Posted on 03/23/2005 9:28:50 PM PST by quidnunc
It's Rathergate all over again, and the same vigilant entities that brought about to the collapse of CBS News could now also cause heads to roll among Democratic Senate leadership staffers and further shame multiple news organizations that would appear to have fallen for another document hoax.
Very quietly, Senate Republican leadership aides to both Sen. Rick Santorum and Sen. Mitch McConnell, as well as the Senate Republican Policy Committee, have been using the Senate recess break to reconstruct the purported distribution of a document that media outlets, including ABC News, the New York Times and a number of regional newspapers, identified as Senate "GOP talking points" on the Terri Schiavo fight that unfolded over the weekend.
"There is a process here for documents like this that are passed around down on the Senate floor, which is where the media claimed that the 'talking points' were being distributed last Thursday," says a Republican policy committee staffer. "There was a lot of stuff going on Thursday, but a document like this one was not being distributed. As far as we know, the only documents being handed out related to votes on a series of amendments being pushed through before the recess. Schiavo wasn't part of that package."
The document, which was posted online by ABC News, as well as several Democratic-leaning websites, was unsigned, bore no Senate office letterhead, and was rife with errors, including the incorrect Senate bill number and the misspelling of Schiavo's name. For days, Republicans denied any knowledge of the document, and a number of Republican Senators claimed they had never seen it.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
Rush is hitting this now. It is gaining steam. If Rush mentions it, Hannity will and then Fox will get it and it will roll baby.
might be a good one for a general-interest ping. The so-called GOP Schiavo memo is an apparent forgery.
For enquiring minds that wanna know. Here is the MUST EXCERPT list.Post the FULL TEXT when possible. :^D
Dirty Democrat Pool
By
Published 3/24/2005 12:08:04 AMIt's Rathergate all over again, and the same vigilant entities that brought about to the collapse of CBS News could now also cause heads to roll among Democratic Senate leadership staffers and further shame multiple news organizations that would appear to have fallen for another document hoax.
Very quietly, Senate Republican leadership aides to both Sen. Rick Santorum and Sen. Mitch McConnell, as well as the Senate Republican Policy Committee, have been using the Senate recess break to reconstruct the purported distribution of a document that media outlets, including ABC News, the New York Times and a number of regional newspapers, identified as Senate "GOP talking points" on the Terri Schiavo fight that unfolded over the weekend.
"There is a process here for documents like this that are passed around down on the Senate floor, which is where the media claimed that the 'talking points' were being distributed last Thursday," says a Republican policy committee staffer. "There was a lot of stuff going on Thursday, but a document like this one was not being distributed. As far as we know, the only documents being handed out related to votes on a series of amendments being pushed through before the recess. Schiavo wasn't part of that package."
The document, which was posted online by ABC News, as well as several Democratic-leaning websites, was unsigned, bore no Senate office letterhead, and was rife with errors, including the incorrect Senate bill number and the misspelling of Schiavo's name. For days, Republicans denied any knowledge of the document, and a number of Republican Senators claimed they had never seen it.
Beginning over the weekend, when doubts about the document first appeared on the blogosphere, the document's provenance began to unspool. Conservative blogs Powerline, In the Agora, and Fishkite all have been out front on the story. A number of blogs found language almost identical to the "talking points" on a post at the Traditional Values Coalition website. ABC News then posted the language of the purported document but not the actual document itself.
ABC News earlier this week was claiming to a number of online reporters that it never intended to create the impression that this was a Republican-generated document, only that it had been circulated among Republican Senators. The Washington Post claimed that it had confirmed the document's provenance, but could not reveal the source.
However, Republican leadership staffers now believe the document was generated out of the Democratic opposition research office set up recently by Sen. Harry Reid, and distributed to some Democratic Senate staffers claiming it was a GOP document, in the hope -- or more likely expectation -- that it would then be leaked by those Democrats to reporters. In fact, the New York Times stated that it was Democratic staffers who were distributing the "talking points" document.
"Democrats have tried to pin this document on Santorum's staff, on [Sen. Bill] Frist's staff, on [Sen. Sam] Brownback's staff," says a Senate leadership staffer. "Watching the investigation underway on line has energized us enough up here to want to at least confirm that we weren't the source, and everything we have found would confirm that Republicans didn't generate this memo. This is just amateurish, and perhaps Democratic staffers think we put out work product like this, but it's laughable."
The staffer added that while just about any House or Senate staffer with an email account could readily distribute a document, it was a huge stretch to believe that such a document would end up being widely distributed by or even to Senators in the cloakroom or in the well of the Senate. "This has all the telltale signs of a political dirty trick," says the staffer.
Other Republican staffers blame not only Democrats but also the mainstream media which once again put out a story to embarrass Republicans before checking all the facts first.
Republicans staffers looking into the "talking points" case believe that at least some of the language used for the original Traditional Values Coalition may have come from documents pulled together by the staff of Sen. Mel Martinez, who has been out front on the Schiavo case, and pressed hard for federal action to save her life. But there is no evidence that the talking points were a Martinez staff product.
Full text of article posted in #44.Dirty Democrat Pool
Excerpt:
It's Rathergate all over again, and the same vigilant entities that brought about to the collapse of CBS News could now also cause heads to roll among Democratic Senate leadership staffers and further shame multiple news organizations that would appear to have fallen for another document hoax.
