Whispers

Many fellow Democrats claimed that John Kerry was slow to fight back in August against smears like the Swift Boat Liars. Well, the way September is shaping up, Bush is not going to know which smear to fight first. Where to begin:

Bob Graham's new book Intelligence Matters will claim that the President covered up links between 9/11 and the Saudis:

In particular, Mr Graham alleges that a mysterious Saudi, Omar al-Bayoumi, who was living in San Diego before the attacks and who befriended and funded two of the hijackers, was a Saudi government spy.

Mr Graham says that Mr Bayoumi was essentially a "ghost employee" of a Saudi contracting firm called Ercan, whose owner was an alleged early supporter of Osama bin Laden. He also had repeated contacts with a Saudi diplomat in Los Angeles who was later thrown out of the United States on suspicion of terrorist links.

Graham also reveals a startling discussion with Tommy Franks right before the Iraq War:

Graham recalled this conversation at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa with Franks, then head of Central Command, who was "looking troubled":

"Senator, we are not engaged in a war in Afghanistan."

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"Military and intelligence personnel are being redeployed to prepare for an action in Iraq," he continued.

Graham concluded: "Gen. Franks’ mission - which, as a good soldier, he was loyally carrying out - was being downgraded from a war to a manhunt."

But of course, this story is far too substantive to be a true smear. After all, it actually has an effect on people's lives. No, the juicier smears all seem to stem from gossip hound Kitty Kelley's new tell-all book about the Bushes called The Family. The allegations on this one are fast and furious, but the biggest is that Bush snorted coke at Camp David while his father was President. The source is Sharon Bush, ex-wife of W.'s brother Neil.

And Digby uses the coke story as a jumping point to unearth a whole host of strange pictures and videos that, taken together, our fearless Leader may not be a recovering alcoholic after all. Why, just take a look at this:



Is that a beer in front of W.?

OK, and that's not all. Head over to a website called (cleverly) Texans for Truth, which is raising money for a TV ad calling out the President for never showing up for duty at the Alabama National Guard.

Which one do you go after first, Matthew Dowd? We'll keep whispering until you figure it out...