Video: Fred’s camp thinks Mitt’s camp planted the Politico story?
posted at 5:11 pm on January 3, 2008 by Allahpundit
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Fred’s guy doesn’t want to admit it on camera but Shep, bless his heart, won’t let him get away with the on the record/off the record tapdance. Does Shep’s theory hold up, though? Fred’s people planted the story to generate buzz — despite the huge risk that his caucusers would hear about it on the news, give up, and stay home tonight? It doesn’t even work on Shep’s own terms since Fred hasn’t gone on the air and pounded the table and said he’s not dropping out. He’s denied the Politico story but keeps hedging when asked about New Hampshire. Also, Fred is the least of Romney’s worries right now. If he’s going to go planting stories, he’d try to take out McCain and take some of the air out of his tires before New Hampshire.
For what it’s worth Mary Matalin says Fred’s staying in, come what may. And also for what it’s worth, both Shep and Rich Lowry think the guys who reported the story for Politico are solid. Exit question: How shady does Blunt seem at the end of this clip? Good lord.
Update: Turn the equation around and look at it from Fred’s perspective. If you had to blame someone for planting the story, whom would you choose in order to secure the most electoral advantage? He and McCain are friends so he’s not going to point a finger at him. Huckabee’s wearing his “Christian leader” halo and loudly denouncing negative campaigning (despite Ed Rollins continuing to act like a complete boor) so that’s not likely to fly with voters. The answer is Mitt, whose supporters are most likely to defect to Thompson.
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Yeah Baby! Go Get’em Fred!
Ex-tex on January 3, 2008 at 5:16 PM
Politico had a guy on 10 minutes later and said that his information for the story came from multiple high-level members of the Thompson campaign and he was certain that no other campaign (including the Romney campaign) was involved in giving him information that he based his post on.
davenp35 on January 3, 2008 at 5:18 PM
Neener, neener, neener.
fogw on January 3, 2008 at 5:18 PM
Fred’s gotta win tonight. If for no other reason that this.
Go Fred! Good luck tonight.
ulyses on January 3, 2008 at 5:21 PM
Dang between this and the interview with the Marine, I may have to reevaluate my view of Shep. That was terrific work.
It means little, but I would also say that I think Mike Allen is an above average reporter. Mr. Martin I’m not as familiar with.
Spirit of 1776 on January 3, 2008 at 5:22 PM
Dude, what kind of drugs have infested the water systems down there in the big Lone Star State? Delusional much?
Zetterson on January 3, 2008 at 5:23 PM
…did Mary Matalin just say Chris Wallace sounded like Dan Rather?
SECOND LOOK AT MARY MATALIN!
MadisonConservative on January 3, 2008 at 5:26 PM
On a side note: Mary Matalin was just on Fox. She was asked by Wallace to say that if Fred finishes fourth he still absolutely won’t drop out. She only said “what Fred’s been saying” and that they’ll finish strong.
amerpundit on January 3, 2008 at 5:26 PM
Raised $2 million over the holidays?
Fred ain’t broke. He’s waiting in the weeds.
Go Fred!!
/s/
csdeven on January 3, 2008 at 5:28 PM
Yeah, she also just said “no one else” has the national security experience Thompson does…
amerpundit on January 3, 2008 at 5:28 PM
Why would Mitt plant that story? Mitt’s only really gone after Huck or McCain…. and he’s shown willingness to do the contrast ads. Hucks the one with the record of shady dealings off the record.
Rollins, btw, is a complete ignoramus. How is Huck going to project the “I’m so saintly and never negative” persona with Rollins flapping his mouth constantly?
Vanceone on January 3, 2008 at 5:30 PM
Yep
bnelson44 on January 3, 2008 at 5:37 PM
One thing is clear, sooner rather than later Politico will have to reveal their source, the longer they wait, the worse it looks for them.
What’s with this weird underhanded stuff?
I don’t think Mitts people could be behind the push polling and “I quit” bombs.
Is there a stealth operative out there no one knows about?
ChrisM on January 3, 2008 at 5:38 PM
Exactly.
Maybe Karen Hanretty pushed the story to Larry Craig, who slipped it under the toilet stall and handed it off to Jonathan Martin at Politico.
Seriously though, maybe they’re hoping to get a lot of last minute contributions to his campaign to keep the scenario of him dropping out from coming true, without having to overtly ask for donations?
Didn’t doriengrey say something to the effect that Fred’s trying to follow a noble path and keep money out of politics? Or maybe I misunderstood.
