The news is lighting up like a Christmas Tree over the McConnell secret recordings incident I reported on earlier.
From CNN: "The FBI has been asked to investigate how Mother Jones, a liberal magazine, obtained a recording of political aides meeting with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell discussing opposition research on Ashley Judd, a source close the McConnell re-election campaign tells CNN."
Mother Jones has the tape and published it today.
Talking Points Memo ran with the story too.
It appears quite clear that somebody may be in very big trouble with the federal law and state law.
**UPDATE 11:38 AM** CBS is now going with the story but also re-publishing some of the content from the secret recording, although that might be a crime as well.
**UPDATE 11:40 am** MSNBC has the story up too.
**UPDATE 11:42 AM** The DSCC has gone silent now that it has been reported that the FBI is involved.
**UPDATE 11: 45 AM** Political ticker is reporting this via CNN: "It wasn't a leak," Benton told CNN National Political Correspondent Jim Acosta in an interview, noting the meeting was held "in a very private, closed, locked conference room."
**UPDATE 11:50 AM** Daily Kos is now trying to spin the secret recording as hurting McConnell by suggesting that his aggressive strategy is a sign of weakness. Considering how successful it was in eliminating Ashley Judd I'd say Daily Kos is a bit delusional.
**UPDATE 11:57 AM** NY Magazine engages in spin. Now the question becomes, will the left form an echo chamber and turn the entire matter against McConnell as if plotting to "do in" ones opponent makes you a bad person? That's how these things go when left to the MSM to spin them to death. Keep an eye out. The left is looking for an angle to turn this against McConnell.
**UPDATE 12noon** The left seems to be settling on a theme. They are beginning to repeat the accusation that McConnell's tape reveals him to be a "dirty" campaigner, that he was going to be "brutal" to a woman and that he is insensitive to mental health issues. Look for Elaine to make an appearance sometime soon.
**UPDATE 12:10 PM** No sooner did I publish the last update than the Washington Post got right on the topic. And here's where it gets interesting. They defend McConnell's tactic as "the basic blocking and tackling of opposition research that every candidate does both against their potential opponents and against themselves". But then they go on to note McConnell's plan to attack on the basis of "mental health" AND here's the biggie, they say the tape reveals a weakness in McConnell's strategy if Alison Lundergan Grimes becomes a candidate because the tape shows they don't have much "on her". Why is this interesting? Because I smell Clinton-like tactics all over this mess.
**UPDATE 12:19 PM** ABC is reporting that Grimes ally political consultant Dale Emmons has now commented that in his opinion the entire mess was probably created by Mitch himself to show how much of a "big bad wolf" he is. The aroma of Clinton- like tactics surrounds this mess.
**UPDATE 1:10 PM** Keep an eye out for any polling in Kentucky to test the impact of this story. If it doesn't move the needle look for it to die. If it does move the needle look for it to stay active. And look for a real criminal illegal bugging operation to be reported out of the FBI investigation rather than an insider leaking the info or inadvertently allowing access to a recording. This was more likely than not a planted bug.
**UPDATE 3:30 PM** POLITICO reports that McConnell has accused Progress Kentucky Super PAC of bugging his office. Judging by the questions it looks like the left is celebrating the fact that McConnell people are heard to have been attacking Ashley Judd for her emotional problems. In addition word from some sources in DC say that the dems think Mitch is very worried about how this is all going to play out and they think Ashley will help the eventual Dem nominee to raise substantial money off of the comments.
**UPDATE 6:20PM** As I predicted at about noon today the dems are jumping on this issue and the DSCC is trying to spin it as McConnell owing an apology to those with depression. And in addition they are accusing McConnell of using paid Senate staff to do opposition research. They have no proof of such an allegation and are way off target but are trying to get McConnell on the defensive. So far McConnell has been able to stay on message. NOW do you see what a left wing media echo chamber looks like and what it can do?
**UPDATE 6:37 PM** Okay, here comes the next wave. Now a new PPP poll just released today purportedly showing McConnell as having some popularity problems is being spun into a plot in which the Judd Tape was intentionally leaked in such a way as to allow McConnell to divert attention away from the poll and toward an illegal "Watergate type" bugging event. Pretty far fetched stuff but it is clearly intended to force McConnell to answer a few more questions such as "if the only people present were highly trusted, then if no "bug" was found, how did this recording get out?" Where is the conservative media to stop this momentum? Oh, that's right, there is none.
**UPDATE 8:35 PM** I told you that the next wave of narrative would be that McConnell's people are behind the leak. Now NBC has raised that precise point. "As a general matter, it would be a federal crime to plant a bug in someone's office to record their conversations. It would not be a crime, however, if someone who was taking part in the campaign staff meeting was the person who made the recording." I don't think Mitch is going to get the chance to talk about many other things for a while.
It's like listening to the Watergate tapes - Mitch to send in the plumbers! Looks like an inside job, I wonder if Rand is trying to burn down McConnell with one of his plants? McConnell plans to attack Judd on her religion - shades of aquabuddah! Then there's the attack on her mental health at a time Mitch pledges to oppose mental health funding and universal background checks. A very rich moment in the life of US Sen. McConnell who has the lowest approval rating in the nation for a US Senator and only 17% of Kentuckians voting for him and 34% saying they'll vote against him. :)
Posted by: Bill Adkins | April 09, 2013 at 12:34 PM