Oh, Mike. You got some 'splaining to do.
Who does he think he is? Dick Cheney?
After a brief fling as Michigan's Censor-in-Chief, Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop on Tuesday restored access for lawmakers and staffers to a political Web site that had apparently hurt his feelings.
By the time he reversed himself, however, whatever the site had said about him paled in comparison to the beating he took in the blogosphere and in print - from left and right - over his decision to unilaterally suspend the First Amendment for senators and staffers.
They start off great. It gets even better.
more over the flip...
After ordering the shutdown, Bishop's office immediately started a backup smear campaign. Bishop spokesperson Matt Marsden claimed the site was being fed inside information - or worse. "It was fairly clear that this blog had access to Senate information off Senate servers," he intoned ominously.
Hardly. And now everyone knows it.
Even assistant Senate Secretary Pam Nyquist got in on the act. She told Gongwer News Serivce that an investigation was under way to determine if the blog was created by a Senate employee using Senate equipment.
"That would not be appropriate," she said.
No, it wouldn't - if even a single word of it was true. But it was all just blather, and by Tuesday Bishop's office had dropped the conspiracy theories.
The TC Record Eagle knocks down every excuse that Bishop and Co. threw out there, and for good measure they take a shot about the budget delay, too.
Go read. Good stuff. Much applause for the TCRE.