Taking Responsibility For One's Actions

Well, if you've been following the non-story of the non-forged Republican memo advising that turning the occasion of Terri Schiavo's death into an Aztec death carnival would be a "winner" politically, bite your nails no longer. The memo was authentic, originating in the staff of Republican Senator Mel Martinez of Florida. Now, Kevin Drum has a simple request:

Martinez has fired the errant staffer, calling the memo "stupid." With that, I hope that Power Line and Hugh Hewitt and Michelle Malkin and the rest of the crew trying to relive the glory days of Rathergate will take his lead and just STFU. Enough.

Will they comply? Let's find out. Poweline's Hindrocket:

So, if the current AP story is correct, it confirms that ABC and the Post mis-reported the story--in the Post's case, in an article that was picked up by dozens of other newspapers off the paper's wire service.

The latest story also confirms how absurd it was for ABC, the Post, and other news outlets to label the anonymous memo a "GOP talking points memo." We have no idea who the unidentified Martinez staffer is, but he apparently was not authorized to speak for his boss, and most certainly was not empowered to speak for the leadership of the Republican party. We'll try to track him down and get his story, but in the meantime, this story serves as an object lesson in how the mainstream media can take a dopey, one-page memo by an unknown staffer and use it to discredit the entire Republican party.

Interesting take. For the record...well, take it away Michelle:

Brian Darling...is the author of the so-called GOP/Schiavo Talking Points Memo

Does that sound like a retraction from Malkin? It's not:

Well, now we know the truth. Thanks to the Associated Press, with the Washington Post bringing up the rear. And, gee, it only took 18 days to nail down a story that differs in key respects from what Snow and Allen reported on March 19 without adequate substantiation.

And last, Magister Parens himself, Hugh Hewitt:

Hats off to Powerline for exposing the Post's/ABC's ridiculous reliance on this memo, and for announcing prominently that the memo was in fact written by a staffer for Senator Mel Martinez....

Let's just rewind the tape a bit. It won't due for the 101st keyboard division to claim ex post facto that all along their beef was with the Post/ABC potentially exaggerated (potentially unexaggerated) account of the wide-spreadedness of the memo; they thought they had another forged memo scandal on their hands, and they were after blood. Now that it all turns out to have been a snipe hunt, they act like whining adolescents. Whither the grown-up Republicans?