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Republicans tie Daschle to Iraqi Info Minister
2003-05-09
From Josh Marshall - EFL

If you’ve ever needed a textbook example of the psychological theory of projection, it’s those GOP operatives and their dingbat jihad against Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle.

It all got under way in 2001 when GOP pollster Frank Luntz sent around a memo urging Republicans to “Gingrich” the then-majority leader. Since then, they have spent their off-hours scouring the pages of Dante’s Inferno for epithets florid enough for the wild-eyed South Dakota Democrat.

Last year, most Daschle-bashers focused on ousting his protégé, Sen. Tim Johnson. Then-Rep. John Thune’s campaign tried to do it with cooked-up charges of “massive voter fraud” on the state’s Indian reservations, a “scandal” that eventually collapsed under the weight of its own insubstantiality.

The real shenanigans came after Election Day, when a group of Thune lawyers mounted its own voter-fraud “investigation” by assembling some 50 affidavits detailing all manner of alleged irregularities and illegalities. The state’s Republican attorney general decided that only three of the 50 affidavits alleged anything illegal. And the Argus Leader’s David Kranz, the dean of South Dakota political reporters, found that even those three had some rather fishy origins.

Republican lawyers had “pre-worded” a stack of affidavits alleging a very specific vote-buying incident. They gave them to Kim Vanneman, a GOP county party chairwoman, who then traveled through the Rosebud Indian reservation, more or less seeing if anyone might be willing to sign one. Of those three affidavits, the attorney general found that one was made up, another was forged and the signer of a third couldn’t be located.

That pretty much put an end to the GOP’s probe into Democratic “fraud.” But now the Daschle-bashers are revving up for ’04.

Last week, a group of GOP operatives ran an ad in the Argus Leader comparing Daschle to Iraq’s infamous Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf. That reminded locals of an ad from last year tying Daschle to Saddam Hussein.

Posted by:liberalhawk

#17  CC: the Hart thing was on his foreign policy gripes, and mostly on-topic -- I mean the only reason the guy ever got back in the spotlight anyway was his presence on the pre-9/11 terror commission. On the other hand, some of your previous days' posts were pretty OT, though I'd say "innocently" rather than deliberately so... (Not that this is justification, it just makes 'em less annoying.)
Posted by: someone   2003-05-09 19:27:02  

#16  Someone:

It appears that LH flew away for today. In his defense I think his posting of this article and using a WOT tie-in was facetious and was a dig at non-WOT postings such as mine on Gary Hart on this page.
Posted by: ColoradoConservative   2003-05-09 16:59:40  

#15  LiberalHawk, I think CC's problem with the 93% vote for Johnson was the fact that it hasn't been that big in past elections, (heavily D for sure, just not that heavy)for other races in that election, (not much of an indicator, I know)
not that disproportionate in other reservations near that one, (not much of an indicator either)and a huge turnout. That last one is what gets everybodies fishy indicator blinkin'. Mine you ask? Nope. I see what gets the righties going, but in lefties defense, they campaigned there. Heavily.
Posted by: Mike N.   2003-05-09 16:45:55  

#14  ok - susan sarandon is an idiot.

George Galloway should be marched through Kurdistan.

Dixie chicks - help me, id hardly heard of them before this all started - does that make me an east coast elitist???? I will say i dont own any of their recordings - is that enough of a statement?? :) (thank goodness the Chicago Symphony hasnt made any such outrageous statements)

And Christopher Hitchens is a really cool guy, and a great basher of idiotarians.

Posted by: liberalhawk   2003-05-09 16:23:55  

#13  Err, cause usually im posting on the situation in Iraq, pakistan or whereever. Theres plenty of people jumping on left idiotarians - if you really dont know my stand i can jump in if you want.

No one else is posting this - so i thought id put it in - i thought you liked diversity?
Posted by: liberalhawk   2003-05-09 16:20:25  

#12  By the way, how many times have you heard the left compare the President to Hitler? How come such stalwarts as LiberalHawk don't jump all over these people?
Posted by: ColoradoConservative   2003-05-09 16:14:25  

#11  "If you are a hawk on the war, you would want a Senator who supports the President - Thune - rather than one who subverts him and marches with the fifth column. "

Excuse me - its possible to be a hawk on the war, and not to find everyone who said something against the presidents policy to be someone who shouldnt be reelected regardless of every other issue. I was hawkish on Kosovo - which many republicans opposed - should i have been against all of them as well?

and to say someone marches with the 5th column, really.

And even if i did oppose daschle for reelection based on foreign policy, why shouldnt i poke fun at people who compare him to saddam and sahaaf?

Even if i was a tax cutter, a free marketer on health insurance, and a gun rights advocate, i wouldnt join in with this politics of viciusness(just as i reject it on the left) - or at least I hope I wouldnt.

Posted by: liberalhawk   2003-05-09 16:12:48  

#10  Let's keep in mind Daschle's undermining of the President as we were preparing for war. If you are a hawk on the war, you would want a Senator who supports the President - Thune - rather than one who subverts him and marches with the fifth column.

