Yesterday, Greg Sargent at The Plum Line ran a story that said:
Is Blanche Lincoln going to face a primary from her left over health care?
In a step in that direction, Arkansas Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter, who’s widely rumored to be mulling a challenge to Lincoln, came to Washington D.C. to huddle with a group of labor officials and liberal bloggers to discuss possibly making the race, two sources who were there tell me.
And here's Politico's Josh Kraushaar's version of the Sargent's article:
The Washington Post’s Plum Line is reporting that Arkansas lieutenant governor Bill Halter, one of the most liberal statewide elected officials in the state, is mulling over challenging Lincoln in the primary. He’s met with leading labor officials and progressive opinion leaders on a trip to Washington in his role as chairman of the Democratic Lieutenant Governor's Association.
That's some serious color commentary, isn't it? Kraushaar drops the part about it being a rumor that Halter is considering a run, tags him as "one of the most liberal" officials, elevates labor officials and liberal bloggers to "leading labor officials and progressive opinion leaders" -- and says this is what The Plum Line is reporting.
Kraushaar, a bona-fide, mouth-breathing movement conservative, takes a straightforward report and turns it into a cudgel for the opposition to attack Halter as a pawn of the far left.
That's quite a trick. Or quite the agenda. You make the call.