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.
Antonius. I do not know who the graphic artist is but they deserve a medal.
I wish Fox would rethink its FNS host choice of Chris Wallace!
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.
Several of us called this pretty much off the bat. It was my suspicion two days ago.
In 1972 Nixon was re-elected in one of the most massive landslide elections in U.S. political history, defeating George McGovern and garnering over 60% of the popular vote. He carried 49 of the 50 states, trailing only in Massachusetts.
Richard Nixon
Our Republic faced a grave threat to its existence when a single anonymous source vetoed Nixon's mandate.
Dem dirty trick PING
I'll second that. Antoninus, is that your work?
Good job:)
Will do, adding your name now :)
I just need some help from anyone who wants to get involved, we could flood Rush's, Sean's, etc email box.....
As stated before, I cannot let this issue die. It is too important, and the fraud is so blatant. It will put more doubt in non-political junkie's mind about the lying propagandists in the MSM. They want terri to die quickly, I want to see them die even quicker.
PING!!!
BTW, I love your tagline ;)
I like to say things that are totally obviously sarcasm yet not signed as such just to see how many fish I can catch.
I'm not. So I'll be happy to pay attention to the main reason I come to FR -- politics.
I've been boycotting Chrissy. Was spittle flying?
What a jerk he is.
"They want terri to die quickly, I want to see them die even quicker."
Oops, I hope my statement is not misconstrued. What I mean by this is I want their influence to die off more quickly, not the journalists themselves.
Do they do anything else?
The sure do have a history with memos
"as exemplified by the Boston Globe and Chris Matthews to name a few, where the alleged "source" of the memos keeps moving higher and higher up in the Republican leadership with each telling of the story."
I pray to god that these individuals keep promoting this story. If you guys missed it, Lautenfraud called for an investigation into these memos:
"Lawmaker Calls for Congressional Investigation Into "Schiavo Talking Points" Circulated by Republican Leaders"
http://lautenberg.senate.gov/~lautenberg/press/2003/01/2005323939.html
I hope the above gains momentum as well....this will play into our favor because we can show that the memo is a fraud just like the Bush Nat'l Guard memo.
It could even be authentic, but it's really cool watching this empty suits soil themselves so readily because they can't be sure they won't be Rathered.
They really should know by now that no democrat can word a document intelligently enough to fool anyone into believing it came from a republican. But bless their pointed little heads, they keep trying!
What's the frequency, Kenneth?
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