Am I overly suspicious? Or is Matt Drudge taking his, shall we say, talking points directly from Karl Rove? Or maybe from Karl Rove, via Ed Gillespie, long-time GOP operative, money-shoveler and incoming chairman of the RNC? Drudge has an over-the-fold headline this evening which claims that there's some sort of super smackdown brewing between Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean and DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe.
For all I know the two may hate each other, I have no idea. Dean has pissed a bunch of people off in DC.
But look at the key quote in Drudge's 'story' about Dean's alleged intention to fire McAuliffe.
"We'll make a change there immediately ," a top Dean source said of the DNC leadership. "I think it is important, as does Howard, to mark a new beginning, cut ties from the past."
This 'quotation' suggests a pretty short list of possibilities. Either people in the Dean campaign are incredible morons or this is a bogus quote.
Why?
How exactly is Dean going to clean house after -- presumably -- winning the New Hampshire primary? Even though a presidential nominee controls the party apparatus after he gets the nomination, there are a number of reasons why they seldom install their own chairman at the DNC before even winning the presidency. But they certainly don't -- or rather can't -- fire the chairman of the party during the middle of the primary campaign.
Why?
Basically for the same reasons that I've so far refrained from firing New York Times Executive Editor Joe Lelyveld or the fact checker of Ann Coulter's ridiculous new book Treason (of which we'll be saying more soon): because I can't.
Who really gave Drudge that 'quote'?
-- Josh Marshallsome guy from the DNC was on Press/Buchanan a few minutes ago, discussing this very story. he said the SAME thing as Marshall, and they all LAUGHED at him!!!!! Press included!!!!
so the pugs can just make up any old story, put it out there, and it runs as if gospel. when the truth is told, it's RIDiculed. that's preCISEly why Gore lost in 2000. the pugs lied their asses off about just about everything, and the media served as their steno pool, with most dems acting like the Dukakis campaign, forgetting how Carville/Begala/Steph handled the propaganda camppaign aginst WJC in 92. if this continues, there's NO chance at all next year