Blame Canada!

When in doubt, Conservative Pundits rarely fail to find a way to blame the Democrats for their own excesses...

It's all a "Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy" - don't cha know?

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Conservatives on Fox baselessly cast ethics charges against DeLay as partisan attacks by Democrats, "liberal media"

Conservative media figures on Fox News have portrayed allegations of ethical misconduct by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) as a conspiracy by the "liberal media" to aid Democrats, echoing DeLay's own efforts to defend himself. The most recent revelations concern trips to Moscow, London, and South Korea -- apparently funded by lobbyists attempting to influence congressional business -- in 1997, 2000, and 2001, respectively; and revelations that DeLay's political action and campaign committees have paid his wife and daughter $500,000 since 2001.

On the April 6 edition of Hannity & Colmes, co-host Sean Hannity described the most recent charges against DeLay as "liberal allegations" and asked: "Is he the target of a smear campaign?" Former Rep. J.C. Watts (R-OK) also characterized the allegations against DeLay as partisan: "I think the left has a way of vigorously imposing political correctness, and they viciously punish anyone that doesn't comply. We all know that Tom DeLay is not one that -- that is going to comply." Watts later suggested that the charges against DeLay are likely "frivolous": "I think you usually find ... on the Republican and the Democratic side, at the end of the day, probably 90 percent of the ethics complaints ... are frivolous."

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Dissecting a right-wing smear: How conservatives used trumped-up evidence to blame Democrats for Schiavo memo

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.

However that hasn't stopped the pundits from pointing a finger at Dems:

March 24

Accuracy in Media press release: "[E]vidence suggests that the memo may have been manufactured as part of an effort to make Republicans look bad."

Rush Limbaugh: "The memo was made up by Democrat staffers."

The American Spectator claims: "It's Rathergate all over again."

Bill Bennett: "I think it was planted either by a fraud or an idiot."

Hinderaker: "There is no evidence that this memo came from the Republicans."

March 27

Tucker Carlson: "...within a week or two, it will become clear that it -- that memo -- was a forgery, possibly written by Democrats..."

March 28

Fox News' Brit Hume repeats claims that Republicans had never seen the memo and that it contained "numerous factual and typographical errors" to discredit it.

March 29

Limbaugh asserts the memo is forged.

March 30

Howard Kurtz in The Washington Post: "[T]here are several strange things about [the memo]."

Accuracy in Media press release: "[M]edia outlets who reported on this bogus memo need to admit their error."

Wes Vernon of NewsMax claims examination by American Spectator, Limbaugh, Hannity and others indicates the memo is a "fraud" and "political dirty trick."

April 4

Fred Barnes op-ed in The Weekly Standard: "[T]he memo story turns out to be yet another instance of crude liberal bias."

April 6

The Washington Times: "Was the Schiavo memo a fake?"

The answer to all these questions is -- "NO!".

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