“There were several conference calls and a couple of meetings. Everyone was screaming. I would consider it the low point of the campaign,” our source told us. “By taking the Vets on, John Kerry thinks he’s demonstrating bravery. But it’s a horrible mistake, politically.”
Kerry also battled with his lawyers all week, insisting they distribute threatening letters to bookstores. According to our source, the Kerry legal team thought this, too, would be a mistake with a big risk of backfire.
“Look, bookstores aren’t going to stop selling this book because John Kerry wants them to,” our source told us. “From what I understand, John Kerry made the lawyers send these letters out. Kerry ordered it personally! I mean, we just look desperate.”
The interesting bit is leaking this kind of thing. Either Senator Kerry is really in charge and screwing things up, or the staff is preparing to abandon ship and wants to lay the blame off on Kerry to save their own careers.
[source, http://www.command-post.org/2_archives/014731.htmlsource]
A mortar barrage slammed into a mosque filled Iraqis preparing to march on the embattled city of Najaf, killing 27 people and wounding 63 here Thursday hours before the nation’s top Shiite cleric was expected to arrive in area with a peace initiative.
What was that about not attacking mosques, that they’re holy places? Will the Arab street rise up in anger at the insurgents for killing innocents inside a mosque? Or has the cynicism of that ploy been show once again?
Supporters of Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, have been fired upon in the town of Kufa and 20 people have been killed.
It is unclear who opened fire.
This is significant because the violence before has either been deniable (e.g., car bomb) or putatively against the Coalition. This will be hard to spin as other than violence between Shiite factions. However, if it ends up a civil war between Sistani and Sadr, I think we know who to bet on.