Sen. Leahy's office responds to conservative media smears: "ridiculous as it is patently false"
February 03, 2010 1:08 pm ET by Media Matters staff
From a February 2 post by Seven Days' (Vt.) Shay Totten:
A conservative talk show host's suggestion that Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) was drunk while delivering a Senate floor speech last week is quickly being passed around on right-wing blogs and media outlets.
Mark Levin, a conservative yakker based out of New York City, made the unsubstantiated claims on his Friday program. His proof? That Leahy appeared to be slurring his speech.
Maybe we're just accustomed to Leahy's affectation, but he doesn't sound like anything more than perhaps a wee bit exhausted. He may have stayed up late after the State of the Union address the night before -- who knows?
[...]
Leahy spokesman David Carle called Levin's implication is "as ridiculous as it is patently false."
[...]
"So in a situation like this, their MO is to level false charges at whim. It's a tactic they've been using more and more to poison rational debate," said Carle. "They're like the schoolyard bullies who gang up to smear and smack down anyone who dares to disagree with them or to stand up to them."
Media Matters for America has been tracking the trend of right-wing talkers making unsubstantiated claims of Democratic senators being drunk while giving speeches.
Previously:
Fox Nation joins Levin in smearing Leahy as "drunk on Senate Floor"
while they manipulate their listeners with misinformation, cherry picked facts and omissions as well as lies. How is this free speech and not a crime by the FCC or some other outfit??