Primary sources

Great stuff Ezra. The dems better hang Shelby out to dry for this.

There might be some Shelby + Toyota stuff going on too...

That link is not remotely credible. Do you have a scanned copy of the note?

Credible or not, the blanket hold is transparent political hardball. I hope the Republicans have some sort of strategy for when this nonsense is used back against them. Which it will be.

How long until Fox puts a (D) by Shelby's name?

I believe the "ransom note" was intended to be apocryphal humor. But politicians do such insane things in real life it's hard to separate the apocryphal from real life.

It's obviously a joke. But from what I can tell this story (Shelby's holds, not this fake note) hasn't broke on CNN, NBC etc(definitely not on Fox) and it is just a disgusting incident of hypocrisy that puts the general public off politics. And what's more I'm sure the Dems will lose the public perception battle on this and come off worse (somehow)

Give this a little bit of time to percolate. It'll certainly show up on MSNBC tonight on Olberman and Maddow, maybe Hardball. If it's kept alive until Monday it might break into the other networks. Friday's a bad day to start up a new news story.

Funny stuff Mr. Klein.
Shelby's saying he placed the holds out of concern over national security. Obviously, if Boeing builds the tankers, the terrorists win. Shelby & the fiscally responsible GOP, where lying isn't just a job, it's a career.

CBS News actually reported the real story on their evening news. They even used the word "earmarks". Color me amazed!

Hey everyone - just to clarify, the ransom note is definitely a joke - my friend Chas came up with it. http://twitter.com/chaslicc is where the link was posted first.

Of course, Shelby's blanket hold is a far bigger joke, mind you.

Great to see you sharing the link so widely though, Ezra, cheers!

Shelby's ransom note.