Hindraker is right, the memo may be "real" but the story was fake.

Allah, Goldstein, Ace and now you, Bill? Dang.
Actually, when I look back on your (and the rest of the pantheon's) consistent output, burnout is understandable. Get a good rest, sir, but don't leave us hanging too long.

Wow. I'll bet they never thought it would be this easy. The Washington Post takes out an ad and you start linking to leftwing blogs.

The only thing you need to know about this slimy affair is that Harkin gave this piece of paper to his pals in the MSM and they tried to turn it into a bludgeon to beat the president.

If you can't see that Harkin is the villain in this piece, let us know. We don't want to waste time clicking on your blog if you're taking a left turn.

It's pretty obvious that you and some other bloggers are green with envy over the success of Power Line. All of a sudden, you're talking about Oliver and his emails.

I never cease to be amazed at human perfidy.

We don't want to waste our time clicking on to your blog if your not going to make sense.

Sorry, Bill, I enjoy your blog and all

but you're no Johnny Cochran.

The "memo" orginated with the now sacked Darling and was distributed to Harkin than by other Dems. It was neither a "talking points memo" nor did it orginate or was distributed by GOP "leaders."

And this does not somehow translate into redeeming Dan Rather's fraud memos.

Good god!

erp -

Can you do me a favor and get a fucking clue? In order:

1. The Washington Post takes out an ad and

Oh yes, and those ads are so valuable. I'm laughing at you all the way to the bank! I sold out my ideology and intellectual honesty for a few bucks! Could you possibly be that dumb?

2. and you start linking to leftwing blogs.

Neither of the blogs that I linked are leftwing blogs, dumbass - they are both Republicans that voted for and supported President Bush (I'm 90% sure on Cole - he's a libertarian-Republican). Not that it's a sin to link to leftwing blogs, mind you, but your error helps accentuate your half-cocked ignorance.

3. It's pretty obvious that you and some other bloggers are green with envy over the success of Power Line.

I really resent people ascribing nasty, petty emotions to me when I happen say something that they don't like politically or logically. I'm not jealous of any blogger, from the most successful to the least, primarily because, well, I don't care about being hot stuff in blogging. It's a hobby. And while I generally like Powerline, they are clinging to this story and the malfeasance of reporters angle a bit too tightly, though not in a mortally irredeemable way, by any means.

4. All of a sudden, you're talking about Oliver and his emails.

I despise Oliver Willis, but I called him cowardly for ditching out on my radio show, and then realized that he had e-mailed me different contact info. So, making this clarification was a matter of honor and honesty, something which obviously takes a backseat to ideology in your telling and simplistic estimation.

5. I never cease to be amazed at human perfidy.

Go fuck yourself. My duty is not to your wacked out perception of "trust," it's to my intellectual honesty. And frankly, your repeated, caveman-like exhortations about the inherent inferiority of "liberals," denigrating all of those that don't agree with you to some subhuman status, grows tiresome and more than a bit creepy.

You're like the kid with raging inesecurities that nobody liked, clinging to the warm security blanket of political identification. To you it's a membership to a very special club that makes you better than, well, all those "other" people. Really a bit sad, though there's a laugh or two to be had as well.

6. We don't want to waste our time clicking on to your blog if your not going to make sense.

Take a hike. The fact that you've regularly commented here has always been a mild embarrassment to me. Really, your opinions are barely coherent, your logic and analytical ability no better than a shrill, annoying voice in the cacophony of an angry, yelling mob. People like you form the foundation for petty ignorance and hate in this world.

Darleen -

Explain something to me, because I must be slow:

1. How did ABC grossly mess up the story, exactly? Not the WaPo's mischaracterizations, but ABC. As for the WaPo's mischaracterizations, yes, broad overstated narratives (all of the Republicans passed around a memo) are a sin of the MSM that merits some real criticism. But it's not quite on the level of faking memos, right? Especially when the strident accusations of faked memos turn out to be incorrect.

2. How does mischaracterization by the WaPO (what else is new) compare to the nuts and bolts of the story, that Republicans wrote a politically idiotic memo? If a staff member for one Dem Senator wrote something similar about Schiavo or the WOT and it was passed around even superficially, I doubt most of those currently making excuses would be so forgiving - including you.

3. And this does not somehow translate into redeeming Dan Rather's fraud memos.

Good god!

Now this is the part where I get real confused, because I'm just so darn dense: where exactly did I - or either of the blogs that I linked to - imply that it REDEEMS DAN RATHER'S FRAUD?!! Yikes. I helped lead the charge against Rather and pretty aggressively stated that CBS's fraud was a truly terrible piece of malicious and incompetent journalism.

Why would you get the impression that I think that this story has anything to do with redeeming that? It's a separate issue. This isn't as simple as some football game, "us vs. the MSM," with a static binary scorekeeping system.

I mean, you're gonna have to help me out, what with me being so easily confused and all.

Question, if you could excuse my "raging inesecurities" (sic) and it wouldn't embarrass you too much to answer, in your dispassionate, intellectually elevated opinion, whose was the most egregious behavior in the "Talking Point Memo" caper, Harkin or the author of the piece or Martinez or Hinderaker or the MSM or the Republican leadership or other?

There is far too little humor in the world so I am delighted that I could provide some laughs for you.

Suffice it to say that I'm not going to debate you after this, because you've crossed my big red line with the "human perfidy" comment, but "the most egregious behavior" was certainly displayed by the man that wrote the morbid memo.

My point about the Powerliners is that their position focuses on salvaging the notion of gross malfeasance from the MSM outlets, when it should probably tip towards the mix of just owning up to the fact that their initial analysis was wrong (as was mine, though it wasn't featured on this blog), as well as the fact that a Republican Senate Office was the source of the memo (though not the "Republican leadership").

Now seriously, I'm done with you.