Of course, now Daschle has flip-flopped (given his impending election) and has shown his true colors desperately trying to crawl on to the bandwagon. Read Donald Lambro's fine article in the Washinton Times: http://washingtontimes.com/commentary/20030508-70352912.htm

Daschle NOW says Mr. Bush deserves "great credit" for his leadership on the war that was necessary and "justified," he told reporters last week. Why the switch? Mr. Bush's public approval scores on his handling of the war against Iraq and terrorism are in the high 70s and the South Dakota senator is running for re-election in a state where the president is very popular.

Let me underscore the final few words "where the president is very popular".

Posted by: ColoradoConservative   2003-05-09 16:01:16  

#9  "David Kranz, by the way, is and has been for many, many years a close confidante of George McGovern especially when Kranz was the editor at the Mitchell Daily Republic. Again LiberalHawk, I know because that is where I grew up. Kranz is quite biased and leans very hard to the left. He does what he can to keep Senators Johnson and now Daschle in office. See: http://southdakotapolitics.blogspot.com/ which is a very good blog watch on Daschle and his buddy Kranz. "

But of course what Kranz found was backed up by the State AG, so Mcgovernite or not he seems to be a good reporter.
Posted by: liberalhawk   2003-05-09 15:55:55  

#8  "Numbers that would make Richard Daley blush"

and of course Thune one by 6 to 1 in one county in his 96 house race. So does that put Thune into the Daley category as well?

Posted by: liberalhawk   2003-05-09 15:53:48  

#7  'In fact he is a bit of a pariah within the state GOP in South Dakota"

Perhaps because he was associated with John Bobbit and with Mobutu Sese Seko? See, I knew we'd get on topic eventually.
Posted by: liberalhawk   2003-05-09 15:50:05  

#6  "And the Argus Leader’s David Kranz, the dean of South Dakota political reporters, found that even those three had some rather fishy origins."

David Kranz, by the way, is and has been for many, many years a close confidante of George McGovern especially when Kranz was the editor at the Mitchell Daily Republic. Again LiberalHawk, I know because that is where I grew up. Kranz is quite biased and leans very hard to the left. He does what he can to keep Senators Johnson and now Daschle in office. See: http://southdakotapolitics.blogspot.com/ which is a very good blog watch on Daschle and his buddy Kranz.
Posted by: ColoradoConservative   2003-05-09 15:42:32  

#5  "Last week, a group of GOP operatives ran an ad in the Argus Leader comparing Daschle to Iraq’s infamous Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf. That reminded locals of an ad from last year tying Daschle to Saddam Hussein."

The "GOP operative" that Joshua Marshall refers to is Paul Erickson. Paul was also behind the Daschle-Hussein ad last year. I know, and have worked with, Paul in the past. He is NO GOP operative. I can attest to that. In fact he is a bit of a pariah within the state GOP in South Dakota - again LiberalHawk I know as I also was involved with South Dakota GOP activities - and has been publicly disavowed and refuted by Karl Rove. Paul distanced himself many years ago when he campaigned for Pat Buchanan.

Joshua went overboard on this story trying valiantly to tie the nefarious Republicans in on a(everybody say it together) vast right-wing conspiracy.

Posted by: ColoradoConservative   2003-05-09 15:36:36  

#4  "93 % for Johnson (the Democrat) and less than 7 % for Thune. "

on an impoverished indian reservation - ohmigod - it must be fraud!!! you honestly think there are no other counties in the US that go 90% for one party or the other?
Posted by: liberalhawk   2003-05-09 15:34:15  

#3  LiberalHawk:

I am delighted that you posted this. And it is good to see that you are getting with the program.

Here's what another blogspot had to say about Josh Marshall's article:

"Josh Marshall, a notorious Thune-basher, writes about a phone call he recently made to Paul Erickson. Do you suppose David Kranz, Josh Marshall, and Steve Hildebrand (South Dakota Democract) schemed with each other on this story? It's so well-coordinated, isn't it? What a tag-team this bunch makes."
From: http://southdakotapolitics.blogspot.com/

Given that I have swapped a few e-mails with Josh Marshall I can readily attest to the fact that he is indeed a biased Thune-basher.

By the way, that Democratic fraud on the Indian reservations in 2002 was the real deal. The numbers coming in from the last reservation county counted came in something like 93 % for Johnson (the Democrat) and less than 7 % for Thune. Numbers that would make Richard Daley blush. Go sift through the archives at Powerline, another blog focusing on South Dakota politics.
Posted by: ColoradoConservative   2003-05-09 15:30:49  

#2  MSS is much more talented and interesting to listen to than Daschle is. This article is an enormous insult to MSS.
Posted by: Jonesy   2003-05-09 15:30:07  

#1  However, it is true that he cannot call himself a Roman Catholic. And, silly me, that counts, just a little, for something.
Posted by: Chuck   2003-05-09 15:18:31  

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