Ted Re...And you wonder why civil war is about to break out!
OOPs, it seems I need to apologize. I didn't realize you meant the Dems were about to eat their own.
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nbr.co.nz
Senator Kerry's "intern" -- all smoke, no fire
Masachussetts Senator John F Kerry, the obvious front-runner for the nomination by the Democratic Party as its candidate for the November presidential elections, is being hounded by allegations that he conducted a covert, two-year, extra-marital affair with a young woman.
The story, which first broke on Matt Drudge's infamous Drudge Report about four days ago, has been handled very cautiously by most media outlets, even though it smacks of everything required to boost ratings.
And while almost equally infamous conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh immediately claimed that the apparent reluctance of the networks to give the story a full frontal treatment comes from the fact that they have "annointed" Senator Kerry, the truth is more likely that the allegations are unproven -- and, possibly, unprovable.
More, the original story, reported by Drudge, had been being "shopped around" by a top campaign advisor to retired US Army General Wesley Clark prior to Mr Clark's decision to drop out of the race after very weak showings in what should have been states with a large natural constituence for the retired general.
In fact, the retired general was widely regarded as the primary source for the story after he authenticated the planted (and hitherto largely ignored) rumours by telling a reporter -- in what he subsequently maintained was an "off the record" remark -- that the Kerry campaign would "implode" over a sex scandal.
As Matt Drudge reported it on 12 February: "In an off-the-record conversation with a dozen reporters earlier this week, General Wesley Clark plainly stated: "Kerry will implode over an intern issue." [Three reporters in attendance confirm Clark made the startling comments.]
"The Kerry commotion is why Howard Dean has turned increasingly aggressive against Kerry in recent days, and is the key reason why Dean reversed his decision to drop out of the race after Wisconsin, top campaign sources tell the DRUDGE REPORT."
General Clark was partially right in his call about the young woman, who served briefly as an intern in at the Houses of Parliament in London while a student in 1998, but the desire to see a Clinton-Lewinsky level scandal break over the bow of the Kerry juggernaut may have overwhelmed the facts. The woman, identified in several tabloids now as (now variously a 24 or 26-year-old, then, variously, a 22 or 24-year-old) Alex Polier, met the senator just after graduating from the very prestigious Columbia University and while she was working for the Associated Press on a freelance basis.
Since she would not have been on the senator's payroll, the "scandal" is at best one of a cross-generational extra-marital dalliance, not something that is likely to shake the campaign very deeply.
But some sources continue to milk the story as though it held the reins of ruin for Senator Kerry.
"This is not going to go away," one American friend of Miss Polier said on Valentine's Day, according to The Telegraph. "What actually happened is much nastier than is being reported."
Ms Polier is now said to be in Kenya with her fiance and not returning calls from the media.
The Drudge Report and other outlets have said she "fled" the country, several maintaining that she did so at the senator's request. Other sources contend she is in Kenya on assignment.
Kenya's Daily Nation says Ms Polier "has been in the country for the past few weeks visiting her fiancee, Mr Yaron Schwartzman, who works with FilmStudios, along Nairobi's Ngong Road."
Senator Kerry missed a golden opportunity to scotch the rumours when he was asked, on a national radio programme immediately after the Drudge Report item broke, whether the reports were true.
Instead of denying the rumour directly, he said: "There is nothing to report, nothing to talk about. There's nothing there. There's no story."
He was wrong.
Later that same day, in Wisconsin, the senator attempted to strengthen his denial -- but still couched the denial in terms of the story, rather than the alleged event.
"I just deny it categorically. It's rumor. It's untrue. Period," Kerry told reporters in Wisconsin. "It's not true."
Meanwhile, The Sun has jumped to the purient heart of the matter, publishing a brief story with the headline: "Pic of 'JFK' sex storm girl"
The headshot appears to have been drawn from a student publication.
Still, even The Sun says, ex post titillation: "There is no evidence to support the claims." |
