February 23, 2005
"A Host of Political Dirty Tricks"
I think I can understand why my congressman, Maurice Hinchey, hasn't found the time to respond to either of my emails concerning his seemingly slanderous comments about Karl Rove and the Bush administration. He's been too busy on television and the radio trying to spin his version of events and portray himself as an everyman hero.
Well, I'm sorry, Mr. Hinchey, but that dog won't hunt.
On CNN's Inside Politics on Tuesday, Congressman Hinchey said:
"And then the issue of the CBS Dan Rather event came up, and I said that there were false documents or documents which were falsified and presented as being accurate and there was a question as to where those documents came from. And in the context of the discussion I suggested that -- my theory was that I wouldn't be surprised if it came from the White House political operation, headed up by Karl Rove."
But is that quite how it happened, Mr. Hinchey? There was no question about where the issue came up. Hinchey went on a rant, of which this is just a small sample:
"They've had a very very direct, aggressive attack on the, on the media, and the way it's handled. Probably the most flagrant example of that is the way they set up Dan Rather. Now, I mean, I have my own beliefs about how that happened: it originated with Karl Rove, in my belief, in the White House. They set that up with those false papers."
Hinchey went on during the CNN interview with Judy Woodruff that he based his beliefs upon, "a great deal of circumstantial information and factual information. Mr. Rove, for example, has been involved in a host of political dirty tricks that are traceable back -- all the way back to the 1970s, '80s, '90s, right on up to the present."
I am sure then that Mr. Hinchey can provide us with concrete examples if he has three decades of "factual information." I await his timely release of such information. Surely Congressman Hinchey would never make up such allegations.
According to The Forest for the Trees Hinchey appeared on the Ed Shultz radio show and told their listener, "the forging of these documents and the shopping around of these documents, that was a well executed setup to destroy the issue of Bush's draft evasion."
Again, I'm sure Congressman Hinchey will be forthcoming with the truth in extremely short order. Does Friday sound reasonable to you, Congressman? You have three decades of evidence, according to your claims. It shouldn't be too hard to throw together eight or ten pages of well-sourced, corroborated allegations in that amount of time.
Hinchey apparently stated at one point during his radio interview that, "If we had a Congress that cared about this country we would see something done about this".
Congressman, that is expressly why you are there.
If you can't handle the job, I am certain we find someone who can.
*****
Credit where credit is due. In one of my earlier threads on this topic, I criticized the local newspapers harshly for missing this story, believing they may have been stonewalling. Since then, three of the four papers cited written articles on this topic, and the Times Herald-Record has created a section on its home page specifically dealing with this issue, including blog coverage and a message board. So far, of the four papers mentioned, only the Poughkeepsie Journal has failed to address this story.
Update: Mr. Hinchey was on Hannity & Colmes tonight. I missed most of it, but tuned in just in time to see Hannity ask Hinchey point-blank to provide his evidence against Rove within what I thought was a very generous two weeks, or if he couldn't provide evidence to donate $1,000 to a charity Hannity supports.
At a critical moment where he was quite literally asked to put his money where his mouth is, Hinchey declined. He claims to call for media accountability, but refuses his own. No wonder Hinchey is a punchline as far as half a world away.
Maurice Hinchey is an embarrassment to the Hudson Valley.
Update: Blogs and Media Coverage
Little Green Footballs broke the story over the weekend and has been following it closely.
Michelle Malkin thinks that Hinchey is "unhinged."
Powerline notes that other Democrats rarely criticize this kind of behavior.
Tim Blair goes iowahawk on Hinchey.
GOP and the City has commentary, a roundup, and visual aides.
Carpe Bonum has a take on Hichey's appearance on CNN's Inside politics.
Slant Point is developing a list of additional blog coverage of "Hincheypalooza."
Sounding the Trumpet is another 22nd District blog covering this story.
IMAO rips into Hinchey, among others.
Empire State Conservatives comments on the scene of the crime.
Lance Minnion defends Hinchey.
Musing Minds has comments and another collection of blog links.
Myopic Zeal has a good roundup that highlights selected bits of commentary from the top blogs and provides what is probably the a rundown of a lot of the smaller blogs.
Random Observations makes the observation that the Left is in a self-perpetuating cycle.
phin's blog thinks Hinchey's outburst constitutes abuse of power. My brother might be on to something, at least from the moral side of things.
The Forest for the Trees captured Hichey's appearance on Air America radio and was not impressed.
Wizbang notes that you don't have to be insane to be a Democrat... but it helps.
Technorati, the blog search engine, currently has 207 posts for "Hinchey+Rove."
If I missed your blog (and I know I missed at least a few), and you commented on this topic, please track back to this post.
Media Coverage:
Binghamton's Press & Sun-Journal ran the first web-accessible 22nd District local news story on the subject.
Middletown's Time Herald-Record is giving this story serious attention, with a section on the home page dedicated to the story.
Ithaca's Journal, which blew the original story, finally weighed in.
Kingston's Daily Freeman also has an article.
Poughkeepsie's Journal still has its head in the sand.
CNN's Inside Politics had a segment with Hinchey.
Air America's Ed Shultz did a segment with Hinchey as well.
