Mystery solved:Schiavo memo came from republican senator's office, rightwing blogosphere has egg all over it's face.

[Phokus]

The memo i'm referring to is the GOP talking points memo where it said the schiavo issue would be a tough issue for democrats to deal with and it'd help unseat nelson of florida

The story is exploding all over the blogosphere right now:

Here's one blog which previously had said that the memo was a conspiracy created by the democrats has issued a retraction:

http://www.intheagora.com/archives/2005/04/abc_news_had_it.html

The daily kos has a whole slew of info:

http://www.dailykos.com/

What happened was pretty funny...

1. The memo was written by senator martinez's legal counsel

2. Senator Martinez accidentally passes the memo on to Senator Harkin thinking it was another document

3. Harkin obviously passes this memo on to the media

4. Hillariously, Martinez denies having ever read the memo.

 

[jhu]

not really a surprise

 

[StageLeft]

I wish somebody would pull the tube on all this schiavo stuff

 

[BDawg]

And Frist should have his medical license suspended for his video "diagnosis."

 

[jhu]

Originally posted by: BDawg
And Frist should have his medical license suspended for his video "diagnosis."

he's a surgeon, not a neurologist. he has no business diagnosing neurological diseases. he can give an opinion, but he should defer to a neurologist. btw, did he really give her a diagnosis?

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Originally posted by: Phokus
The memo i'm referring to is the GOP talking points memo where it said the schiavo issue would be a tough issue for democrats to deal with and it'd help unseat nelson of florida

The story is exploding all over the blogosphere right now:

Uh huh. Let's see what some other conservative blogs are saying and here some of the comments to them from the left as well:

http://michellemalkin.com/archives/002016.htm

----------

One thing is clear from those who are cackling over news that Sen. Mel Martinez's legal counsel, Brian Darling, is the author of the so-called GOP/Schiavo Talking Points Memo: Your reading comprehension level is lower than my 17-month-old son's. And he's just started reading picture books.

Giddy e-mailers are demanding that conservative bloggers, including myself, "retract" and "correct" "right-wing lies" about the Schiavo memo. This one's typical:

Eat it Malkin!!!! You Repugs have been exposed again. Ha! Ha!

And so's this one, which was sent to me 18 times (so far):

F**K YOU! THE MEMO WAS REAL!

And, of course, there's the requisite whore mail:

I've said it before and I'll say it again... You are a STUPID F****G WHORE!

Ooooo-kay, for those who are not in need of remedial reading or anger management classes, let's proceed.

After John Hinderaker at Power Line first started asking necessary questions about the reporting on the memo, many on the Right jumped to conclusions that the memo was "fake" or a "dirty trick." I concur that those who made such claims should issue clear retractions and corrections. And I urge those bloggers and pundits to do so.

But contrary to what the left-wing gloaters who have not bothered to follow the story until last night are writing, I have never made such claims, a point I stressed yesterday afternoon in an e-mail exchange with Post reporter Mike Allen.

Allen sent me the following e-mail at 1:37 pm eastern time yesterday (the first he sent after ignoring numerous e-mails from me last week about this story):

read the rest at the site

Wow. Such lovely behavior from the left on this one. How utterly typical of them.

The truth is that the left dropped the story like a hot-potato when the errors in the memo were discovered, and the left sites reporting it didn't even have the story correct to begin with. It didn't come from high-ranking Republican sources and was not circulated among the Republicans either. It went straight from Martinez - after being written by one of his flunkies wo couldn't even get the facts seemingly straight - to Harkin, which pretty much makes it a non-issue since this was never any great Republican conspiracy to begin with, merely the writings of some lower-level political lacky.

But at least the left can rejoice that, for once, it's not actually a forgery of their doing. Congrats on not trying to scam the Republicans....this time.

 

[Uhtrinity]

CNN Link

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
I wish somebody would pull the tube on all this schiavo stuff

I wish somebody would pull the plug on all the lying neocon pols and talking heads who try to cover up and discredit the truth. :|

 

[rickn]

Originally posted by: jhu

Originally posted by: BDawg
And Frist should have his medical license suspended for his video "diagnosis."

he's a surgeon, not a neurologist. he has no business diagnosing neurological diseases. he can give an opinion, but he should defer to a neurologist. btw, did he really give her a diagnosis?

all his constituents are brain dead, I give him some credence

 

[BDawg]

Originally posted by: jhu

Originally posted by: BDawg
And Frist should have his medical license suspended for his video "diagnosis."

he's a surgeon, not a neurologist. he has no business diagnosing neurological diseases. he can give an opinion, but he should defer to a neurologist. btw, did he really give her a diagnosis?

He said that given the video he watched, "it appears she is not in a persistent vegitative state." Without doing a true exam, it is unethical for any doctor to make that claim. It's twice as bad given the regard the Senate hold him in respect to medical questions.

 

[Phokus]

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken

Originally posted by: Phokus
various verbal vomit.

