Shiavo Memo Author Comes Clean

Somehow I missed the origin of this story until Ward raised it yesterday. But apparently the author of the "Schiavo Memo" has stepped forward. Or at least sheepishly been pushed under the bus by his employer.

The legal counsel to Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) admitted yesterday that he was the author of a memo citing the political advantage to Republicans of intervening in the case of Terri Schiavo, the senator said in an interview last night...Brian H. Darling, 39, a former lobbyist for the Alexander Strategy Group on gun rights and other issues, offered his resignation and it was immediately accepted, Martinez said...Martinez, the GOP's Senate point man on the issue, said he earlier had been assured by aides that his office had nothing to do with producing the memo. "I never did an investigation, as such," he said. "I just took it for granted that we wouldn't be that stupid. It was never my intention to in any way politicize this issue."

I have not read the memo, so it may truly be a horrible, horrible piece of writing. But one has to wonder whether the fact that this got out of the "brainstrorming" stage and onto the floor of the Senate is really this staffer's fault, or Martinez's fault.