Very quietly, Senate Republican leadership aides to both Sen. Rick Santorum and Sen. Mitch McConnell, as well as the Senate Republican Policy Committee, have been using the Senate recess break to reconstruct the purported distribution of a document that media outlets, including ABC News, the New York Times and a number of regional newspapers, identified as Senate "GOP talking points" on the Terri Schiavo fight that unfolded over the weekend.
"There is a process here for documents like this that are passed around down on the Senate floor, which is where the media claimed that the 'talking points' were being distributed last Thursday," says a Republican policy committee staffer. "There was a lot of stuff going on Thursday, but a document like this one was not being distributed. As far as we know, the only documents being handed out related to votes on a series of amendments being pushed through before the recess. Schiavo wasn't part of that package."
The document, which was posted online by ABC News, as well as several Democratic-leaning websites, was unsigned, bore no Senate office letterhead, and was rife with errors, including the incorrect Senate bill number and the misspelling of Schiavo's name. For days, Republicans denied any knowledge of the document, and a number of Republican Senators claimed they had never seen it.
Beginning over the weekend, when doubts about the document first appeared on the blogosphere, the document's provenance began to unspool. Conservative blogs Powerline, In the Agora, and Fishkite all have been out front on the story. A number of blogs found language almost identical to the "talking points" on a post at the Traditional Values Coalition website. ABC News then posted the language of the purported document but not the actual document itself.
Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my General Interest ping list!. . .don't be shy.
Thanks, Meek.
Lando
Thanks for the ping. I've been searching for info on this to no avail, thought it disappeared.
Didn't I hear that Luatenburg was demanding an investigation on these talking points? Bet he's changing his mind. It's like the memogate "scandal". Once it was told that the computers were set up like that under DEM control, the story evaporated.
....but I gotta wonder....what happened to Sandy Berger?haa! Yeah, that story kinda "went away", didn't it!?
WARNING. Reading the following comment may cause spewing of liquids on to keyboard and monitor. Please swallow before continuing. No animals were injured in the making of this post. Any similarity to reality is purely coincidental. Any factual statement is not the intent of the poster. Views expressed by the poster are not necessarily shared by the poster. Price is for 24 month lease with $2500 down. Your mileage may vary. Objects are closer than they appear. No shirt, no shoes, no service. You must be at least this tall to ride. Do not remove under penalty of law. Remain seated until the ride comes to a full and complete stop. Reading this post may cause low birth weight. Not recommended for viewers with heart conditions, back or neck injuries, breathing difficulties, recent surgery or illness, high blood pressure and carpal tunnel syndrome.
[Disclaimer courtesy of Conspiracy Guy]
You're very welcomed. :^)
If conservatives put out phony "talking points" and tried to attribute it to dems, the press would catch it.
The MSM isn't going to trumpet something that makes dems look silly, or selfish, or base. Nope, that they would stop. But us? We're the "other". And it's easy to do it do the "other".
The MSM wants sooooooo bad for us act like the crazy stereotype of us that they can so easily hate. And why? What's in it for them? If the stereotype's not true, then they would be jerks. They have a lot to defend. And their subconscious knows it.
The MSM will do whatever it takes to make us "deserve" the unfairness they hand out. The alternative -- that they're (the MSM) narrow minded, biased, jerks is worth every defense mechanism they can muster. So, if presented with information that feeds their serf serving image, they jump on it. It's why all the stories that trash a political group and later turn out to be lies are against us. Germans did the same thing to Jews before WWII. You can't trash a group without trying to make it look like they deserve it. It's a creepy tradition. One the New York Times and others should avoid.
Bookmarked. Thank you.
Right on post there, GOPJ.
I best not respond. I'm tired of righteous anger, the foundation of our country, being called 'crazy'. FReegards....
Right on post there, GOPJ.
Dems lie. And the press amplifies for them.
If conservatives put out phony "talking points" and tried to attribute them to dems, the press would catch it.
ABC and CBS aren't going to trumpet something that makes dems look silly, or selfish, or base. Nope. They don't make that mistake. But us? We're the "other". And it's easy to do it to the "other".
Why does ABC want us to live up to their crazy stereotype? What's in it for ABC, CBS or CNN? They maintain the stereotype because if the stereotype's not true, then they're jerks. Biased jerks. And their subconscious doesn't want to face that.
ABC will do whatever it takes to make us "deserve" the unfairness they hand out. The alternative -- that they (the news people of ABC, CBS, NBC) would be forced to see that they're narrow minded and biased is worth every defense mechanism they can muster. And muster they do.
Every time a negative story about conservatives is shown to be a lie, they quickly "move on". It's a mistake they say -- only they don't make the same "mistakes" with liberals. It's like a store that always overcharges but never undercharges. Or an insurance company that overbills by "accident" but never underbills by accident. And why do they delude themselves? What's in it for them? Everything. When presented with information that feeds their self serving image of conservatives, they jump on it. It's why all the stories that trash a political group and later turn out to be lies are against conservatives.
Germans did the same thing to Jews before WWII. You can't trash a group without trying to make it look like they deserve it. It's a creepy tradition. One the ABC and others should avoid.
How do YOU spell... "EEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!" ...?
haha! :^)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.