Could the "Dean flyers smearing Clark" be a sympathy ploy by Clark?

[Brian_Expat]

After all, his press coverage got hammered after he missed the last two debates, he's still in a distant second place in NH, and with Dean winning both NH and IA, Clark's sunk if he cannot win in SC.

Something smells very fishy about this whole thing -- a few posts by Dean partisans and then BOOM -- "Dean's dirty tricks."

[Padraig18]

1. It smells bad, but it doesn't smell of Clark, to me.

I would look to another campaign, one that is faltering, rather than gaining momentum...

[LuminousX]

3. I smell Gephardt

[JNelson6563]

4. mmm hmm, I just wrote that to you elsewhere

It does smack of desperation but it is neither Clark nor Dean who is desperate at this point.

Who does that leave? ;-)

Julie

[LuminousX]

2. I wouldn't go that far, but

I do think this is more 'trickery' than 'tactic.' Where are the flyers? What is the text of the flyers? Whose word are we taking that the flyers are 'smears?' Are the flyers traceable to the Dean campaign, the official Dean campaign?

[redqueen]

16. That's what I'm wondering

Why is everyone so up in arms? What was in the flyers? Are we so conditioned to react with kneejerk reflexiveness?

Heavens to Betsy, this is going to be an interesting election!!!!

[Racenut20]

5. I would not expect

A Dean DUer to admit the remote possibility that it might be members or supporters of the Dean campaign.

[LuminousX]

12. Uh, Dude, in one of the three threads about this, I did

I said it could be a group of supporters doing this on their own. That is one of the problems with a true grassroots campaign. Such things are not controlled from a central office. The campaign tries to provide the flyers and message it wants people to push, but it can't dictate to the supporters.

So that possibility is there.

I for one really doubt it though.

[jmaier]

6. Of course

it might have nothing to do with ANY official campaign. It smells to me more like just some activists, possibly supporting another candidate. Like putting posters over the other candidate's posters and that sort of thing. Strikes me as pretty inconsequential.

[incapsulated]

7. OK, we fess up!

It was all part of our little plan. With our MSNBC plants (posing as interns, of course) and our "dean supporter" outfits, we thought we could make people love Clark by hating Dean supporters.

But you got us! Damn, you're quick!

[Brian_Expat]

9. You don't need plants. . .

. . . just a few Clark campaign people who pretend to be Dean people standing outside the area and handing out brochures.

Then Clark cries to MSNBC about big bad Dean and whammo, you've got a story.

[MoonAndSun]

8. I asked this question in the thread posted by TrueAmerican,

, and I have not been told, what exactly was in the flyers? No one has showed it on TV and no one has said what is on it.

So why are we up in arms about this until we see and read the flyer?

[Brian_Expat]

10. And are the flyers a "smear" if. . .

. . . they're telling the truth?

[MoonAndSun]

15. As a very strong Dean supporter, I will not make any claims or statements

about how I feel about this until I am told what is on these flyers. I like to comment on real statements and facts, not what a MSNBC reporter says is on a flyer no one has seen yet.

[in_cog_ni_to]

13. Give it time.

This is what happened with the Kucinich flyer that Dean LIED on...it was posted and then the Dean supporters spent 3 days poo pooing it. As soon as this flyer is posted, they will do the same. Stay tuned.

[wyldwolf]

11. Only in the minds of conspiracy nuts...

[Monte Carlo]

14. Do you know anything material, or are you just speculating?

'cause most of us haven't even seen these flyers yet, and are not ready to indulge quite yet.

[Jack_Dawson]

17. Clark is above that shyte

Dude is head and shoulders above those tactics. I mean...LOOK at this guy!

[Cheswick2.0]

18. very smelly

however I am not even sure they exist.

[_NorCal_D_]

19. Bull

Believe it or not, this is not the first time that the Dean campaign has resorted to petty attacks:

Dean Attacks Rivals' Stances On Iraq
http://www.thewmurchannel.com/politics/2714842/detail.html

Dean Attacks Gephardt
http://www.talkleft.com/archives/004917.html

Dean Attacks Rivals in ADs
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2003/10/23/dean_attacks_rivals_in_ads.html

Dean Attacks Rival Kerry As a Copycat
http://pages.zdnet.com/trimb/id105.html

[Adjoran]

20. dirty tricks is nothing new

Donald Segretti threw stinkbombs into Democratic meetings in 1972, and re-published flyers for events, changing the location.

It's too early to say who is behind this one, if we ever really find out. The only way to be 100% sure is to catch whoever was actually putting them on the cars, and check him out, and that didn't happen.

Some people sure are sensitive about their candidate, though, like a lioness defending her cub.

[John_H]

21. Maybe. But I think it's part of a larger Rove effort.

Remember the NH push polling right after Clark entered the race? Did Clark do that to himself too? What about the media/RW pundit strategy to bash Clark? Did the Clark campaign orchestrate that?

This could be Dean, but we are certainly seeing a pattern of shadowy dirty tricks emerging. And somebody's behind it. To me it's right out of the Rove handbook.