Unfortuneately, Reporting Without Attribution is Covered by Speech and Debate Clause

Ed Morrisey has the story of Patty Murray, a bridge that the "Children" had to walk across due to weight restrictions that doesn't really exist.

Murray, who made headlines by pointing out Osama bin Laden's educational career after 9/11, used the St. Anthony Bridge collapse to rail against the Bush administration's supposed callousness towards our nation's infrastructure. The Hill and the Seattle Times noted the exchanges (h/t CQ reader Stoo):

A day after the bridge collapsed in Minneapolis, Sen. Patty Murray joined other Senate Democrats to accuse the Bush administration of failing to maintain the country's bridges. And she had a dynamite anecdote:

"I have learned of a bridge where school buses have to stop and let all of the children out and pick them up on the other side because of weight restrictions."

The Hill reports that the anecdote was quickly repeated by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid:

"The children have to walk across the bridge!" he declared in outrage.

My Lord! Where is this bridge, where The ChildrenTM are at risk? Why haven't the parents and local community acted to protect them? Why hasn't George Bush flown out to survey the scene?

Actually, in retrospect, Harry Reid began asking questions, too. And that's where Patty Murray and her office got a little fuzzy on the details:

So where's this limited-purpose bridge? Reid's office said to ask Murray. Murray said to call her office. Spokesman Mike Spahn looked into it. A couple of weeks later, where is that bridge?

Well, Spahn doesn't know. He said an unnamed member told Murray the story minutes before she addressed reporters, but she didn't hear where it was.

Well, what a shock. Patty Murray, one of the dimmest bulbs in this or any other Senate, went on the Senate floor to make an accusation against the Bush administration without checking the evidence to see if it was, you know, actually true. Everywhere else in the nation, this would be called "making crap up". It would also be called, "exploiting a tragedy for purely partisan purposes," and it makes Murray little more than a ghoul.

In relation to my last post, this seems pretty bad. But unlike journalists who can get fired for plagiarism or fabrication, the Speech and Debate clause protects Senators and Congressmen from their stupidity, at least temporarily one hopes.