For some inexplicable reason, the Bush campaign seems intent on seeing a tape of a New York fundraiser Kerry held last week. Apparently, Whoopi Goldberg used some profanity and BC04 is worked up about it.
Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman repeated his request that the Kerry campaign release a tape of a concert fund-raiser last week in New York City. Some performers referred to the president as a thug and a liar, and Kerry later praised the celebrities who had appeared.
Mehlman promised his campaign would not use the performance in campaign advertising.
Oddly enough, while Mehlman is pretty upset about Whoopi’s risqué language, he was strangely indifferent to Dick Cheney, just a week earlier, telling a respected, veteran senator to go f— himself. But I digress.
In any event, Kerry aides realize that some of the remarks at the fundraiser were probably a little on the offensive side and see no reason to offer BC04 a tape of the event.
But, in the interest of fair play, KE04 is wiling to make the Bush gang an offer. I think it’s quite reasonable, under the circumstances.
Yesterday, in response to Mehlman’s requests, Mary Beth Cahill, Kerry’s campaign manager, wrote to her counterpart, noting that she finds his “outrage over and paparazzi-like obsession with a fund-raising event to be misplaced.” Cahill added that there is more important interest in Bush-related materials that have, like the tape of Kerry’s fundraiser, been kept from public view to avoid embarrassment.
So, Cahill told Mehlman that she’ll consider releasing the tape as soon as Bush releases some of his materials, including:
* Military records: Any copies of the President’s military records that would actually prove he fulfilled the terms of his military service. For that matter, it would be comforting to the American people if the campaign or the White House could produce more than just a single person to verify that the President was in Alabama when said he was there. Many Americans find it odd that only one person out of an entire squadron can recall seeing Mr. Bush.
* Halliburton: All correspondence between the Defense Department and the White House regarding the no-bid contracts that have gone to the Vice-President’s former company. Some material has already been made public. Why not take a campaign issue off the table by making all of these materials public so the voters can see how Halliburton has benefited from Mr. Cheney serving as Vice-President?
* The Cheney Energy Task Force: For an Administration that claims to hate lawsuits, it’s ironic that the Bush White House is taking up the Courts’ time to keep the fact that Ken Lay and Enron wrote its energy policy in secret behind closed doors. Please release the documents so that the country can learn what lobbyists and special interests wrote the White House energy policy.
* Medicare Bill: Please release all White House correspondence between the pharmaceutical industry and the Administration regarding the Medicare Bill, which gave billions to some of the President’s biggest donors. In addition, please provide all written materials that directed the Medicare actuary to withhold information from Congress about the actual cost of the bill.
* Prison Abuse Documents: A few weeks ago, the White House released a selected number of documents regarding the White House’s involvement in laying the legal foundation for the interrogation methods that were used in Iraq. Please release the remaining documents.
I’ll let you know if Mehlman agrees, but I’m not optimistic.