Clarke Cancelled on Hardball -- Why? Why?

[grasswire]

I gave two other hardball threads the suggestion to change their title so that DU-ers will know that Clarke cancelled his appearance on Hardball today.

They didn't change the title, so I'm opening this so the news will get out.

This could be very significant. We need to know why he postponed until Wednesday.

Did he hear something about an ambush? Did he do it to throw Tweety off base? What?

[madrchsod]

1. i think he was supposed to be

on stewart but i think he`s not showing up their either.something must have came up that he can`t make the shows.....

[leftchick]

2. I sensed tweety is a little pissed about it too...

Am I wrong?

[Catholic Sensation]

5. I would be pissed if someone cancelled on me the day of taping

[LiviaOlivia]

3. I wonder if it has something to do with The Daily Show?

I recall last week or the week before that Jon Stewart made a comment
about Bishop Tutu and Hardball. Apparently Matthews told Tutu that
he couldn't go on The Daily Show prior to appearing on Hardball.

Maybe Matthews pulled the same shit with Clarke.

[JanMichael]

4. Perhaps, I know it's crazy but, maybe he has a cold?

The flu?

An ear infection?

A personal matter?

I know that all sounds preposterous but...

[scarletwoman]

8. Oh, I don't know... What about death threats from the BFEE? (n/t)

[JanMichael]

40. Look I'm as crazed a Socialist as you'll find here but whilst a BFEE...

...threat is entirely possible other possibilities are also plausible.

I'd love to think that they've once again crossed the line but until we know more I guess it's all conjecture.

I suppose that's my point...

[scarletwoman]

48. Oh I agree with you, actually.

I just threw that out there in a fit of dark humor. Figured one bit of speculation was as good as another.

Truth is, I think he's probably just worn out and needs a bit of a break.

Besides, it was really my evil twin that posted that... Yeah, that's the ticket... :evilgrin:

sw

[grasswire]

10. No. Can't be.

I'd like to think the best, but I always must fear the worst.

The worst would be that someone got to him like they got to O'Neill.

The next worst would be that he blinked.

The most likely is that he had an exchange with Tweety or a producer that pissed one or the other of them off.

[klyon]

42. or maybe

he needed to talk or did talk to a lawyer
suits maybe filed I heard?
lying to congress or something like that

kl

[JanMichael]

47. "Lying to Congress"? That'd be Bush, Rice, Rumsfeld and the rest of those

...lying sacks of shit.

Nah, I don't buy it.

[Mari333]

6. Image the toll it would take on you if you were being crucified

daily , by these thugs and criminals in the WH. This man must be so tired he can barely stand up. When he was on MTP, his voice sounded hoarse from saying the same things over and over and dealing with these idiot press corps who are attacking his character and refusing to discuss the issues.
God Bless Richard Clarke.

[mzmolly]

49. Agreed. It's time for a petition to thank him!

Who wants to get it going? ;)

[Imalittleteapot]

7. Didn't Tweety say Clarke will be on HB on Wed?

Maybe Clarke is sick.

[nostamj]

11. maybe

he's just EXHAUSTED?

[nostamj]

9. he just had a wingnut 9/11 father

let him spew a lot of crap but.. at the end said: we don't agree

and then listed:

where are the WMD
why weren't the Iraqis glad to see us

and on and on like a DUer...

i'm confused!

[eleny]

13. not to worry

tweezer just keeps his cheeks squarely on the fence and then he just leans a little to one side or the other, depending. kind of like an ass-cheek hokey pokey dance. you remember those!

[countmyvote4real]

17. Don't drink the kool-aid!

That father was spooky. Totally "washed in the blood." (My term, he didn't say that.) Didn't care about facts or the motives for Iraq. At the LI dedication he had an exchange with * and felt like they were brothers.

puke

[TacticalPeek]

19. Brain was washed away.

He said we should have attacked Saddam after the Cole! LOL!

(Actually, in the Shrub world, I think this weird thought is consistent. :( )

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

28. Yeah..this guy was a Bush fan 100%. Probably was before, too.

Pretty cheezy.

[DemoTex]

32. Wing-nut dad is the mayor of a Long Island village, if I heard correctly.

If he is/was an elected official, Tweety was very remiss in not identifying his party affiliation (like there was any doubt). At least Richard Clarke was up-front with his.

[BiggJawn]

54. I kind of felt sorry for the guy...

Yeah, I know, how unlike me, but I did. And I'll tell you why.

He lost a son "in the North Tower". Now, he HAS to believe that BushCo did everything they could to prevent this, and that TWAT (The WAR Against Terra<tm> ) is a just war, being fought soley to avenge his son.

I think his brain would melt-down if he ever realized that the guy he saw on LI, the "Regular Dude" he would prolly like to have a brewski with, LIHOP and was responsible for his son's death.

They HAVE to believe Clarke is a greedy self-serving partisan bastard. to believe otherwise would cause a scream I could hear all the way to here in corn country.