But rush limbaugh, the weekly standard, powerline blogger, and various other rightwing pundits tell me the democrats forged this memo! My worldview has been shattered!

(this is probably the bigger story anyway).

The truth is that the left dropped the story like a hot-potato when the errors in the memo were discovered, and the left sites reporting it didn't even have the story correct to begin with. It didn't come from high-ranking Republican sources and was not circulated among the Republicans either.

Actually, we don't know if it wasn't circulated among republicans. The republicans have denied it, but why the hell would they want to tell the truth?

It went straight from Martinez - after being written by one of his flunkies wo couldn't even get the facts seemingly straight - to Harkin, which pretty much makes it a non-issue since this was never any great Republican conspiracy to begin with, merely the writings of some lower-level political lacky.

Actually it wasn't a 'lower level political lacky', it was a legal counsel, considered quite senior to his office.

 

[Steeplerot]

oh well, she was braindead, it's not like she could feel the republicans humping her for everything they can get until her last breath (and beyond)

 

[slurmsmackenzie]

"people lied to get somewhere!"

big f-in' suprise. both teams are gonna lose in the end.

fite fer dem scraps! lord knows it's your only option.

......

oh yeah, so is this just a matter of keeping score? do the parties ever have to answer or is it simply a matter of high card?

we don't need back door deals with other nations. lazy fair cudda werked! since our nation's founding, we've had the forward thinking, scientific intelligence, natural resources - whether for food, energy, or defense - to sustain as a world power. what are we getting from china that isn't readily available in the u.s.? we could've long since bought canada by now! we could be on mars for god's sake!

 

[conjur]

<Nelson voice>

HA ha





Morans

 

[Moonbeam]

Chuck Schumer says take him at his word amd move on.

 

[LTC8K6]

I see, the bloggers were right the whole time and it's actually the MSM who has the egg on the face.

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

Originally posted by: jhu

Originally posted by: BDawg
And Frist should have his medical license suspended for his video "diagnosis."

he's a surgeon, not a neurologist. he has no business diagnosing neurological diseases. he can give an opinion, but he should defer to a neurologist. btw, did he really give her a diagnosis?

Resident: Doctor Frist, the patient is low in potassium, how much K should I give him?
Frist: What's K?
Resident: Uh, potassium . . . you know . . . K on the periodic table?

While it would certainly be inappropriate to give a diagnosis purely by video excerpt, a good physician can do a lot with relatively little information. Common things are common, uncommon things are not. A typical dermatologist can give a diagnosis and treatment for many patients just by walking through the waiting room . . . that may explain why most dermatologists work such righteous hours.

Frist was a fool b/c he allowed his personal bias to cloud his judgment. Then again, maybe BDawg is right; Frist is a moron MD.

I won't say anymore b/c it's time for the Schiavo debacle to wither and fade away.

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Originally posted by: BaliBabyDocit's time for the Schiavo debacle to wither and fade away.

:thumbsup:

 

[Gaard]

Dan Rather should be fired!


Oh wait...


hypocrates.

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken

Originally posted by: Phokus
The memo i'm referring to is the GOP talking points memo where it said the schiavo issue would be a tough issue for democrats to deal with and it'd help unseat nelson of florida

The story is exploding all over the blogosphere right now:

Uh huh. Let's see what some other conservative blogs are saying and here some of the comments to them from the left as well:

http://michellemalkin.com/archives/002016.htm

----------

One thing is clear from those who are cackling over news that Sen. Mel Martinez's legal counsel, Brian Darling, is the author of the so-called GOP/Schiavo Talking Points Memo: Your reading comprehension level is lower than my 17-month-old son's. And he's just started reading picture books.

Giddy e-mailers are demanding that conservative bloggers, including myself, "retract" and "correct" "right-wing lies" about the Schiavo memo. This one's typical:

Eat it Malkin!!!! You Repugs have been exposed again. Ha! Ha!

And so's this one, which was sent to me 18 times (so far):

F**K YOU! THE MEMO WAS REAL!

And, of course, there's the requisite whore mail:

I've said it before and I'll say it again... You are a STUPID F****G WHORE!

Ooooo-kay, for those who are not in need of remedial reading or anger management classes, let's proceed.

After John Hinderaker at Power Line first started asking necessary questions about the reporting on the memo, many on the Right jumped to conclusions that the memo was "fake" or a "dirty trick." I concur that those who made such claims should issue clear retractions and corrections. And I urge those bloggers and pundits to do so.

But contrary to what the left-wing gloaters who have not bothered to follow the story until last night are writing, I have never made such claims, a point I stressed yesterday afternoon in an e-mail exchange with Post reporter Mike Allen.

Allen sent me the following e-mail at 1:37 pm eastern time yesterday (the first he sent after ignoring numerous e-mails from me last week about this story):

read the rest at the site

Wow. Such lovely behavior from the left on this one. How utterly typical of them.

