Hit me with your best shot, part 3

Some great comments on the absurdity of the White House orchestrated attack on General Clark, particularly the story, attributed to Colorado Republicans, that Clark claimed, "seriously," that he would have been a Republican "if Karl Rove had returned my phone calls."

Marshall points out that the Weekly Standard's subsequent revelation that White House records show Clark never called Rove actually discredits the Colorado Republicans who made the claim, not Clark. And commentators at Calpundit notice that, if the White House is suddenly in the business of turning phone records over to journalists, there are a few others we'd like to know about.

I don't intend to get too deep into this, except to point out again that all of today's attacks on Clark are coming from the White House. They're not coming from Dean or the other Democrats, each of whom is paralyzed by the fact that, while Clark is a serious problem for them, they all still believe that they can win the nomination and want to have Clark available as a credible running mate. But the White House must destroy Clark, and must do it now, before he learns not to flinch, before he has the staff in place to handle it, before he has the reputation and name recognition that will partially protect him. So this is it -- the best shot. Maybe they have something better in the works, but it's been almost a year now since I first heard the rumor that the only opponent Rove was really scared of was Clark. So this is what they've come up with in a year, and even twisted and distorted as it is, it's hard to see exactly what the charge even is. Clark's still got a lot to prove, but my biggest worry -- that something in his record would completely discredit him -- is almost gone.

Mark Schmitt

09/23/2003

Hit me with your best shot, part 3

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