I know I shouldn’t, but here’s two stories:

Is the Post Ducking Responsibility?

We have written extensively about the fake “talking points memo” on the Schaivo case that ABC News and the Washington Post publicized, beginning on March 18. We have pointed out, most comprehensively in the Weekly Standard, that there is no reason whatsoever to believe that the memo originated with the Republicans, and considerable reason to think it may be a Democratic dirty trick.

…There is a story here, if our media wanted to pursue it. The memo in question is a pathetic piece of work. Any competent person could look at it and see that it is not a product of the Republican leadership. It is on a blank piece of paper; no letterhead, no signature, no identification. Anyone in the world could have typed it. It is incompetently produced: it gets the Senate bill number wrong, misspells Terri Schiavo’s name, and is full of typographical errors. The only people reported to have distributed it (by the New York Times) were Democratic staffers. And–most fundamentally–it is absurd to think that the Republican leadership would produce a “talking points” memo discussing what great politics the Schiavo case was for Republicans. Those aren’t talking points; not for Republicans, anyway. The memo benefited the only party that it could possibly have benefited: the Democrats.

…leading us, of course, to:

Schiavo memo author steps forward

The legal counsel to Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) admitted yesterday that he
was the author of a memo citing the political advantage to Republicans of
intervening in the case of Terri Schiavo, the senator said in an interview last
night.

Brian Darling, a former lobbyist for the Alexander Strategy Group on gun
rights and other issues, offered his resignation and it was immediately
accepted, Martinez said.

Martinez said he earlier had been assured by aides that his office had
nothing to do with producing the memo. “I never did an investigation, as such,”
he said. “I just took it for granted that we wouldn’t be that stupid. It was
never my intention to in any way politicize this issue.”

But remember — it was absurd — absurd — to think that this could be anything but a dirty trick, and that it wasn’t the GOP trying to politicize the issue.