Gore Aide Says DUI Story Cost Bush The Popular Vote!

Newsmax.com

[Retired Chemist]

NewsMax.com

Wednesday June 19, 2002; 12:19 p.m. EDT

Chris Lehane: DWI Story Cost Bush Popular Vote

The 11th-hour campaign revelation that then-GOP presidential candidate George W. Bush had been arrested in Maine in 1976 for driving under the influence of alcohol gave Al Gore the boost he needed to claim the popular vote in the 2000 presidential election, Gore's former campaign spokesman Chris Lehane admitted late Tuesday.

"Obviously, I think it did have an impact on the election," Lehane told WABC Radio's John Batchelor and Paul Alexander.

"It was a very close election. All of our internal polls show that it was literally a dead heat," the former top Goreman added. "I think there was a small percentage but a critical percentage of people who were literally themselves up in the air until the last 24 hours.

"And when the DWI story broke, for a lot of people who were on the fence trying to figure out which way to go, that sort of pushed them to towards Gore. They had real reservations about Bush's judgment and whether he was up to the job."

Lehane's comments underscored the importance of the all-but-forgotten DWI story, which many suspected was a Democrat dirty trick designed to throw Bush off balance during the final days of the campaign.

Instead, "Beer-gate," as the media dubbed the Bush DWI story, caused Bush's slim nationwide lead to evaporate overnight and precipitated the 37-day Florida recount fiasco that still has Democrats grousing Gore was robbed.

As NewsMax reported at the time, there was ample reason to believe that the bombshell was a strategically timed leak that had Gore campaign fingerprints all over it.

Clearly somebody was pushing very hard to get the 24-year-old DWI story on Big Media's radar screen, a story which had already been passed up by the Associated Press and had received glancing coverage by PBS weeks earlier.

"There is something of a mystery that has unfolded since we broke the story," reported Fox News Channel's Carl Cameron just four days before the election.

"And that is that part of the arrest record and the state of Maine's documentation of George Bush's driving record and arrest record in Maine was faxed to news agencies all over the country after we were on the air with it at 6 o'clock Eastern time."

Cameron said he had no idea who was behind the Bush DWI blast fax, but former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming didn't have any doubts.

"If anybody doesn't believe that this came right out of Gore headquarters, you ought to sprinkle some Peter Pan twinkle dust on them," he told CNBC's Chris Matthews.

Newsweek's Howard Finemen said Democrats appeared ready to pounce on the Bush DWI report, with a prepared strategy to revive allegations about his involvement in "other drug related incidents." (See: Bush DUI Info Blast-Faxed Around the Country; Dems Ready to Pounce.)

The next day Tom Connolly, a Bush-hating Gore delegate from Maine, told reporters that he had tried to fax court records of the DWI arrest to Gore campaign headquarters a week earlier.

But he claimed he gave up after just one try because the line was busy.

Instead, Connolly said, he gave his DWI documentation to Fox News' Portland, Maine, affiliate WPXT, where reporter Erin Fehlau broke the news locally.

There it remained until someone blast-faxed the Bush court documents into every newsroom in America. (See: Beer-gate Alibi Unravels for Gore Dirty Trickster.)

The question of who was behind the blast fax effort remains a mystery, but whoever it was succeeded in turning the 2000 election into a constitutional crisis.

Now that Chris Lehane has acknowledged that "Beer-gate" was key to Gore claiming to win the popular vote (if you include all those illegitimate Democrat votes by illegal aliens and unregistered voters), perhaps it's time for GOP to start crying, "We was robbed!"

Reproduced with the permission of NewsMax.com. All rights reserved.

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[Recovering_Democrat]

Chris LeHeinous: is he still working for Grayout Davis? Chrissy boy made me sick everytime I saw him on the tube. Glad he's out of the public eye.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

.

[fhayek]

If Gore gets the nomination in '04, then one might ask the following question: Who should we be more wary of, a man who had a few too many beers a quarter century ago, or a man who would try to impune his political opponents in order to achieve power?

[PJ-Comix]

There was also a Maine judge who made the records available to that Duckboy Cap Connolly. As I remember the Judge was once in photos all over the world on the news services because he STREAKED a girl's school. Does anybody out there remember the real name of Judge Streaker and what that idiot (and Duckboy) is doing today?

[Vidalia]

Who the Bloody F cares???

[Lee_Atwater]

Does anybody out there remember the real name of Judge Streaker and what that idiot (and Duckboy) is doing today?

They have "jobs" at the DNC.

[Vidalia]

I must reiterate. My previous was not directed at the poster, but at the subject matter.

[PhiKapMom]

Something else costs the popular vote too and probably even more so -- all those uncounted absentee ballots in states where the election outcome would not have changed. They were not counted along with a lot of military ballots that were not counted. I called the OK Election Board and found out that Oklahoma was one of the few states that counted all ballots including absentee and military even if they made no difference in the outcome of the race!

Since the majority of absentee ballots usually go Republican it is a safe bet that those 1 million plus absentee ballots in CA and other places would have given Pres Bush the popular vote.

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

And when the DWI story broke,

Translation: "When we leaked the DWI story in a strategically timed manner"

[ned]

Lesson: Never let the opposition pick the time for your bad news to come out.

[soozla]

LeHane's sister worked OVERTIME digging up this crap on W, because the Dems were SOOOO desperate for SOMETHING....ANYTHING.....and they still are!!!!!!

