News Roundup for 4/22/11

Down the memory hole

-Headline of the day-
"Sen. Kyl Erases His False Statement On Planned Parenthood From Congressional Record."

Note to pretty much anyone who's dealing or ever will deal with Sen. Jon Kyl; he's super easy to rattle.

After getting called out for saying that 90% of what Planned Parenthood does is abortion, Kyl's office "fixed" the problem by telling everyone that it was "not intended to be a factual statement." This went over about as well as you'd expect. Ridicule rose and jokes flew and, before you knew it, Kyl was looking pretty silly and feeling pretty embarrassed.

But, finally, the whole thing blew over. "Republican says stupid thing" doesn't have much of a shelf-life, because you never have to wait long for another Republican to say another stupid thing and know the first stupid thing out of the headlines (send Donald Trump a thank you note, Sen. Kyl).

Did I say the whole thing blew over? I should've said the whole thing would've blown over if Kyl wasn't so easy to rattle. Still embarrassed by the whole thing, Kyl can't seem to get out of damage control mode and quit poking at the problem. As a result, his attempts to force the whole thing behind him guarantee that the story stays alive.

See, congress critters can "edit the transcript of their floor remarks before publication in the daily record or the permanent record," according to the Library of Congress. You'd assume this would be used mostly to correct simple errors like, "I meant to say 'Frank,' but it came out 'Hank.'" In Kyl's case, you would be assuming wrong.

According to the report, "On April 8, Kyl said that, 'If you want an abortion you go to Planned Parenthood and that's well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does.' Following the change, the Congressional Record now reads, 'If you want an abortion you go to Planned Parenthood and that is what Planned Parenthood does.'"

So Kyl's statement is in the news yet again, because he's trying so damned hard to jam it back in his mouth.

That should work out well for him. (Talking Points Memo)


-Maybe this is the problem...-



I'm sure Jon Kyl can relate. (Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal)


-Bonus HotD-
"O'Donnell Blames Software for Bad Finance Reports."

Remember that witch who ran for Senate a while back? Christine O'Donnell? Yeah, her fundraising reports are all screwed up and inaccurate, which could lead to criminal charges -- or not. Who knows?

Anyway, Christine says it's not her fault, it was bad software. I'm guessing it's really bad wetware. (Political Wire)