Josh Claybourn of In the Agora reports a startling new development in the Schiavo “GOP Talking Points” memo story:

On Friday four staffers of Senators Rick Santorum and Mel Martinez accused a renegade aide to Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) of distributing forged “talking points” to members of the media and claiming Republican authorship. In the Agora’s extensive investigations in the alleged “GOP” Schiavo talking points memo reveal possible tricks from low level Democratic aides. Two of the four GOP staffers tell ITA they were eyewitnesses to the exchange….

Four separate staffers, two apiece from two different conservative Republican Senators, now report to In the Agora that a young renegade aide working for Sen. Harry Reid constructed the memo and then distributed it to members of the media. Two of those staffers claim to be eyewitnesses to the exchange. ITA contacted Sen. Reid’s office and was told the allegation was “laughable.” None of the four GOP staffers would comment on whether Reid’s aide acted on his own or from orders from superiors. Developing. . .

I don’t buy it. Here’s why:

- ITA’s sources are apparently unwilling to identify themselves. Anonymous accusations must be viewed more skeptically than accusations made by someone willing to go on the record.

- Claybourn and/or his sources are unwilling to name the Reid aide accused of wrongdoing. If the accusations are true, there is no reason not to name him.

- The accusation depends on the unbelievable premise that the aide was dumb enough to distribute the memo in plain view of at least two Republican staffers.

- It has now been more than one week since ABC News first described the memo as “GOP Talking Points.” Are we really supposed to believe that Republican staffers sat around and said nothing for days, despite knowing all along that a Democrat staffer was responsible?

- The portrayal of the aide as a “renegade” strongly suggests he acted on his own. Yet Claybourn says his sources refused to discuss whether the aide acted on his own or from orders from superiors. This double-talk diminishes the credibility of ITA’s reporting and sources.

Unless someone is prepared to stand up and publicly point the finger at a specific individual and explain the decision to delay disclosing the true source of the memo, I can only conclude that ITA’s sources are probably lying.

Questions: Who are ITA’s sources? Are any of them the same unnamed “Republican leadership staffers” who told The Prowler a few days ago that someone in Harry Reid’s office generated the memo? (Both Claybourn and The Prowler cite aides to Sen. Rick Santorum.) If Claybourn concludes that his sources were lying to him, will he disclose their identities?

Update: Just to be perfectly clear, I am not disputing any of the other information Claybourn has gathered with regard to the Schiavo memo, just this particular report. I still believe the MSM has no basis for implying over and over again that the memo was distributed by Republicans.

Update II: In response to my post, Claybourn has revealed the name of the Reid aide accused of creating and distributing the memo. (Scroll down to the update of this post.) Claybourn acknowledges that skepticism is warranted:

like Malkin, I remain skeptical because of [my sources'] refusal to use [their names]. What is keeping them from telling me their full names and permitting me to use [them]? Unless and until that happens, this news should remain an interesting possibility, and not a probability.

Power Line weighs in here.

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