Did Cragg Hines buy into a fake memo?
A couple of days ago, ABC News said it had obtained a memo of GOP talking points on Terri Schiavo. The memo explained the political benefits the Schiavo legislation would have for Republicans. Of course, the media and others were highly critical. Today, Cragg Hines uses the memo as part of an attack on Republicans in an op-ed column:
The political landscape of the last few days is littered with delicious contradictions, as liberal bloggers have relished pointing out.
Most interesting is a talking-points memo from the Senate side of the Capitol that spells it right out in stark electoral terms: "the pro-life base will be excited" and "this is a great political issue, this is a tough issue for Democrats."
It's nice to know that Hines reads blogs. Maybe he should expand his horizons and check out some conservative blogs as well. If he had, he might have learned that the memo's authenticity is in doubt, as shown by the Power Line guys, who have dissected and dismantled it, to the point that ABC News may now be backpedaling:
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.
[snip]
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[...]
But it gets better. Earlier today Power Line noticed Hines' column:
ABC News and the Washington Post have described--but not actually produced--a memorandum relating to the Terri Schiavo case which they have described as "GOP talking points" that were "distributed only to Republican Senators." Many other news outlets have picked up on ABC's and the Post's reporting, such as this Houston Chronicle article, which relies in part on the memo to support a bitter attack on the Republican Party[...]
I wonder if this op-ed has the "elegance, wit and insight" one would expect from an editorial page in its ideal state?
I did email Hines today, asking if he was aware of the controversy surrounding the memo, and if he had seen the actual memo. I have not heard back from him, but if I do, I'll be sure to post an update.
(Power Line's other posts on the suspect memo are here, here, and here.)
UPDATE (03-24-2005): No, I don't have a reply from Hines. But Power Line has an email from an ABC "source."
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/23/05 09:49 PM | Print |
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