Go Whine To Your Candidate

Drudge excerpts a bizarre chat between Fox News' Brit Hume, and Kerry campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill. Ms. Cahill's contention - the Kerry campaign smells a rat, and wonders why the potentially embarrassing photos of Kerry in a bio-hazard suit were leaked. But this bit is hard to figure:

CAHILL: well, yesterday senator john glenn, obviously he was an astronaut in his previous life sexrvings senator carr took a tour of a bio facility at nasa. it was just the two of them, and the nasa staff, and all of a sudden this is a leaked photo.

HUME: it was leaked?

CAHILL: yes.

HUME: it was made by nasa, right?

CAHILL: yes, it was.

HUME: so the campaign had no idea there would be any photographs.

CAHILL: none.

HUME: when it was agreed he would put on his th costume.

CAHILL: there was no press there. there was -- nothing. all of the sudden these photographs are out.

Maybe "the campaign" had no idea that there would be any photographs, but Kerry must have known - what did he think was happening when the four people gathered together and smiled? Who is he smiling at in the other photos (or does he just smile all the time now? Someone show him this poll!)

C'mon, there are cameras everywhere. Kerry should not let his campaign manager go out and embarrass herself this way.

MORE: We note the Drudge oversell - how does he back up this lede: "Kerry campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill claims 'dirty tricks' by NASA"

UPDATE: Wow. While I was slacking off watching a ball game, the InstaPundit was burying this. My fave - the insidious leak to the Kennedy Space Center website!

UPDATE 2: Steve M. is a contented Dem, pleased to see his party battling back against this insidious leak. Man, I hate to break it to him...

UPDATE 3: NASA ordered to pull photos from website. Too late!

Comments

[Carl]

I'm not defending Drudge because he oversells quite bit, but here is what I believe is the onus for his headline:

HUME: do you smell a dirty trick here?

CAHILL: well, what do you think?

[SamAm]

Isn't it a sign of graciousness and normalcy (James Bond moon suit duly noted) that Kerry posed and smiled for photographs he may not have been expecting, and might have well regretted being in as they were taken?

Would it reflect better of him to not let some NASA guy take his picture? I think not.

This is the anti-"do you know who I am" moment. This is him acting in a way Americans like their politicians to act.

Kerry was good sport in a goofy moment. And as Bush has shown, that's no bad hand. But the opposition is perhaps overplaying theirs.

And Kerry's campaign may be spinning it poorly (though I'm not convinced they are) but the truth of the matter reflects well on him. Why is the right-blogosphere making such a big deal of this?

[AG]

>Why is the right-blogosphere making such a big deal of this?

It was Kerry's campaign manager making accusations of dirty tricks from leaking photos via their public web site. The photos themselves have been classed as un-flattering which to a degree they are.

While the public may like to see their politicians like this, the public also likes to make fun of funny photos and frequently have captioning competitions to such photos.

If anyone, it is the Kerry campaign that is making such a big deal of it.

[TM]

SamAm, I am in 90% agreement with you, but I am in 100% agreement with AG.

Yes, Kerry was being a good sport (and thank Heaven - can you imagine the stories if he had been snarling "no pictures like he was Sean Penn or something?)

But he should not have let his campaign manager go out and make a fool of herself.

With two seconds thought, they would have taken your spin, in fact - there's lovable, goofy John, being a good sport, what a guy!

Instead, we get this conspiratorial nonsense.

And we are making a big deal because (well, I am speaking for myself) her comment was so silly and misdirected. I really laughed when I saw from Glenn that the phots are at NASA.

[HH]

Timing of the leak! Timing of the leak!

From now on they know they can inoculate themselves with "Timing of the leak!" even if Kerry is found to have killed a man just to watch him die. Have you heard a word about Sandy Berger in the past 48 hours?

[SamAm]

TM, AG-

Agreed that the campaign spin has been pretty inept, especially in the sense that it's kept the story going. I don't know if that's the number one thing to prevent in the realm of political spin, but it's got to be up there.

The Kerry campaign (which has done a good job for the most part) shows a rather troubling inability to let small but media-friendly dumb mistakes trip them up, or prevent capitalization. When you add Whoopi Goldberg to the mixed reception at Fenway to the dirt ball and bad throw not even from the mound to this story to "shove it", it seems like it adds up.

Own goals are the most painful to watch.

[sym]

i think she meant that there would be no photos publicized in the media, since she says there was no press there. she couldn't have possibly meant to say that he expected no photos at all. i plead inadvertency.