The Leap Of Faith, Based On A Flaw

Earlier I posted that Jim Hightower had made a leap of faith in assuming that the Schiavo Senate memo was distributed by Republican party leaders.  Well, he obviously had read the papers, and hadn't done any of his own investigating.  Michelle Malkin has pointed out that a number of papers printed versions of the story, crediting the Washington Post, which explicitly stated the facts in that fashion.

Unfortunately for them, by the time the story actually ran in the Post the writers realized that they did not know that to be the case, and the modified version only stated that it was distributed to Republican senators.  At the Dinocrat blog Jack Risko found an explanation, an archive wire copy of the story as it originally went out. (hat tip: Power Line)

Howard Kurtz interviewed one of the writers, Mike Allen, who states that they never meant to imply that it was a GOP talking points memo, only that Republicans had received it, as I noted in the Hightower post.  John Hinderaker makes the case, strongly, that there is at this time little if any evidence of this originating with the Republicans.

In response to the Hightower post I've had a running discussion in the comment section with an individual who believes it has already been proven that the memo came from Republicans.  As best as I can make out, it seems that his argument relies on similarities between statements made by Republicans and some of the talking points.  As I pointed out, that hardly is conclusive proof.

Here are some things we do know.  The original NY Times reporting indicated the memo was distributed by Democrats.  They have not retracted that characterization.  On Raw Story a very weak attempt was made to tie the memo to Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla) office, with that attribution coming from ... Democrats.  That attribution, as I showed in my comment responses, is at best uncertain, definitely not proven.  The Washinton Post no longer stands by their original characterization of the memo's origin.

There will most certainly be more to come.  Stay tuned.