Lando 
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.
I know everyone is concentrating on Terri right now, but this deserves enormous attention.
I AM BUCKHEAD!!!!
I am afraid that once Terri situation is resolved (I pray that Gov Bush rescues her), that people will become tired of this situation and not focus on this.
This is our chance to put one more nail in the MSM's awaiting coffin. Here is our chance to once again undermine the most dangerous propaganda dirty trickster machine ever invented. We must capitalize on it, we need Sean, Rush, Drudge, and others to talk about this (if they haven't already).
FYI:
"Is This the Biggest Hoax Since the Sixty Minutes Story?"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1368275/posts
"A Fishy Story Gets Fishier [Schiavo]"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1369138/posts
"So: Where Did It Come From? [the so-called "GOP talking points" on the Schiavo case]"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1369175/posts
There is a thread on a lefty site claiming they are sure that it came from Santorum, even though it quoted (badly) Martinez in several spots...
Which font was used? Was it proportional?
I AM BUCKHEAD!
It's getting to the point that the MSM telling the truth would be the only shocker, especially around here.
Requesting your presence....
The media lies faster than we can refute them....
but we're catching up, baby. We're catching up.
Apparently ABC learned nothing from Memogate.
I pinged him earlier on this same topic- there are several threads on FR about this- but not getting too much attention right now.
I am NOT going to let this issue die, this is too important. WaPoGate=Rathergate PT. II!!
bump. I hope this growns some big long legs.
Well, DUH.
I suppose if Loutenberg (sic) sees this he'll take back his call for a prompt investigation. Nuts.
Hugh Hewitt has talked about it some on his show tonight.
I saw your comments in previous threads, and wanted to ping you about this. I am planning on going to the Schiavo threads and posting the link to this topic.
Lando
Great! One can only hope that it will gain enough momentum.....
I know it's been discussed around here, but I think it be great if some FReepers were to go back and check on the WaPo's coverage of Watergate and see how much of that was fake. Maybe Nixon could even be rehabilitated to a degree.
There is no way that a major news organization would go public with a memo unless they were certain it was genuine and authentic.
Good thing the MSM is like an octopus otherwise it would run out of feet to shoot.
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