April 07, 2005
THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE - PART II
Yes friends, the Democrats MSM have once again flipped "TRUTH" But I was wrong, I should have said that the MSM flipped honest reporting.
| Honest Reporting | Honest Reporting |
OK, the memo did in fact exist, it was apparently written by a Republican Staffer and it was not as portrayed in the MSM as a memo distributed to Repubs by the GOP leadership.
Joshua Claybourn writing IN THE AGORA blog notes:
The Raw Story claims to have obtained a leaked AP story about the controversial "Talking Points Memo" alleged to have circulated among Republican leadership.So, the mystery memo (MM from now on) did exist except that it wasn't from the GOP leadership it was from one aide. It wasn't generally distributed, it was distributed to only one, (not 55 GOP Senators) and it was inadvertently given to Senator Harkin (who is no doubt the source to the news since he is the only Democrat to receive it) by mistake.Martinez told the AP's Matt Yancey and other news organizations in a written statement "he discovered Wednesday that the memo had been written by an aide in his office.""It is with profound disappointment and regret that I learned today that a senior member of my staff was unilaterally responsible for this document," Martinez said.
According to the story, Sen. Harkin asked Sen. Martinez for information about the Schiavo bill. Martinez then "pulled a one-page document from his coat pocket and handed to Harkin." The Senator explains: "Unbeknownst to me, I had given him a copy of the now infamous memo." Martinez has supposedly asked for the staffer's resignation. It remains unclear why Sen. Martinez would hand a document to another Senator on the floor without first ensuring what it says.
If this story is true, ABC News, the Washington Post, and virtually every news outlet that ran the infamous story should now publish a retraction. Unlike what ABC and the Post reported, the memo did not originate from Senate Republican leadership. At most it came from one Senator, Martinez, and if we are to believe Martinez it was simply a foolish, sloppy aide. Either way the real turn of events appears to be much different than the one portrayed by most media outlets.
Still, the MSM jumped all over the story and it has gone on now for almost 3 weeks. To the MSM, it seems to me, this was more important than Sandy Berger "fessing up" to the "accidental" theft and destruction of archive documents. But then, Sandykins is a Dem and Martinez is a Repub.
To the extent that I mislead my readers I apologize. I hope this sets the story a right. I'm waiting for the MSM to correct the MM story, but I won't hold my breath.
Thanks to Joshua Claybourn for the e-mail to shed more light on this topic.
Powerline has a great update too, and another one here
Michele Malkin also has a good take.
Posted by GM Roper at April 7, 2005 07:29 AM | TrackBack"It remains unclear why Sen. Martinez would hand a document to another Senator on the floor without first ensuring what it says."--
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Well DUH.As you are aware,my disdain for the MSM is matched by few.In my world they can do no good simply because they are corrupted(often unknowingly)by the pervasive group-think that infests their structures.
That said,Martinez behaved to be frank in an idiotic,careless,and clueless manner.First he clearly hired a fool(if you must always think in terms of crass politics,at least have the sense not to write it down) for an assistant.Then having made mistake number 1,he seemingly built upon that structure by not bothering to read the ASININE memo produced by said idiot.Subsequently,not satisifed with being merely careless and lazy, he blithely confessed to carrying the accursed thing around in his pocket just waiting for an opportunity to pull the pin and set off the political grenade.And last but not least he gave the thing to a DEMOCRATIC Senator who,IMO,is one of the worst of the anti-Bush appeasers in the US Senate.
Why oh why,in this age of partisan hostility and large issues,would he behave so STUPIDLY? He has,in on fell swoop, harmed the Republicans,encouraged the Democrats,and worst of all somewhat excused the MSM.I don't think any sort of apology could mitigate this degree of denseness.
He needs to engage in a prolonged period of determined self-criticism,and then give IQ tests to the rest of his staff,just to be safe.
That said,this is nothing but a 'beltway' bonanza and will have zero affect anywhere outside MSM outlets and Washington insiders.Just as well.
Posted by dougf at April 7, 2005 01:26 PM
