Berger & Kerry
 

Will this affect Kerry's poll numbers with the public?

Re: Berger & Kerry
 

Only if the media covers it the way they would have if a Republican had done it.

This could be the equivalent of a Watergate, if investigated thoroughly.

TR

Actually, a similar quote over dinner is what raised my interest level. Is the old "I am not a crook," quote being replaced with "I'm just sloppy."

I understand the implications of the possibility of criminal charges against Berger. What I wonder about are the following scenarios:
1. if investigated far enough back and it was discovered other classified documents went missing during the time Clinton was in office, what would the ramifications be?
2. Did Berger share the content of the classified documents with Kerry, and if so, to what end?

What if he admitted that he took the documents at the behest of one off the Klintons, or Kerry?

Do you think that would make a difference?

IIRC, Nixon went down for the cover-up attempt, not for any knowledge of the break-in.

TR

Inmates Running the Asylum
 

SON OF A BITCH!

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2...0/110408.shtml

Tuesday, July 20, 2004 11:02 a.m. EDT

WSJ: Berger Took Secret 9/11 Docs on Five Occasions

Kerry campaign advisor Sandy Berger removed secret terrorism documents from a 9/11 Commission reading room on no fewer than five occasions, his lawyer Lanny Breuer admitted late Monday night.

Breuer told the Wall Street Journal that his client, who served previously as the Clinton administration's National Security Advisor, inadvertently removed several copies of an after-action report on the foiled 1999 Millennium bomb plot during two separate visits to the top secret facility.

Breuer said also that Berger had deliberately removed handwritten notes that he had taken during three additional visits to the Archives last fall to review classified documents.

Mr. Breuer said removing those notes was a violation of National Archives policy, and that Mr. Berger regretted the action. "He knew it was a technical violation, and he admits that it was an error in judgment."

But according to New York civil rights lawyer Ron Kuby, Berger's decision to remove his notes wasn't just a "technical violation."

"You're not permitted to remove anything from that room - period," he said Tuesday morning. "And that means even your notes. If you're taking notes about classified information, those notes are now classified. They're placed in a secure area. You can have access to them only while being viewed by a security officer. Nothing gets removed."

Even if Berger had only removed his personal notes on classified material, it would still be a crime, said Kuby, who learned about classified reading room procedures during his own involvement in the trial of the 1993 World Trade Center bombers.

Exactly the type of question that should be "thoroughly investigated."

The documents that weren't recovered sound as if they would have been the most valuable to have disappear for Clinton and the others the most useful for Kerry.

Seems as if Clinton has a prior history of leniency when it comes to breach of protocol in handling classified documents:
(quoted from NYT article on Berger )

As well, I am reading various articles, and while it does seem Berger is admitting he inadvertently took documents, the disparity between the Archive staff's version that he stuffed the documents in his clothing and Berger's "admission" that the documents got mixed in with a selection of documents to read later and shoved in his portfolio is a fairly large gap in a description of what really occurred.

Wonder if that will be an apt analogy in this case.

Whatever personal satisfaction I would derive from that is secondary to thoroughly investigating what he did, when he did it and for who.

They will have to answer for themselves.

Wouldn't it be great to discover that Slick Willy had recorders in the Oval Office, ala Nixon?

I would LOVE for America to hear the conversations that took place in there.

TR

Wouldn't it be even better to find out Bill and the Missus had secret recorders?

:D

affect... effect.... a pet peeve of mine :rolleyes:

Thank you, Sir. I always pause over affect & effect and have the same pet peeve with use of their, there and they're.

Being called sir is even more of a peeve of mine ;)

Roger that Sir!

Gee, I wonder what would happen if I removed classified documents from work and was discovered? Ain't equal treatment under the law grand? :rolleyes: