The GOP Machine: Thieves, Hacks and Shills

Looking at the front page today, you can see we have spent a bit of time on the GOP Smear of Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid. The brouhaha is supposed to be about the FBI file of Bush judicial nominee Henry Saad.

The Thief is Manuel Miranda, who earned his exalted place in the GOP pantheon by  stealing Democratic files while he was working for Bill "Nuclear Option" Frist. He now leads the Extreme Right's fight for Frist's Nuclear Option. A commitment to "ethics," the hallmark of the GOP.

The Hack is Charles Hurt, Moonie Times "reporter" and stenographer for the Thief, who seems to have forgotten he wrote about Saad's FBI file one year ago. Now which GOP Senator do you suppose was Hurt's source on that one?

The Shills are the usual suspects, the Right Wing blogs and the rest of the Republican Smear Machine. One fellow stands out though - the foolish Byron York:

During a debate about the filibusters Thursday, Reid . . . brought up the subject of Henry Saad, a nominee to a seat on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. "Henry Saad would have been filibustered anyway," Reid said. "He's one of those nominees. All you need to do is have a member go upstairs and look at his confidential report from the FBI, and I think we would all agree there is a problem there."

Stunned Republicans say such a public description of a confidential FBI background report -- clearly stating that it contains negative information -- is, in the words of one GOP official, "deeply unethical." "He didn't reveal the contents, he just implied that something serious was there," says the Republican. "To drag this into the public debate is just totally improper."

Uh, Byron, so what do we do with Senator Hatch?

Levin and Stabenow testified Thursday during the private meeting. They said before the meeting that they would discuss information from Saad's FBI background check that raised doubts about his ability to serve, but they wouldn't elaborate. One topic that was expected to be discussed was an e-mail message Saad sent to a friend last fall that was inadvertently sent to Stabenow. In the message, Saad said Stabenow was 'abusing the system and undermining the constitutional process' by opposing his nomination. He added, "perhaps someday she will pay the price for her misconduct.' The e-mail has been released before, but Democratic staffers released it again Thursday. Hatch said after the meeting that no new charges were levied against Saad. 'The allegations were pro and con, but mostly pro,' Hatch said.

Hmm, I'm sure the calls for censure against Hatch are just around the corner. Riiiight.

Update by Kos: Drudge has also taken the bait, with the headline "Dem Senate Leader outs Bush nominee's secret FBI file..." Really secret, as we've learned. The folks at Red State fell for it, which speaks poorly for them. I mean, even Assrocket and company at Powerline passed on this one.

Update II by Kos: Biblio notes that the AP mentions the smear and then does a little digging on one of the "non-partisan" organizations working to further the smear.

Update [2005-5-13 15:42:52 by Armando]:by Armando: Here is a funny one from one of the Wingnuts:

Had a Republican done this the liberal media would be out trying to embarrass and discredit him.

Yeah, what would have happened if say, someone like Orrin Hatch had discussed the FBI check on Saad and talked about its contents? Boy, it sure would be interesting to know. What dopes.

Update [2005-5-13 15:48:1 by Armando]: by Armando. Michelle Malkin:

Needless to say, if a Republican Senator had pulled this kind of stunt, the ACLU and privocrats would be screaming bloody hell.

Boy, the hits just keep coming.