Somebody, please refresh our memories on LeHane's "lawyer" sister's connection to this festering compost heap...and, might I add...25 year old "news"......she was involved in it bigtime, if I recall.

[PJ-Comix]

I just found out that the judge who fed Duckboy the DUI info on Bush is named William Childs who briefly achieved fame in 1974 as a Streaker in a girls school. A news photo of his Streak flashed around the world on the wire services. Does anybody know what Judge Streaker is doing nowadays?

[river rat]

Right, and being a dumb ass - cost Algore the election.
Semper Fi

[mamelukesabre]

....and then sell out our national security to the red chinese.

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

Uhhhhh it took them this long to think of something so utterly stupid as this!

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

that to.

[Exit148]

They are bringing this up now? Sounds like they are grabbing for anything to put Gore in the news.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

You're exactly right. Bush has taken command of not only the US response to terrorism but also the cynically driven news cycle, especially with Jeb in Florida.
Please, Al, please oh pretty please, please run again. Bet you don't carry Tennessee this time, either.

[RobbyS]

Old news, except that the trickster has admitted what everyone knew.

[vbmoneyspender]

Instead, "Beer-gate," as the media dubbed the Bush DWI story, caused Bush's slim nationwide lead to evaporate overnight and precipitated the 37-day Florida recount fiasco that still has Democrats grousing Gore was robbed.

I wonder if Gore and his supporters are Sacramento Kings' fans?

[jocko12]

GORE YOU LOST ANY WAY!!!!

[willyone]

The big question is why did Bush and his handlers not disclose the DUI arrest during the campaign. Surely they know that unless you are a Dem. there are no secrets. I do not believe that Bush has picked the brightest lights as his close advisors.

[UncleJeff]

Worth asking why they lied about it until the records were released.

[nutmeg]

bump

[Timesink]

There was a poll done by somebody - can't remember who - immediately after Election Day that got buried underneath all the Florida coverage. It showed quite clearly that the Beergate leak sent several percentage points' worth of "undecideds" over to the Gore column. It's because of that poll that I give liberals no room to even ATTEMPT to argue that "Bush stole the election." As far as I'm concerned, even if Bush HAD stolen it (which of course he did not), the absolutely evil tactics of the Gore team meant all the rules would have given him carte blanche to do so. Once the Gore people intentionally leaked that information, the gloves were off and it became total war.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

Actual title: Chris Lehane: DWI Story Cost Bush Popular Vote

[MS.BEHAVIN]

I don't know what he's up to, but I'll find out!

Do you remember "Duckbill" Connolly crying on the news, that people were leaving nasty messages on his machine and so on? Wah!

On the news broadcast, someone flipped him off and yelled obscene remarks on camera! Priceless!

[RDangerfield]

Uncle Jeff: Worth asking why they lied about it until the records were released.

Good point. Another thing that is weird. Who was the dim bulb on Bush's staff who changed Bush's driver's license number in order to cover up the conviction? One of Karl Rove's crew or Karen's?
--Raoul

[Exigence]

Lehane's comments underscored the importance of the all-but-forgotten DWI story, which many suspected was a Democrat dirty trick designed to throw Bush off balance during the final days of the campaign.

Only idiots -- and the mainstream press -- "suspect" this was a Dem dirty trick. The rest of us *know* it was.

[jeremiah]

If Nevadans had not been lied to about the transportation and storage of Nuclear wastes by candidate Bush, Nevada possibly would have gone Gore, GW would have lost. He lied when he said science would decide the fate of Nuclear wastes, not politics. Well the stuff is going to Nevada, with no change in the science, he will not win Nevada again. I don't know what difference it will make in 04, but it will make some.

[wai-ming]

If the DUI cost Bush the "popular vote," then he (Bush) would have won the popular vote if the Dems hadn't "leaked" that information the week before the election.

So they expect us to believe that the DUI revelation was what "defeated" George W. Bush?

Are the American people that stupid? They chose Clinton, who "raped" a woman 14 years before his election, and continued to harrass women and lie about it thereafter. But they didn't chose Bush, who had a DUI 24 years prior to his election, and has subsequently changed his ways.

Algore wants us to believe that by "exposing" Bush's record of bad behavior, he (Algore) "won" the popular vote. Even though Clinton was elected by hiding his own (in my opinion, much worse) criminal acts.

This tells us more about Algore, the Democrats and their tactics than it does about President Bush.

[Texasforever]

Well the stuff is going to Nevada, with no change in the science, he will not win Nevada again. I don't know what difference it will make in 04, but it will make some.

Nevada is the perfect location. Hell half the state is already radioactive and the other half is just the nation's red light district.

[snag_matic]

And probably cost Republican senate seats in Washington and Michigan.

[UncleJeff]

If it had been an untrue "smear" I could understand why it was a "dirty trick", but it was true and Bush's people lied about it and tried to cover it up. How is that algore's fault??

[Exigence]

Bush's people lied about it and tried to cover it up

Lied about it? Tried to cover it up? Those are pretty harsh accusations for what looks like something that just wasn't mentioned -- a far cry from lying and cover up. Unless of course you're a Dem or a liberal journalist or Hillary Clinton...

Give me a break! It was twenty four years ago and in a court record that, if I remember correctly, was accessed inappropriately or leaked inappropriately by someone with an AGENDA.

Besides, the dirty trick was the timing. Someone with an honest concern would have tossed the question out in the beginning, not during one of the few remaining news cycles at the end of a campaign. That made is nothing more than a dirty politically motivated trick.