[Blasphemer]

12. Possibility...

Maybe he's gotten word that Rove has something coming tomorrow or the day after and he wants to respond AFTER it happens.

[CatWoman]

14. Hey -- Ron Suskind is on

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

27. that was a bonus....I was waiting for Suskind to jump in

...given his role in the O'Neill book and White House hit....

[spanone]

15. He's having the arrows removed from his backside.

They even rolled out the old fuck cheney today.

[slinkerwink]

16. is Clarke going to be on TDS or not?

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

21. his web site says jennifer beals is the guest tonight

????

[TacticalPeek]

18. Whaaaa? (in a Jon Stewart voice)

I left work early to get home to see this. Well, not exactly early; just less late than usual for a Monday.

Grrrrrrrr!

[GregW]

20. Why not?

Why exactly does he owe US an answer?

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

22. Starting to crack?

Theres that gay rumor floating around too.

[sixtoes1]

25. well hell....

If he is, he HAD to know that would come out. Can't believe that's a reason for him to get nervous.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

26. the more I find out the more the gaydar pings.

...yet I think there was no way he could get the clearances he must've had if he was gay.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

30. What damn difference does it make if he's gay?...

...and do you really believe that gays are excluded from the intelligence community?

[sixtoes1]

33. Not sure, but if it is blackmailable, probably yes.

Financial problems, infidelity that a spouse is unaware of, gambling problems, a lot of things. If a person is concerned about something getting out about them, then yes, it probably will keep them from getting a clearance. Find it hard to believe that he would get a clearance if the background investigators knew he was gay. So either he isn't, or at the time the invesigation was done, the investigators didn't know. It would be a totally different story (assuming, of course, he is gay--which is only conjecture at this point) if he were public about it. Nothing to blackmail him over, then.

[CatWoman]

29. oh no, not you

please, please tell me :wtf: does Clarke being gay have to do with ANYTHING????????

[sixtoes1]

34. Where in my last post did I say it had to do with anything.

I merely stated (in a few words) that if it were true, he certainly should know it would have repercussions. GEEZ!!!!

[CatWoman]

36. Sorry, I was responding to the Hiker

my apologies :hi:

[sixtoes1]

35. Oops...

Sorry. I guess I should have paid more attention to who you were responing to....

[CatWoman]

37. anyway

welcome to DU!!

:hi:

[sixtoes1]

39. Thanks, ma'am.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

38. Actually, if it where true, it would be kind of cool.

but its just speculation on my part. As I said it would be doubtful that he is.

[slinkerwink]

45. it's just a rumor that the freepers are floating to discredit Clarke

and it makes me wonder why some DUers here would push this rumor.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

46. im not getting it from freeperstan

just some details that Ive read. in his book and elsewhere, that sort of made me, wonder, personally, as a gay man.

[slinkerwink]

52. sorry----but no real gay man would float a rumor like that to discredit

clarke

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

53. w....ho in the hell are you to tell me if im gay or not?!!!

Dont ever do that again. :evilfrown:

I really resent that.

[slinkerwink]

56. well, then don't be pushing freeper rumors about Clarke here on DU

and say that your gaydar is pinging, which seems to give those stupid freeper rumors credit.

[alcuno]

23. He's overexposed. Besides, more will happen in the next two days.

The press will ask the WH about releasing all of the records and Scotty will have to respond. If you want to drag it out, you need to pace yourself.

[Democat]

24. Does anyone know if he gave a reason for the cancellations?

What is the story?

[grasswire]

31. absolutely no reason

No discussion of the cancellation at all.

I hope you all listened to Howard Fineman and Tweety at the end. It was quite frank about the risks of crossing the WH. Fineman said he's heard remarks from the political shop similar to the threat issued to Clarke (that he would never earn a dime in Washington again). Fineman said he's heard: "Wait till you see what we do to X.X." It's nuclear war against those who go against a Bush. He said it's always been that way with the Bushes.

[bobbieinok]

41. and people made such a big deal of Clinton's 'enemies list' (!?!?!)

put PI on Wiley, etc

[CatWoman]

55. ........

[vetwife]

43. This is going to get worse before better.

This is all out war and what with Rove and his arrogance, Three former high officials and now all of these threats. This is jsut the beginning of a huge huge THING. They can try and discount but the Dems are not going to let them, in as far as I can see.

[mmonk]

44. Could it be

the appearance of the dad that was a signatory to that letter that he was a profiteer?

[Catherine Vincent]

50. He took a couple of days off so that we could get married.

I proposed and he accepted. Don't worry, Richard will appear on Hardball, Daily Show etc. as promised.

Teehee!:*

[sadiesworld]

51. I hope these phony polls (purporting to show that Kerry has been

hurt by Clarke)haven't scared him off. I don't believe he wrote the book in an attempt to help Kerry, but I don't think he would want to be a part of harming his campaign either.