Buy Danish on January 3, 2008 at 5:38 PM
Why not? It is a simple plant. If the source is not detected it won’t hurt Mitt one bit. It is dirty politics, but we are seeing a lot of that out of the Romney and Huck campaigns so far this election.
bnelson44 on January 3, 2008 at 5:38 PM
Dunno, but I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth, let him torpedo Huck himself.
Bad Candy on January 3, 2008 at 5:38 PM
Get over yourself. The editor from Politico said he knows they were IN the Thompson campaign and were high-level campaigners. Their identities are known.
davenp35 on January 3, 2008 at 5:43 PM
Blunt looked like a complete DINGUS in that clip.
He can’t even subdue his goofy-ass smirk, he looks like the cat that just ate the bird.
omnipotent on January 3, 2008 at 5:43 PM
Then give names or lose any shred of credibility that rag has left.
omnipotent on January 3, 2008 at 5:44 PM
I don’t know that they ever have to reveal their source. Do they? Isn’t that all part of the deep throat arrangement that newspapers enjoy?
Jonathan Martin is also the one who broke the Push-Polling story. I do agree that I don’t think Mitt is behind this. Even if they would stoop to this sort of stuff, the benefits don’t outnumber the risks, and Mitt is the king of that sort of analysis.
Buy Danish on January 3, 2008 at 5:44 PM
Couple of endorsements today:
Jim Robinson, founder of Free Republic has endorsed Fred. Here’s part of his endorsement.
Jay Tea at Wizbang will be voting for Fred in New Hampshire next week
bnelson44 on January 3, 2008 at 5:45 PM
It doesn’t have to be Mitt. Just someone on his campaign.
bnelson44 on January 3, 2008 at 5:47 PM
How does this benefit the Romney campaign? Fred isn’t even a threat right now, and he might want Fred to be his Veep, so it seems completely pointless, and the risks are huge.
Buy Danish on January 3, 2008 at 5:48 PM
I don’t think he will, but I think Rollins is also concerned with making sure Republicans know HE is the campaign manager of the top polling candidate. A story of ‘redemption’ if you will undercut by personal ego.
It doesn’t a lot of sense to me either. Again the same question applies – what will the effect of a story like this be. In 04 vis a vis FL, would indicate it would suppress turnout. I don’t see that would make a difference among the top two. It only makes sense if they were to switch.
The only thing it matches up with is the theme that the media is against Fred. But it seems impossibly imprudent for Fred’s camp to play that card on the day of or before the caucus.
Spirit of 1776 on January 3, 2008 at 5:49 PM
Politico has creditability? Who knew…
doriangrey on January 3, 2008 at 5:50 PM
I guarantee you that his campaign uses the same methods of risk versus benefit.
I do have a purely speculative theory that the operative could be a disgruntled former campaign worker who knows enough about the operation to reveal inside stuff, and knows how to get through to Jonathan Martin.
What is missing from that scenario is who pays for the operative to operate so it’s probably a stupid theory.
Buy Danish on January 3, 2008 at 5:52 PM
Since the topic here seems to be “wild ass guesses”- I got one:
Allah- is this a photo of you 2nd from the left??? Are you David All? Just wonderin’.
http://townhall.com/blog/g/81ac4a41-8779-4e42-b890-84c987b517dd
Because if:
Erick is Redstate.
Bluey is Redstate.
Ruffini is Townhall.
Then who the hel* is David All??? maybe Allahpundit???
Ex-tex on January 3, 2008 at 5:54 PM
There is a lot of support for Fred over at FR…
doriangrey on January 3, 2008 at 5:54 PM
The more I think about this story, and ask the cui bono question, the answer to the question is:
Fred.
He benefits by making it appear that Romney is up to no good. He may hope to spin off some Romney voters tonight to bounce his numbers up high enough to stay in at least through NH.
Of course that would screw up my theory that Mitt may want Fred as a Veep.
Buy Danish on January 3, 2008 at 5:57 PM
“look at it from Fred’s perspective”
The story is a fabricated lie, so NAME THE DAMNED SOURCE!
Thompson’s style is up front, both hands on the table. Even Thompson’s campaign manager appears to have the same decency as Fred to refrain from naming names while they are collecting evidence. Thompson’s experience researching will uncover this malicious trail.
Romney’s style IS fabrication. 1) He “saw” what never happened and delivered lies repeatedly. 2) The Mormon topic push-poll was accomplished by a Provo, Utah firm with owner/employee alliance as supporters of Mitt’s campaign. Is this an example of Romney’s executive experience as a leader that his followers crow about?
