The Segretti-Rove Chain

Donald Henry Segretti was/is a minor footnote in the history of the Watergate Scandal that brought down a sitting US President.

However, Segretti wrote (or at least was involved in) two famous notes in his life, both proved deadly for Democrats.

A. One was a faked letter on Democratic presidential candidate Edmund Muskie's letterhead falsely alleging that U.S. Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson, a fellow Democrat, had had an illegitimate child with a 17-year-old.

B. The other letter written in 1972, known now as the infamous "Canuck Letter," was published in the Manchester Union-Leader. The letter claimed that Muskie had made disparaging remarks about French-Canadians—a remark likely to injure Muskie's support among the French-Canadian population in northern New England. And, it was intended to weaken and destroy the Muskie Campaign for President. It proved successful with some help from Muskie himself imploding over a baloney letter.

Back in '72, the Nixon campaign was afraid of Muskie, and wanted to face McGovern, whom they believed to be a weaker candidate. Therefore, they did all the could to get McGovern on the ballot, and they succeeded.

So, why am I bringing up a campaign from way back in '72? To report on an interesting connection I hadn't known about, and perhaps the media didn't know back in 2000, not to mention today.

In 1972, Segretti had a himself a protege it seems. A young Karl Rove.

Perhaps Rove had a reason for being chosen by Segretti; In the fall of 1970, Rove used a false identity to enter the campaign office of Democrat Alan J. Dixon, who was running for Treasurer of Illinois. He stole 1000 sheets of paper with campaign letterhead, printed fake campaign rally fliers promising "free beer, free food, girls and a good time for nothing."

If you recall back during the S. Carolina primary 2000, when it seemed Dubya had no chance and McCain was finally beginning to overtake him, an anonymous letter surfaced claiming that John had some sort of illegitimate black baby. The media at the time, quickly tied it to the Dubya campaign, but they never went as far as they could have or perhaps should have and connected the ties of Watergate as a noose around the neck of Rove and Dubya's campaign.

For the record, one could assume Rove would never leave the Bush dynasty. He had been hand-picked, been saved by former president George H. W. Bush back in 1973 at the College Republican's National Convention: Rove's opponent was Robert Edgeworth of Michigan (the other major candidate, Terry Dolan of California, dropped out, supporting Edgeworth). A number of states had sent two competing delegates, because Rove and his supporters had made credentials challenges at state and regional conventions. For example, after the Midwest regional convention, Rove forces had produced a version of the Midwestern College Republicans constitution which differed significantly from the constitution that the Edgeworth forces were using, in order to justify the unseating of the Edgeworth delegates on procedural grounds.[7] including delegations, such as Ohio and Missouri, which had been certified earlier by Rove himself. In the end, there were two votes, conducted by two convention chairs, and two winners — Rove and Edgeworth, each of whom delivered an acceptance speech. After the convention, both Edgeworth and Rove appealed to Republican National Committee Chairman George H. W. Bush, each contending that he was the new College Republican chairman.

It wasn't until three weeks after an "investigation" by daddy Bush, that H.W. chose Rove to be chairman of the College Republicans. As National Chairman of the College Republicans, Rove introduced Bush to the infamous Lee Atwater...which, H.W. came to trust and Atwater rose to prominence, sealing his fate to meet-up with H.W. years later in 1988.

The whole, long-winded point of this post is to establish this 3 decade long arch of Republican treachery and back-room dealings that have, despite a Republican President resigning in utter disgrace, kept the Republican party in power. Watching the fantastic movie, "All the President's Men," really hits home this theme. The Repos have the money in big business, and they have the war interests in the Pentagon. What do the Democrats have? Exactly what you see in the movie previously referenced: the truth and the struggle to get powerful people of good will to speak out against power despite their best interests. But, watching that movie recalls how hard the truth was to get to, and how hard Woodward and Bernstein had to fight to get their story published in the Washington Post when NO ONE was believe them. No other media outlet was covering the story because they didn't "buy it."

The old adage, "the truth will set you free" is cute, it's pollyanna-ish. But, in the end, you need to know HOW to play dirty to beat dirty, or at least to get dirty exposed.