Posted on 11/04/2005 4:16:03 AM PST by Hadean
Democrats are lamenting the fact that Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald wasn't able to indict Lewis "Scooter" Libby on Leakgate charges a month before last year's presidential election - a move that Fitzgerald acknowleged was his original plan last Friday.
"I wish the truth had come out one year ago," said Bob Shrum - campaign manager to presidential loser John Kerry - on MSNBC's "Hardball" Thursday night. "Because as Patrick Fitzgerald said, he would have indicted in October of 2004, and you wouldn`t have a [second] Bush administration."
Announcing the Libby indictment on Friday, Fitzgerald made it clear that he wanted to spring his Leakgate October Surprise a year earlier - at the eleventh hour of the 2004 presidential campaign:
"I would have wished nothing better that, when the subpoenas were issued in August 2004, [that] witnesses testified then, and we would have been here in October 2004 instead of October 2005," he told reporters.
Instead, the top Leakgate prober blamed the New York Times and other media outlets for not cooperating in an expeditious manner, which delayed his investigation beyond the presidential election. Four days before the 1992 presidential election, a similar scenario played out - when Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh indicted Reagan Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger in the Iran-Contra case.
Before news of Weinberger's indictment, polls showed that President Bush 41's reelection campaign had narrowed the gap with challenger Bill Clinton to one point.
But the indictment stopped Bush's momentum dead in its tracks, and he lost election, 43 to 37 percent.
Didn't you mention Hillary's October surprise comment to me and wonder if she was referring to Fitzgerald's investigation?
If true, this would have been a violation of the Justice Department's long standing policy of NOT indicting on teh eve of an election. Sucha quote by Fitzgerald is troubling indeed.
Bob Shrum electoral record is worse the San Antonio Saints..
Its always great when you have a special prosecutor who is impartial.
Also why would they have been so glad if they got it released last year. The whole thing with Libby wont amount to a hill of beans. Its all BS to start with.
Same time Joey Wilson was advising Hanoi Kerry.
We need to know the context of the quote. Was someone asking Fitzgerald about why it took two years to wrap up his investigation? If so, "I wish it was done in October 2004 instead of October 2005" is a perfectly legitimate and valid response. He'd just be saying that he wished the investigation had only lasted one year instead of two.
Just an idea.
The whole thing probably won't amount to a hill of beans, but splashy headlines the weekend before the election could very well have had an affect on the average sheep.
Oh, I don't know....Thanks in part to the New Media, I don't think they make sheeple like they used to :)
Tuesday, March 30, 2004 12:36 p.m. EST
Hillary Predicts October Surprise
New York Sen. Hillary Clinton is predicting that this year's presidential election will be very tight and the victor will win because of "something unforeseen."
"It will be very close," the former first lady tells the New York Post's Cindy Adams.
On how the contest will ultimately be decided, Clinton said, "It will be outside forces - something unforeseen that suddenly happens - that tilts the election one way or the other."
In 1992, Clinton's husband won the White House after Reagan Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger was indicted on Iran-Contra charges four days before the vote. Though the indictment was later overturned, the charges were enough to reverse President Bush 41's last-minute surge in the polls to within one point of Clinton.
In 2000 - again four days before the vote - a Democrat operative in Maine uncovered court records from Bush 43's then-24-year-old DUI stop. Bush's 5-point lead in Florida dwindled to a mere 537 votes, with the DUI news making Gore the popular vote winner nationwide.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/3/30/123728.shtml
True, but such a reference to timing was awkward at best, and he had a long time to think about what he was going to say.
FITZGERALD: I can't and I wouldn't. And if I predicted two years ago when it started when it would be done, I would have been done a year ago.
Can we say Devine intervention!!!!!!!!!
I listened to the interview after the indictments and it just sounded to me like he was lamenting that he would have liked to have wrapped it up a year ago but that it was like pulling teeth getting anywhere with the investigation.
Does anyone seriously believe that the MSM would have prevented an October '04 surprise by dragging their feet and stonewalling the investigation?
Who sent ole Joe and why him?
It's amazing to me how much we found out about Ken Starr and how little we know about Patrick Fitzgerald.
Fitz-the Fisherman should have charged the MSM with "Obstruction of Vengeance"...
Wow. The NY Times can now claim responsibility for Bush's re-election.
The irony is delicious.
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