We shall see what comes of the saboteur.
maverick muse on January 3, 2008 at 5:57 PM
Maverick Muse: Either name your proof that Romney is involved. And name it now. Or shut the heck up. You still haven’t, that I am aware of, gone on the record as opposing the idea that Mormons should be driven by military force out of the US.
That seems to be your thoughts. So prove your insinuations against Romney with FACTS or just shut up.
Vanceone on January 3, 2008 at 6:03 PM
I think it is gonna be a Fredalanche!©
1.Fred
2.Mitt
3.Huck
4.Paul
5.hunt
6.Rude
or
1.Mitt
2.Fred
3.Huck
4.Paul
5.hunt
6.Rude
What ever happens, I think Fred is gonna surprise some folks.
TheSitRep on January 3, 2008 at 6:04 PM
Hmmm, me thinks the Romney crowd doth protest to much…
doriangrey on January 3, 2008 at 6:05 PM
What did I tell ya?
NickTx on January 3, 2008 at 6:08 PM
cs is being sarcastic…
doriangrey on January 3, 2008 at 6:09 PM
I know but I stand by my theory on the strategy.
NickTx on January 3, 2008 at 6:10 PM
What’s your take? Think Politico ran with that at the behest of the Romney camp or think Politico just spun it up itself? I’m not seeing a silver lining for anyone really…
Spirit of 1776 on January 3, 2008 at 6:11 PM
Who stands to gain from leaking that story? BIG PICTURE: FRED DOES in the short term
NickTx on January 3, 2008 at 6:14 PM
IF it stimulates his supporters to go to the polls. Plus it gives him an excuse to call for a mulligan if he shows poorly. But I don’t think Fred is the kind of guy to pull a stunt like the latter and the former seems very tricky to me with no assurance. Of course, it’s the same guy that the other day said Fox was biased…still, that’s quite a gamble.
Spirit of 1776 on January 3, 2008 at 6:20 PM
It sure stimulated lots of face time for THE FRED in the
MSM. They all ran flocking and gave him a platform to deny it among other things.
NickTx on January 3, 2008 at 6:24 PM
That seems consistent. If politico has to name it’s sources or shut up, then everyone should.
csdeven on January 3, 2008 at 6:25 PM
Dont forget, it was Politico that said the Breck Girl would jump out of the race last March.
How’d that work out?
broker1 on January 3, 2008 at 6:26 PM
Fred’s denial had about the same energy that his campaign had. I don’t think it changes anything.
csdeven on January 3, 2008 at 6:26 PM
My take is that I don’t have a clue who started this rumor. Personally after the hat trick by Politico I simply don’t trust Politico to be objective or unbiased. Worse yet is the Drudge factor coming into play, various bloggers running with the story with zero verification.
As far as I can tell the story was designed to harm the Thompson campaign, not give it a backhanded boost. It does not seem consistent with the manner in which Fred has portrayed himself or with the campaigning tactics he has thus far employed.
There are other candidates who have employed some very sneaky and dirty tactics. Some of those candidates are even republicans. Personally however my inclination would be to look further down the road than which republicans would benefit from Fred being hurt this early on. I am shall we say casting suspicious glances across the as it were.
Not that I would want to name names *cough Hillary cough* but I tend to look at this from a stand point of… Which candidate thus far appears to have the greatest proclivity for extremely long range planning and tactics and consistently employees underhanded and dirty tricks of this nature.
doriangrey on January 3, 2008 at 6:28 PM
Quite so. That theory is certainly an option and if the reporters do the credibility implied, it would seem to be at least likely. Just seems like a pretty significant gamble to me. But then, what do they really have to lose.
Spirit of 1776 on January 3, 2008 at 6:30 PM
Sounds to me like Fred’s opposition is scared to death about the outcome tonight! Fred is gaining and they are literally “Spinning” their wheels.
Go FRED. Shock the World!!!
Nelsa on January 3, 2008 at 6:31 PM
And here is Politicos standards on reporting a blog item and real news:
Doesn’t reporting what you know when you know it indeed break the standards of accuracy and fairness?
broker1 on January 3, 2008 at 6:33 PM
Agreed as regarding manner/tactics.
Ah. Hadn’t thought of that, but that seems as likely as anything. Help kill the baby in the crib so to speak. That could be it.
