AP covering for the WH

Does AP know who Ken Mehlman is?

Saw this AP headline "Ex-Bush Aide Denies Calls on Phone Jamming" and wondered which "Ex-Bush Aide" they were talking about. Then I read the first paragraph:

A former White House political director denied Tuesday that he or anyone on his staff spoke with New England Republicans about a phone-jamming scheme designed to keep New Hampshire Democrats from voting in 2002.

Still wondering....The next paragraph finally tells us the aide in question is, in fact, Mehlman:

Ken Mehlman, now chairman of the Republican National Committee, acknowledged that local GOP officials had called a White House operative in the days surrounding the election. But he said none of the conversations involved the phone- jamming incident.

Hello AP. Talk about burying your lede....Ken Mehlman isn't just an "Ex-Bush Aide" or the former White House political director. Besides being the chair of the RNC, he ran the President's re-election campaign in 2004. It's a VERY big deal that the top GOP political operative is even being linked to this matter. The Associated Press really doesn't seem to get that.

TPM Muckraker has been all over this story...Josh Marshall's been on it from the beginning. There have been three federal convictions in the phone-jamming case already. Yes, even the Bush Justice Department found criminal action. And, some of those convicts were calling the White House political affairs office on election day. Also, AP, you forgot to mention that the RNC, which Mehlman now chairs, has paid a lot of legal fees for those jammers.

One other thing. Just because Ken Mehlman issues a statement or says something doesn't mean it's true. He is, after all, part of the Bush team. And, veracity isn't one of their virtues.

(Americablog)