Sunday, January 07, 2007

The Washington Post reported yesterday on an anonymous memo relating to the Terri Schiavo case that allegedly was sent to all of the Republicans in the Senate. ABC News apparently obtained a copy of the memo, and gave it to the Post.

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This memo, obviously, ties in with the Democrats' talking point that the Republicans don't really care about a disabled woman who is being starved to death, but are seeking political advantage. (Simultaneously, they point out poll data suggesting that an overwhelming majority of Americans are on their side. Consistency is never required of Democrats.) But I have to wonder: is the memo genuine, or is it a Democratic dirty trick?

I haven't seen a complete copy of the memo, and to my knowledge, none is available online. The most complete characterization of the memo I've seen is on this liberal site. But what I really want to see is a copy of the memo itself. It is described as "unsigned." What does this mean? Most Senate and House memos are written on letterhead that show whose office they came from. Is this memo on such letterhead? Apparently not. As best I can tell, it is anonymous. Is it simply a one-page memo on blank white paper that purports to come from a Republican? If so, is there any reason to assume that it is genuine? How does the Senate's mail system work? Can anyone write an anonymous memo, and send it to 55 Republican Senators, with a copy to ABC News?

Evidently some have suggested that the memo may have originated in the office of Senator Rick Santorum. Santorum apparently denies any involvement.

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. And who would send an anonymous missive to all 55 Republican Senators, commenting on political tactics and strategies? That seems very odd. Who would send a memo to Senators like Lincoln Chaffee, Arlen Specter and Olympia Snowe, to the effect that "the pro-life base will be excited?" That requires an extraordinary level of political obtuseness.

Despite a lack of evidence, several media sources have repeated conservative speculation and accusations that Democrats secretly authored a "talking points" memo that described the Terri Schiavo case as a "great political issue" for Senate Republicans. These baseless accusations, apparently hatched on right-wing blogs and in conservative media such as The American Spectator, were given credibility by The Washington Post and CNN's Inside Politics. But as recent reports indicate, Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL) has admitted publicly that one of his aides is the true author of the memo.

As "evidence" for their claims that the Schiavo memo was a Democratic "dirty trick," conservative blogs such as Power Line and media sources pointed to the fact that the memo was "unsigned" and not on official Senate letterhead. In another posting on March 22, Power Line suggested that the memo was "suspicious" because it "mix[ed] political strategy points...with talking points for Senatorial argument.

On March 23, Michelle Malkin repeated the "evidence" touted by Power Line, and suggested that spelling errors in the memo also raised questions about its authenticity.

In a March 23 post to his blog on the National Review's website, Jim Geraghty also repeated the "evidence" that appeared on the Power Line blog, and stated that "creepy phrases" in the memo indicate that the memo was written by a dumb GOP operative or a "Democratic dirty trickster."