Spirit of 1776 on January 3, 2008 at 6:33 PM
Yup, everybody including Hillary knows that the democratic nomination is hers to lose and always has been. So from a strategic tactical point of view what the Clinton machine needs to do is eliminate the republican candidates that they least want to face as soon as possible or when ever a opportunity might present itself.
Making Iowa voters think that Fred has already decided to drop out would achieve both goals.
doriangrey on January 3, 2008 at 6:42 PM
Jaun Williams thinks Huck can be the president.
Wowza!
csdeven on January 3, 2008 at 6:46 PM
Williams of WaPo? He is not be trusted as an analyst.
Spirit of 1776 on January 3, 2008 at 6:48 PM
Aha!
Doriengrey,
I get it! Fred’s long term tactics and planning are great, it’s just the short one’s he has difficulty with! I don’t see what Hillary gains now, except to hope the all our candidates get in a cat fight and hopelessly tarnish each other before we get to the general election.
Buy Danish on January 3, 2008 at 6:51 PM
Of course he does, just like every morning David Schuster fawns over Huckaboom. They dont have Bush to bash in the race so the closest thing would be Huck. An evangelical that they will beat over the head and claim “Do the American People want another Bush in office proclaiming God talks to him?”
broker1 on January 3, 2008 at 6:52 PM
I know him from NPR. He is on Brit’s round table every day.
csdeven on January 3, 2008 at 6:54 PM
Agreed. Huck is a win/win for the dems.
csdeven on January 3, 2008 at 6:54 PM
Hmmm, and yet you wonder why anyone would suspect the Romney campaign of something like this when he has supporters like you and cs and tommyboy…I just cant imagine why either…
doriangrey on January 3, 2008 at 6:56 PM
That’s because all of the OPEN BORDERS ZEALOTS are pushing for The Huckster, McCain, and Giuliani….BIG TIME. I hope Romney beats their asses…
DfDeportation on January 3, 2008 at 6:56 PM
You should have seen Carl Cameron on FOXNEWS this morning. Was pushing for the OPEN BORDERS ZEALOT candidates while visiting a cafe with Hillary’s people and Mayor Tony “Family Man” Villar in tow…It’s obvious….Mormon Jihad…ha ha ha
DfDeportation on January 3, 2008 at 6:58 PM
Put your hand on the screen and be healed brother…
DfDeportation on January 3, 2008 at 7:00 PM
From EIBs website:
broker1 on January 3, 2008 at 7:06 PM
Oh, sorry. I’m thinking of Eugene Robinson I think from MSNBC. What an embarrassing mistake on my part. Apologies.
Spirit of 1776 on January 3, 2008 at 7:08 PM
You caught me! I’m the undercover operative who has been doing all these dastardly deeds.
Tommy is waiting until Florida when Rudy jumps in. The lucky dog, I wanted sunny Florida but got stuck with Iowa where I’m freezing my blank off.
Buy Danish on January 3, 2008 at 7:09 PM
Sorry here is the whole quote from Rush
broker1 on January 3, 2008 at 7:11 PM
No need for you to come clean, I have 8 x 10 fully color photo glossies with lines and arrows and paragraph on the back describing what each one is about… :P
doriangrey on January 3, 2008 at 7:11 PM
That was a great quote – I heard Rush read it today.
That should be his stump speech, instead of all that stuff about his red truck.
I am cleverly disguised to look like a PaulNut.
Buy Danish on January 3, 2008 at 7:27 PM
That’s cool. Now I know Robinson isn’t to be trusted.
csdeven on January 3, 2008 at 7:45 PM
Shemp is not trustworthy.
saved on January 3, 2008 at 8:10 PM
Hey, let’s hear it for conspiracy theories!
It’s only important to come in strong, not win in Iowa. The ones who have to fear Fred! the most are the democrats, and based on their track record, rumor planting is certainly not beneath them. In fact, I wouldn’t put it past the Dems to have started one or more of the shenanigans now blamed on various Repub campaigns to give the impression that the Repubs are all a bunch of bumbling, corrupt bozos. Look how easy it is to do — just call the Politico. The Politico should be ashamed of itself for their Beauchamp standards of journalism. It matters not, however: after so many wrong stories on Fred! they have zero credibility except as a propaganda organ for inside attacks, and Fred! can refer to this fact again and again, as needed.
This may well be a good thing for Fred! in the long run: by his actions, he can destroy the story of him backing out he seems to be the only one coming out this with any cred.
Aardvark on January 3, 2008 at 8:53 PM
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