The truth is that the left dropped the story like a hot-potato when the errors in the memo were discovered, and the left sites reporting it didn't even have the story correct to begin with. It didn't come from high-ranking Republican sources and was not circulated among the Republicans either. It went straight from Martinez - after being written by one of his flunkies wo couldn't even get the facts seemingly straight - to Harkin, which pretty much makes it a non-issue since this was never any great Republican conspiracy to begin with, merely the writings of some lower-level political lacky.

But at least the left can rejoice that, for once, it's not actually a forgery of their doing. Congrats on not trying to scam the Republicans....this time.

Give us a break. Like Freepers are moral, upstanding, non-racist citizens? Puh-leeze.

Malkin is going to pick the worst of the idiots to make herself look good. She needs to, though, since she couldn't win a debate against Schiavo...dead or alive.

 

[jhu]

Originally posted by: BaliBabyDoc

Originally posted by: jhu

Originally posted by: BDawg
And Frist should have his medical license suspended for his video "diagnosis."

he's a surgeon, not a neurologist. he has no business diagnosing neurological diseases. he can give an opinion, but he should defer to a neurologist. btw, did he really give her a diagnosis?

Resident: Doctor Frist, the patient is low in potassium, how much K should I give him?
Frist: What's K?
Resident: Uh, potassium . . . you know . . . K on the periodic table?

While it would certainly be inappropriate to give a diagnosis purely by video excerpt, a good physician can do a lot with relatively little information. Common things are common, uncommon things are not. A typical dermatologist can give a diagnosis and treatment for many patients just by walking through the waiting room . . . that may explain why most dermatologists work such righteous hours.

Frist was a fool b/c he allowed his personal bias to cloud his judgment. Then again, maybe BDawg is right; Frist is a moron MD.

I won't say anymore b/c it's time for the Schiavo debacle to wither and fade away.

well, i wouldn't say he's a moron md, but rather he made a judgment outside of his field.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Originally posted by: conjur
Give us a break. Like Freepers are moral, upstanding, non-racist citizens? Puh-leeze.

Freepers? WTF are you talking about?

Malkin is going to pick the worst of the idiots to make herself look good. She needs to, though, since she couldn't win a debate against Schiavo...dead or alive.

Oh, you mean like this?

Update: Proving my point about the Left's lousy reading comprehension skills, Daily Kos tells his readers I should apologize for writing, "I suspect that no one at the Post or ABC News still believes the amateurish, unsigned, misspelled memo was circulated by Republican Party leaders." My point was not that the memo couldn't have been created by a Republican. My point was that GOP leaders such as Karl Rove would not have drafted or authorized such a sloppy, self-defeating document.

This is clear if you read the very next sentence, in which I explicitly acknowledge the possibility that a Republican staffer may have been responsible. Here is the full paragraph:

I suspect that no one at the Post or ABC News still believes the amateurish, unsigned, misspelled memo was circulated by Republican Party leaders. We may never know whether the memo was the handywork of a Republican staffer or a Democrat dirty trickster or an outside interloper, but clearly there is absolutely no evidence that this was a Karl Rove plot.

I have included extensive links to my posts on this subject, and links to what others have written from the beginning. It would behoove the Johnny-come-lately knee-jerkers to actually read them before braying about fairness, accuracy, and partisan zeal.

I'm sure Malkin could debate you into the dirt, conjur, dead or alive.

Of course, that's not saying much either way.

 

[Jhhnn]

Yeh, the more reasonable voices on the right are backing away from the Schiavo mess, claiming that the memo was scurrilous. They haven't offered any other reasons for the whole effort, however... I suppose they're claiming it was really just a humanitarian effort, but the simple fact that their law, as drafted, was designed more to corner the judiciary than to actually interfere in the matter speaks volumes as to their intent...

Malkin claims the memo wasn't circulated, which may be true, for all we know, but the sentiment behind it has been expressed time and again by the Repub leadership, particularly Delay... Leaving the Right Pundits to resort to the usual "can't prove it!" routine... I can't prove that the sun will come up in the morning, either, but it seems to be a safe assertion...

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Originally posted by: Jhhnn
Yeh, the more reasonable voices on the right are backing away from the Schiavo mess, claiming that the memo was scurrilous. They haven't offered any other reasons for the whole effort, however... I suppose they're claiming it was really just a humanitarian effort, but the simple fact that their law, as drafted, was designed more to corner the judiciary than to actually interfere in the matter speaks volumes as to their intent...

Malkin claims the memo wasn't circulated, which may be true, for all we know, but the sentiment behind it has been expressed time and again by the Repub leadership, particularly Delay... Leaving the Right Pundits to resort to the usual "can't prove it!" routine... I can't prove that the sun will come up in the morning, either, but it seems to be a safe assertion...

Please do let us know if that memo rises from the east in the morning over your window and shines in your face, Jhhnn.

 

[Jhhnn]

So, uhh, TLC, maybe you'd care to offer up some other reason for the Schiavo brouhaha, other than that offered in the memo... You'll be the first to deal with it in some form beyond denial...