From the Captainsquarters blog 8/16/07

The Ghoul And The Fool

Patty Murray managed to sucker her fellow Democrats into looking like exploitative idiots two weeks ago, but not many media sources caught the Senator from Washington in her fib. Murray, who made headlines by pointing out Osama bin Laden's educational career after 9/11, used the St. Anthony Bridge collapse to rail against the Bush administration's supposed callousness towards our nation's infrastructure. The Hill and the Seattle Times noted the exchanges (h/t CQ reader Stoo):

A day after the bridge collapsed in Minneapolis, Sen. Patty Murray joined other Senate Democrats to accuse the Bush administration of failing to maintain the country's bridges. And she had a dynamite anecdote:
"I have learned of a bridge where school buses have to stop and let all of the children out and pick them up on the other side because of weight restrictions."

The Hill reports that the anecdote was quickly repeated by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid:

"The children have to walk across the bridge!" he declared in outrage.

My Lord! Where is this bridge, where The ChildrenTM are at risk? Why haven't the parents and local community acted to protect them? Why hasn't George Bush flown out to survey the scene?

Actually, in retrospect, Harry Reid began asking questions, too. And that's where Patty Murray and her office got a little fuzzy on the details:

So where's this limited-purpose bridge? Reid's office said to ask Murray. Murray said to call her office. Spokesman Mike Spahn looked into it. A couple of weeks later, where is that bridge?
Well, Spahn doesn't know. He said an unnamed member told Murray the story minutes before she addressed reporters, but she didn't hear where it was.

Well, what a shock. Patty Murray, one of the dimmest bulbs in this or any other Senate, went on the Senate floor to make an accusation against the Bush administration without checking the evidence to see if it was, you know, actually true. Everywhere else in the nation, this would be called "making crap up". It would also be called, "exploiting a tragedy for purely partisan purposes," and it makes Murray little more than a ghoul.

And what does that make Harry Reid? He appointed the vacuous Murray to chair the committee on transportation spending, and then he turned around and used her gossipy nonsense without first checking it out. Checking for verification after making the charge on the Senate floor doesn't count. He proved himself a fool, and not for the first time since he became Majority Leader.

The 110th Congress certainly has covered itself in glory, hasn't it?

Posted by Ed Morrissey at 5:29 AM | Comments (21) | TrackBack (