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Update to this Post
Now the tale begins to unravel. See Joshua Claybourn and Powerline.
Martinez, in his statement, said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, had asked for background information on the bill ordering a federal court to review the Schiavo case.Given the Washington Times story from the original post a likely scenario would be Martinez is telling the truth. And exaggerating the importance of the document would certainly seem to be in character for Harkin, the faux "Vietnam veteran fighter pilot". If nothing else, at this point it seems that at least one Senator's aide and another Senator are certainly guilty of seeking political profit from the Schiavo case. That they represent both sides of the aisle is disappointing but absolutely not surprising. We'll assume neither individual is representative of their respective parties until proven otherwise.He said he pulled a one-page document from his coat pocket and handed to Harkin. "Unbeknownst to me ... I had given him a copy of the now infamous memo."
He said Harkin had called him earlier Wednesday to say he believes the memo had been given to him by Martinez. The Florida senator said he then ordered an internal investigation in his office.
Both the above links note a host of unanswered questions, but the whole truth might yet be revealed in this story - and only due to the efforts of bloggers who kept the light shining. That many will be unsatisfied with the result doesn't change that fact.
More to come - we'll certainly stay on it here. I'm sure the finger pointing and acrimony have just begun...
More
There are still several unanswered questions, of which the most important is: Did Harkin (or possibly someone else) misinform the reporters about the source, nature and distriubtion of the memo, or did the reporters see the memo and leap to the wrong conclusion? I have posed this question to Mike Allen of the Post, and will pass on any reply that I receive.That is the central question now - but I wouldn't exect to see it answered any time soon. Nor would I expect clarification on the issues raised by Michelle Malikin:
A related issue was ABC News' and the Post's mischaracterizations of their own reporting. ABC News insisted it never said the memo was distributed by Senate Republicans even though Kate Snow said just that. Allen repeatedly denied that he reported the memo was distributed by GOP "party leaders" even though a widely-published article carrying his byline said just that. After this blog and others pointed out the discrepancy, Allen himself requested that his initial claim be retracted. Post editors, however, concluded that a retraction was not warranted.
WaPo's Mike Allen reports that the now-famous Schiavo "talking points" memo came from freshman GOP senator Mel Martinez's office. So that mystery is cleared up. The memo wasn't a fake. But Allen doesn't come off looking too good in this latest account. a) The memo was apparently not "distributed to Republican Senators by party leaders," as Allen's initial story, sent out through the Post news service to other papers, reported. It was--at least judging from today's account--handed to one Democratic senator, Tom Harkin, by one freshman Republican senator (who isn't in the party leadership); b) Allen doesn't explain why he told Howie Kurtz he "did not call them talking points or a Republican memo" when he had in fact done just that in the news service draft; c) Even the later, more "carefully worded" account Allen published in the Post itself was apparently wrong. Allen wroteMuch more here.In a memo distributed only to Republican senators, the Schiavo case was characterized as "a great political issue" ...
This is almost the reverse of what Allen now reports.
Still more (fair and balanced): see this too.
