[saddino]

Finally, case closed on the alleged GOP "talking points" memo calling Schiavo's case "a great political issue" that would excite "the pro-life base." Turns out it is authentic, and was written the legal counsel to Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.):

From today's Washington Post:

The legal counsel to Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) admitted yesterday that he was the author of a memo citing the political advantage to Republicans of intervening in the case of Terri Schiavo, the senator said in an interview last night.

Brian H. Darling, 39, a former lobbyist for the Alexander Strategy Group on gun rights and other issues, offered his resignation and it was immediately accepted, Martinez said.

...

Martinez, a freshman who was secretary of housing and urban development for most of President Bush's first term, said he had not read the one-page memo. He said he inadvertently passed it to Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who had worked with him on the issue. After that, officials gave the memo to reporters for ABC News and The Washington Post.

For those with short attention spans, this memo was disavowed by Tom DeLay, who insisted he had never seen it, and then an intense blogosphere-inspired effort to expose it as a democratic "dirty trick" succeeded with reports in the media of the memo suggesting it was a "forgery." The bloggers are good at what they do, but they can't change the facts: they accepted Martinez' original position that his office hadn't distributed the memo, and thus assumed that the memo had materialized in democratic hands without anyone in the GOP being aware of it. Many blogs pointed to the fact that Schiavo's name was mispelled once, there was no official letterhead and the bill number was incorrect.

Nevertheless, now it's a mystery no longer. Interesting that it was Martinez himself who handed it to Tom Harkin. Oops.

For you tinfoil types: the Alexander Strategy Group was founded by Ed Buckham and Tony Rudy, former aides to Tom DeLay. This site explores the connections and points out how DeLay used the very talking points from the memo he apparently never saw.

[budster101]

I want to be the first to say: That's disturbing.

Since this has been proven to be true, then I am recanting my position on the Schiavo case and the Shindler's selling of the donor's list.

I now believe that this is a concerted effort on behalf of the GOP to get a message out to those supporters of the Shindler's, use this list, and I now think the Shindler's have been used as pawns in this. I'm now doubly sorry for them, as they have been cast into this, or have gone voluntarily.

I'm washing my hands of the whole thing.

[dcmacdaddy]

Originally posted by budster101:
I want to be the first to say: That's disturbing.

Since this has been proven to be true, then I am recanting my position on the Schiavo case and the Shindler's selling of the donor's list.

I now believe that this is a concerted effort on behalf of the GOP to get a message out to those supporters of the Shindler's, use this list, and I now think the Shindler's have been used as pawns in this. I'm now doubly sorry for them, as they have been cast into this, or have gone voluntarily.

I'm washing my hands of the whole thing.

Thanks for being honest enough to admit your assumption on the matter were wrong. Not many people here, regardless of their political persuasion, will come out and say what you did.

to you!

[saddino]

Originally posted by budster101:
I'm washing my hands of the whole thing.

Wow, I'm impressed, budster.

Sadly, I think the real lesson from all of this is that both parties are equally able to pander to their bases, especially in times where partisanship is at an all time high, and both are willing to go to extraordinary lengths to do so.

[spacefreak]

The report was that the memo was writtten by a GOP Senator, which it wasn't. We all knew it was written by somebody.

Besides, I thought the Democrats taught us that it is not the contents of a given memo that is important (like the memos showing special interest groups ordering the Democrats to collude and halt Bush's circuit court nominees), but rather the discovery and punishment of the person(s) responsible for leaking it.

So who was it that leaked this underling's unsolicited, unapproved, unsponsored memo? That's what's really important.

This hatchet job on DeLay is ridiculous. The mainstream media continues to bloat what amounts to non-issues at the Dems' direction while casually dismissing serious Democrat ethics viloations.

The name alone made the eyes glaze over: "The Clark County Conservation of Public Land and Natural Resources Act of 2002." In a welter of technical jargon, it dealt with boundary shifts, land trades and other arcane matters — all in Nevada.

As he introduced it, Nevada's senior U.S. senator, Democrat Harry Reid, assured colleagues that his bill was a bipartisan measure to protect the environment and help the economy in America's fastest-growing state.

What Reid did not explain was that the bill promised a cavalcade of benefits to real estate developers, corporations and local institutions that were paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in lobbying fees to his sons' and son-in-law's firms, federal lobbyist reports show.

At least 17 senators and 11 members of the House have children, spouses or other close relatives who lobby or work as consultants, most in Washington, according to lobbyist reports, financial-disclosure forms and other state and federal records. Many are paid by clients who count on the related lawmaker for support.

But Harry Reid is in a class by himself. One of his sons and his son-in-law lobby in Washington for companies, trade groups and municipalities seeking Reid's help in the Senate. A second son has lobbied in Nevada for some of those same interests, and a third has represented a couple of them as a litigator.

In the last four years alone, their firms have collected more than $2 million in lobbying fees from special interests that were represented by the kids and helped by the senator in Washington.

So pervasive are the ties among Reid, members of his family and Nevada's leading industries and institutions that it's difficult to find a significant field in which such a relationship does not exist.

[zizban]

Rush Limbaugh called it a Democratic forgery. SIGH. Anyway, Martinez said he knew nothing about the memo. I knew the Senator while I lived in Florida and he is an upstanding guy so I am inclined to take him at his word.

[SimpleLife]

Originally posted by budster101:
I want to be the first to say: That's disturbing.

Since this has been proven to be true, then I am recanting my position on the Schiavo case and the Shindler's selling of the donor's list.

I now believe that this is a concerted effort on behalf of the GOP to get a message out to those supporters of the Shindler's, use this list, and I now think the Shindler's have been used as pawns in this. I'm now doubly sorry for them, as they have been cast into this, or have gone voluntarily.

I'm washing my hands of the whole thing.

They have been used as pawns from day one.

How can people, parents, be so blind and so keen on suing again and again while presented the facts on a daily basis?

Either it is one extraordinary case of pathological denial or someone was playing tricks on them.