Ugh. Here's a story I don't want to touch, if there ever was one. But it's fast becoming an issue, so it can't be ignored.
First of all, this isn't Drudge's story. It's been around for several weeks. Clark was talking about it to reporters (I confirmed it independently from the Drudge piece). It was common knowledge, but the press sat on it for whatever reason (looking for confirmation? Hoping to avoid being labeled as gossip mongers?).
That said, it's a bullshit story. Kerry had an active and public romantic life in between his first wife and Theresa. I remember reading about his "wild" days in the Senate somewhere. But he was single (or at worst legally separated), and darn it, being single and having sex is a good thing. And the dalliances weren't even with his interns.
Problem is, news headlines will simply say the words "Kerry" and "intern", and the Clinton association will do the rest of the dirty work. There are also some very hazy details, such as whether this is a "new" affair or stems from his days as an eligible Senate bachelor. Either way, I say "who the fuck cares".
So who pushed the story? Rove would have every reason to do so, given his boy was getting pummeled on the AWOL story. So he could take the pressure off Bush and start a Clinton-like smear campaign against the Democratic frontrunner.
Then again, Lehane likely had access to Kerry's internal oppo when he worked for him. Given that Clark was talking about Kerry's "intern problem", it would lend credence to this theory. And like I said, I have independent confirmation that Clark did, indeed, make those comments. And given that these allegations have been circulating for several weeks, it's possible Lehane leaked this hoping it would break sooner. But knowing it was going to explode, why would Clark drop out? It doesn't seem to make sense.
And then there's Hesiod's find, that the GOP made this exact charge against Clinton in 1992:
In the final -- absolute final phase of the 1992 campaign when Bush was going down the tubes, he with -- with, I think some push from some of the people around the Bush operation, he was at the time -- he'd been defeated in his primary but he was still the chairman of the House Campaign Committee in him name, and using a statement that he put out at a press conference that he had. They accused Clinton of having an affair with a woman wire service reporter covering his campaign, which was not so.
With so many knives out for Kerry, divining motive is like playing the game Clue.
Again, I think the story -- even if true -- is bullshit. But then again I thought Dean was great. I'm obviously not in the mainstream.
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