Ratfucking

There's one the spellchecker will have trouble with.

I need to add a movie to my profile, it's one I always forget about. I do think that if every time a movie is on cable, no matter what time it is or where you catch on to the movie you watch it through to the end, well that must be a favorite movie. This is actually another convergence of a sort, as last night, late last night "Spy Game" was on and I found myself thinking how I would never think of it off the top of my head, but I really do like movies with Robert Redford: "Spy Game", "The Horse Whisperer", "Sneakers", "The Natural", and this other movie. Then today I was listening to Randy Rhodes on Air America (you really ought to be listening to Air America) and she was talking about Donald Segretti and ratfucking. Which caused me to remember "All the President's Men."

So there's one I need to add.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074119/

Now, some of you might find the thought process that took me there a little strange. I assure you that the reason Randy Rhodes was talking about Donald H. Segretti is stranger. "All the President's Men" is about how Woodward & Bernstein unraveled the Watergate break in. One of the links in the chain they discover is Donald Segretti. I always remember this guy because he was played by the actor who played Rossi on "Lou Grant" and I think the character was so annoying that the actor apparently never worked again. Its always seemed unfair. Anyway Segretti is a guy who worked tangentially for the Nixon campaign and the Republican party as part of a "dirty tricks squad" that would cause trouble for competing candidates. It was something they had started in school elections in college that they laughingly referred to as "ratfucking."

When questioned as to the activity (in the film) Segretti talks about how they never did anything criminal but did things "with a little wit." They would issue fake memos on the competition's stationary asserting embarrassing things, go to opposition rallies and heckle, leak embarrassing storys to the media, things like that.

What's the connection?

Today on the radio I heard that Karl Rove, big time GOP strategist, worked for Donald H. Segretti as far back as the Nixon campaign. So who cares? Well, something that didn't really make sense suddenly seemed a little bit clearer viewed though this lens.

We've all been hearing quite a bit about CBS, and W, and the National Guard, and a memo that seems to question the President's service. Almost as quickly as CBS reported the thing the republican's jumped out front and called "fraud." At the time all I could think of was how stupid it was to fabricate something that was going to get such scutiny. So now we're listening to hours of talk radio about IBM Selectrics and proportional fonts and in a position to not be able to hear from the one person we'd need to hear from, the author, who is dead.

What kind of Democratic Jeff Gillooly would think they'd get any mileage out of swinging this pipe? You get a little media splash, then you're found out, and in the end your candidate and his staff look foolish. Oh, and in the meantime the issues, nobody talks about the issues. Come to think of it, that would be an ideal outcome for the Bush camp.

That's why Randy was talking about Donald H. Segretti. Today someone put it together and speculated that it was in fact Rove who fabricated and leaked the National Guard memo, to move the story and make Kerry look foolish. Very subtle, has a little wit, and at least in my head is the only explanation that rings true. And absolutely within the realm of what I have come to expect from the Bush people.

I swear these guys make me more embarrassed every day.