Posted on 03/23/2005 5:25:25 PM PST by Stellar Dendrite
ABC News, the original source of the story on the alleged "GOP talking points" memo now appears to be backing off the story. Blogger Josh Clayborn has been talking to ABC representatives, both on and off the record, and they are now telling him that they never meant to imply that the "talking points" memo originated with the Republicans--only that it was given to some Republican Senators. See his most recent posts at In the Agora.
ABC's current position, as reported by Josh, makes little sense, as their coverage certainly did say that this was a Republican memo. (ABC's website described the memo as containing "GOP talking points.") But the fact that they are now backing off suggests that in reality, they have no idea where the memo came from.
Doubts are starting to appear in other quarters, as well. Just a little while ago, the memo's authenticity was discussed on MSNBC; the fact that bloggers have questioned the memo's provenance was discussed, and at least one guest expressed the opinion that the memo is a Democratic dirty trick.
Finally, we got this email from a staffer for a conservative Republican Senator:
Regarding this phantom “strategy memo” about Terri Schiavo, I can say with almost complete certainty that this memo did not get passed out by Republicans. For starters, nobody up here who knows anything about the Senate refers to last week’s activities as “the Budget Act” (bullet point #2). We didn’t work on the Budget Act last week; we worked on the budget resolution. It may sound like a silly, semantic point to make, but that statement in particular jumped out at me.
Next, there was absolutely no need to take action “before the Budget Act” was pending business. Action could be taken at any time to vote on the Schiavo resolution. In fact, Senators Reid and Frist tried to do exactly that, but were blocked in their request for unanimous consent by Sen. Wyden. On this same note, the budget resolution was “pending business” all week! Debate and votes on the budget resolution began Monday, March 14. Why would we pass out a memo instructing Senators to do something BEFORE the budget resolution was being debated in the middle of debate over the budget resolution? That would be like passing out a memo during the 7th inning of a baseball game instructing us to take batting practice or stretch before the game started. It makes no sense.
I was on and off the Senate floor all throughout the week, including during the Thursday night vote-a-rama. The only piece of literature that I saw being distributed was a simple list of amendments that were being voted on, and it had the Majority Whip’s name on it. No talking points, no summaries – just a simple card with a list of stacked amendments. My boss never received this alleged Schiavo memo. And trust me, given the ideological leaning of my boss, if anybody were to see this memo, it would be him.
I have not talked to any GOP staffers up here who have seen this phantom memo. Nobody I know received any e-mails containing anything even remotely close to this memo. Granted, nothing I have offered is conclusive, but this whole issue really stinks of fraud.
Another shameless BTTT
Bingo. World Wide Webb.
I think most of us knew this sounded suspiciously like a setup, except a few that actually believed our people were of that character.
bookmark
Hopefully the same fate will befall Peter Jennings as it did Rather---wouldn't that be ironic, both of them going down for the same reason?
ABC just got "Rathered" !
For maximum effect, this story needs to be picked up by Rush, Drudge, et al......
I will be severely disappointed if it gets lost in the shuffle
Pray for W and Terri
BUMP!
ABC has no more integrity than CBS.
Now let's see if they have even less integrity by failing to publicly retract their story and fire the staff writer who took the bait and thought he had a chance to smear the GOP.
That is excellent!
BTTT
You're both wrong. I'm Buckhead.
You're probably right. Good. LOL
Looks like Old Beige Journalism is about to get its ass owned again!
Dudes!
We are Buckhead!
Woe betide he who runs afoul of Powerline!
You da man! I'm not worthy.
Boy, you got that right. Chris Wallace is the reason we don't watch Sunday mornings anymore. Where oh where did Brit go?
Who did that?
That's awesome
Regarding this phantom “strategy memo” about Terri Schiavo, I can say with almost complete certainty that this memo did not get passed out by Republicans.
Is the criminal Rat party up to their old tricks again? Brush those memos for prints and DNA. They'll have democrat bile all over them.
The Marxist democrats need Terri to die. It's the Roe vs. Wade case for euthanasia. They want the useless eaters dead, and this case will get them disabled deaths by the millions. Late, late, late term abortions are on their agenda.
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