I thought maybe it was blowing over, but Oberweis jumped on it today and the press pushed harder. Jack! continues to think this will go away. Let me explain again, just release the files, you will later. If it is what McCulloch argues I can see why Ryan is attempting to avoid disclosure, but then he deserves to go down in flames. And will because the Democrats will get a hold of it one way or another. Or already have it and are keeping it back to permanently kill him off late in the cycle, but he’ll take the Republican candidates down with him. Already, Bush is leaving the state and the point of Rove recruiting Ryan is that he could at least make it a race so the Republicans down ticket wouldn’t get killed. Rove also had delusions that Illinois would be in play, but he’ll be living that down for some time.
Now if it is bunk, showing it to a third party lets him get a free pass later on other issues as the press feels bad for this kind of garbage. Imagine the sympathy the guy gets if the press forces him to release records that only exploit the son?
The middle case is that McCulloch’ charges are more serious than what is really in there but that material is embarrassing. Then the strategy is to wait for the primary to get through and then have it released so it won’t matter by the time the general comes around. But then the press turns on you.
Pretending this will go away doesn’t mean it will. And given the nature of the accusations, frankly the public does have a right to know. Going to an intermediary who could analyze them would probably be sufficient, but the allegations are quite serious and they go to the core of his character.
In other news, Barack is dealing with the his name by confronting the concerns. The smart thing is that if someone tries to slime him, it’ll backfire in the press. I wonder if this is natural or if they are borrowing the routine from Blagojevich.