repug blame game, part 1 billion - 1 scapegoat, coming up!

This is all so predictable that it is absurdly funny. The repugs knew they were to blame, so had to come up with a scapegoat - this poor aide. They tried blaming the Dems - as they always do! - but that wouldn't work, so they turned on the weakest of their own. The story is ridiculous, but gives them "plausible deniability". Will any one of them EVER take personal responsibility for ANYTHING? They come off like Bart Simpson - "I didn't do it! It was him/her/it/the Dems!" Of course, i'm sure all the repugs who blamed the Dems will apologize now (hahahahahahahaha)!

Fla. Sen. Mel Martinez Says Unsigned Memo About Terri Schiavo Case Originated in His Office

WASHINGTON -- Florida Republican Sen. Mel Martinez says an infamous unsigned memo passed around on Capitol Hill emphasizing the politics of the Terri Schiavo case originated in his office.

The memo _ first reported by ABC News on March 18 and by The Washington Post and The Associated Press two days later _ said the fight going on then over removing Schiavo's feeding tube "is a great political issue ... and a tough issue for Democrats."

"This is an important moral issue and the pro-life base will be excited that the Senate is debating this important issue," said the memo, which was described at the time as being circulated among Senate Republicans while legislation was being considered to place the Schiavo case under the jurisdiction of federal courts.

Martinez said in a written statement that he discovered Wednesday that the memo had been written by an aide in his office.

"It is with profound disappointment and regret that I learned today that a senior member of my staff was unilaterally responsible for this document," Martinez said.

He said he accepted the resignation of the staffer who drafted and circulated the memo.

"This type of behavior and sentiment will not be tolerated in my office," he said.

Martinez did not identify the aide, but The Washington Post said he was the senator's legal counsel, Brian Darling.

"Until this afternoon, I had never seen it and had no idea a copy of it had ever been in my possession,"

Martinez said of the document. He had previously denied knowing anything about the memo and condemned its sentiments.

The memo had been disavowed by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, both primary forces behind Congress passing the bill and sending it to President Bush on March 21.

Democrats had pounced on the document as evidence that Republicans were seeking a political advantage in the fight between Schiavo's husband and her parents over removing her feeding tube 15 years after she incurred severe brain damage that left her incapacitated.

In recent days, conservative Internet bloggers questioned whether the memo was authentic or had really been sent to GOP senators as first reported. The Washington Times reported Wednesday it surveyed the Senate and found only one senator, Democrat Tom Harkin of Iowa, who acknowledged seeing the memo.

In his statement, Martinez acknowleged he inadvertently gave Harkin the memo without ever reading it. But he acknowledged his staffer was responsible for both "drafting and circulating" the memo. He did not specify where else the memo was sent.

Schiavo, 41, died last Thursday in a Florida hospice, 13 days after the feeding tube was removed. During the interim, federal courts repeatedly rejected what Republicans said was the intent of the bill: to have the tube reinserted and prolong Schiavo's life.

Martinez, in his statement, said Harkin had asked for background information on the bill ordering a federal court to review the Schiavo case.

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.

Allison Dobson, a spokeswoman for Harkin, said the Iowa Democrat had received the memo from Martinez in the days leading up to passage of the bill.

Martinez said he also had apologized to Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who is up for re-election in 2006 and was cited in the memo because he had declined to become a sponsor of the bill.

----

LOTS more on this from Crooks and Liars

Wow! Uber-conservative Powerline spins itself into a frenzy trying to come up with excuses for this one! The incredibly bizarre conspiracy theories that are tossed around are wilder than anything that X Files ever showed! Seriously, these people should be writing science-fiction (oh yeah, sorry, they don't believe in "science"). Not surprisingly, there are no apologies, though!

Missed this Powerline quote before - its rolling-on-the-floor hilarious!:

Based on the fragments from the memo that were reported by the Post, I question its authenticity. It does not sound like something written by a conservative; it sounds like a liberal fantasy of how conservatives talk. What conservative would write that the case of a woman condemned to death by starvation is "a great political issue"? Maybe such a person exists, but I doubt it.

Does he not listen to or read any conservatives?! If anything, it sounds reastrained from their viewpoints!