March 06, 2009 10:58 PM UTC

Amateur Hour, NRCC Edition

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

As the Fort Collins Coloradoan reports:

A coalition of conservative Democrats said national Republicans sent out a “blatantly false” news release saying Rep. Betsy Markey and other representatives had been denied membership in the group.

The National Republican Congressional Committee sent the news releases Thursday to media in 19 House districts they’re likely to target in 2010, saying the local representative was “rejected” for membership in the Blue Dog Coalition.

The members singled out by the NRCC – including Markey – never sought affiliation with the Blue Dog Democrats, a group of 51 fiscally conservative Democrats, said Kristen Hawn, a spokeswoman for the group.

“It’s a lie,” she said. [Pols emphasis]

“This is yet another blatantly false press release sent out by Washington Republicans who are looking to attack fiscally responsible, common-sense Democrats like the Blue Dogs in the House,” Hawn said. “Anyone who knows Betsy Markey, or is familiar with her fiscally responsible voting record, knows that this is a shameless political ploy that has no basis in truth.”

The Republican release included a quote from the NRCC’s communications director, Ken Spain, saying “rejection” by the Blue Dog Coalition demonstrated that each representative wasn’t fiscally responsible…

Simple, right? The NRCC was totally wrong, a simple correction/terse “regret the error” would suffice, and everybody could move on with their lives.

But of course these are the same clueless Republican hacks we’ve been talking about for years, aren’t they? Down with the ship they go.

“So is Betsy Markey admitting that she did not even bother to apply for membership in the Blue Dog Coalition?” Spain said…

Did you see that? Without even blinking, folks–though you can imagine the “we just screwed this whole thing up” feeling of horror the guy was experiencing at that exact moment. And just to settle any remaining questions about credibility,

The NRCC e-mailed a list Thursday of 19 House Democrats they were targeting with e-mails alleging they had been denied membership in the Blue Dog Coalition. One of those was Rep. Joe Connelly of Indiana, who has been a member of the coalition for more than two years. [Pols emphasis]

Nothing says “ignore my next press release” quite like this. Republican or Democrat, you kind of have to agree that working with the press gets harder once you’re discovered to be full of bullshit–and only gets worse after you start defending your bullshit.