'Bitch Set Me Up' - Hinchey sees hand of Karl Rove in Rathergate

Hurley – Democrat Maurice Hinchey has turned an army of right-wing bloggers into a quivering mass of indignation.Hinchey suggested that presidential political mastermind Karl Rove is behind the fake documents that brought down several top executives at CBS. The controversy led to the early retirement of longtime anchor Dan Rather, many believe. The remarks came at a session on Social Security in Ithaca on Sunday, but the comments didn't stay in Ithaca very long. An operative with the littlegreenfootballs.com Web site had recorded Hinchey's comments. Within hours, a transcript of his comments about Rove and a copy of the audiotape were on the Web site. By yesterday afternoon, the site had more than 1,400 responses to his comments. At the speech Sunday, Hinchey said the media has been attacked and manipulated. "Probably the most flagrant example of that is the way they set up Dan Rather," he can be heard saying in the audio clip. "Now, I mean, I have my own beliefs about how that happened: It originated with Karl Rove, in my belief, in the White House ... . Once they did that, then it undermined everything else about Bush's draft dodging. … That had the effect of taking the whole issue away." The documents in question addressed Bush's military service in Alabama in 1972 while on leave from the Texas National Guard. Ultimately, CBS could not prove that the memos were authentic. [more]