri Aug 27, 2004 at 06:23:29 PM PDT

    •  re

      ooops i thought you were talking about the other video.

      by cookiesandmilk on Fri Aug 27, 2004 at 06:24:00 PM PDT

  •  yes

    if you have OSX and the newest windows media player it works fine.

    by vancookie on Fri Aug 27, 2004 at 06:26:35 PM PDT

    •  no shit

      I never knew MS made a Mac version of Media Player. You get so used to iTunes ya see...

      -ffink

      by fink on Fri Aug 27, 2004 at 07:14:55 PM PDT

  •  Just watched it on my G4

    OS X, Windows Media Player.  Worked fine.

    by Subterranean on Fri Aug 27, 2004 at 06:58:28 PM PDT

    •  me too, worked just fine

      I have 10.2 OS X G4, Windows Media Player, it played just fine.

      The only site that doesn't work is the MSNBC site.  Everything else works just fine on this here kickass computer.

      by existenz on Fri Aug 27, 2004 at 07:05:09 PM PDT

•  These guys

  should be ashamed of themselves...Dole and McCain have sold their souls to the BushCo cabal...it's truly sad...!

  by imax68 on Fri Aug 27, 2004 at 06:37:26 PM PDT

•  Dole has always been a bit of a hatchet man

  "I figured it up the other day: If we added up the killed and wounded in Democrat wars in this century, it would be about 1.6 million Americans-enough to fill the city of Detroit." - Dole, 1976 VP debate.

  I do have both of his books on Presidential and Political wit though

  by RBH on Fri Aug 27, 2004 at 07:07:31 PM PDT

  •  interesting quote

    Dole got a reputation for having quite a nasty temper during the 1976 campaign. He's always struck me as being a rather hollow politician who says whatever seems the most expedient at the time, whether or not it's true to his beliefs.

    by pine on Fri Aug 27, 2004 at 08:55:30 PM PDT

•  I'm sorry -- I don't think it's sad they sold out

  I think it's disgraceful, dishonorable, and disgusting, and they should feel absolutely dirty all over!

  by CalDoc on Fri Aug 27, 2004 at 07:45:46 PM PDT

•  Anyone know

  what he said when they went back on the air?

  Typical of Wolfie the Sheep that he let Dole get away with this. Could there be better proof that CNN is scripted by Rove for the edification of the ignorant masses?

  by matt n nyc on Fri Aug 27, 2004 at 08:18:34 PM PDT

•  Dole is an idiot

  Bob Dole  is a complete idiot and an embarrassment to the Republican party. I get the impression that he'll think one thing and two seconds later, say something completely different in the name of political expediency.

  I wonder about the behnind-the-scenes dynamics in the GOP that convinced Dole to weigh in on the race. He has a long history of tensions with the Bush family, dating back to his '88 primary challenge against Bush Sr.

  by pine on Fri Aug 27, 2004 at 09:02:11 PM PDT

  •  Perfect description...

    ...of the President as well..

    Didn't he just flip on the "I haven't giving losing a thought" idea. I think I read here that  he had said if he lost it was god's will and he would accept it gracefully....

    by elial on Sat Aug 28, 2004 at 08:22:29 AM PDT

•  Blitzer is the true guilty party here

  What Dole did is morally wrong, but he's a partisan and doing his job, loathsome as it might be.  Wolf's job as a journalist is supposedly to get at the truth.  When someone says to you "off camera" during an interview something that directly undermines what they're saying on camera, and you fail to follow up or even mention it, you are failing to do your job.  In case the whole giggling at the failure of the balloons to drop after Kerry's speech didn't make clear that Wolf is a partisan Republican hack, his failure to challenge Dole on this point confirms it.

  by hughster on Sat Aug 28, 2004 at 12:51:20 PM PDT