Doubts Raised On Schiavo Memo

Washington Post ^ | 3/30/05 | Howard Kurtz

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Bloggers are swarming around a new target: the Terri Schiavo "talking points."

Fresh from declaring victory over CBS News and its discredited National Guard memos about President Bush, some of the same bloggers are raising questions about a strategy memo, first reported by ABC News and The Washington Post, that cast the Schiavo right-to-die case as a partisan opportunity for Republicans to stick it to Democrats.

"Fake but Accurate Again?" says the Weekly Standard headline on an article by John Hinderaker, an attorney and conservative blogger who had challenged the CBS documents.

While there is no hard evidence that the memo is fake, there are several strange things about it, including the basic fact that no one seems to know who wrote it and that the noncontroversial part of it is lifted from a Republican senator's press release.

ABC and The Post say their reports on the Schiavo memo were accurate and carefully worded. The document caused a stir because it described the Schiavo controversy as "a great political issue" that would excite "the pro-life base" and be "a tough issue for Democrats," singling out Florida's Sen. Bill Nelson. Two days after the memo was reported, the Republican-controlled Congress approved a bill, signed by Bush, to transfer jurisdiction of Schiavo's case from Florida courts to the federal judiciary in an effort to restore the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube.

"There's nothing on the face of the document to identify a source -- not only is it unsigned, there's no letterhead, no nothing," Hinderaker said yesterday. "This is literally a piece of paper with stuff typed on it that could have been written by anyone."

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Laura Ingraham focused on this story to start her show today.

[cripplecreek]

Media butmonkeys.

[poobear]

It's the left who are making this a political issue. They jump on any steaming pile they can find to make it a 'political issue'. No ideas just attack.

[ClearCase_guy]

This is literally a piece of paper with stuff typed on it that could have been written by anyone."

This is what journalism has sunk to. A piece of paper. With stuff on it. No way to source it. No way to check the facts. And it becomes the center-piece of a major news story.

Is this what they teach in J-school?

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Hmmm...at least he isn't hiding from it or completely denying it.

Those Power Line bloggers are awesome.

[Semper Paratus]

While there is no hard evidence that the memo is fake

the Presumption of fact. There never was any hard evidence that it was genuine. The MSM will be ripe for these phony stories for a while.

[mewzilla]

Where have you been, Howie?

A day late and a dollar short. Again.

[grassboots.org]

This is the video that should be shown on the news everynight - it is even more powerful than the balloon video.

http://web.tampabay.rr.com/ccb/videos/Terri_Big_Eyes.rm

This is not reflex action - she heard the doctor, she opened her eyes as wide as she could to impress him.

Even Fox news has ignored this clip.

[wildwood]

While there is no hard evidence that the memo is fake

hmpf. the standard of evidence seems to have changed. we need EVIDENCE the memo is FAKE now, not vice versa.

good ole howie, always consistent.

[GVnana]

3/30/2005

To: Media
From: Notorious Blogger
RE: definition of word "memo"

You guys don't know memo from nothin'

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the standard of evidence seems to have changed. we need EVIDENCE the memo is FAKE now, not vice versa.

That is evidence the MSM is face.

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face=fake

[wildwood]

The document was provided by an official who has a long record of trustworthiness, and this official gave a precise account of the document's provenance, satisfying us that it was authentic and that it had been used in an attempt to influence Republican senators." Allen said that under the journalistic ground rules, he could not say whether the source was a Democrat or a Republican.

1. record of trustworthiness to the MSM cause

2.satisfying "us" doesn't take much, when you're all commies

3.journalistic ground rules? ha! what a joke! we all know what THAT means!

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Didn't Dan Rather say the same thing about the "trustworthiness" of his source?

[tessalu]

Bloggers are truly needed, for we can not trust ABC. CBS, CNN, or Fox News to tell us the truth. They try to make the news and slant it their own way, so the work of the bloggers is cut out for them.

[clee1]

All they teach in J-skrewl is Liberal Ideology and Tactics.

[wildwood]

Didn't Dan Rather say the same thing about the "trustworthiness" of his source?

yes, i believe that was the frequency he used.

[OldFriend]

But the book by the Swift Boat Vets for Truth, while accompanied by countless documents and affidavits was deemed not valid by the MSM.......

This memo, with no provenance at all is clearly true....after all it puts the republicans in a bad light. Let's run with it!

[Steve_Seattle]

Even if the memo were real, the fact that the press tried to make an issue of it shows their bias. They never release Democratic memos - and I'm sure there are many - outlining strategies, ways to exploit issues for their benefit, etc. For example, I have no doubt in the last presidential campaign there were incriminating Democratic memos lurking behind the "Bush will reinstate the draft" rumors that were widely circulated. This is politics, isn't it?