“Two Democratic consultants are accusing Arianna Huffington and her business partner of stealing their idea for the powerhouse liberal website Huffington Post. Peter Daou and James Boyce charge that Huffington and partner Ken Lerer designed the website from a plan they had presented them, and in doing so, violated a handshake agreement to work together, according to a lawsuit to be filed in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan.” [Politico]

So, a notoriously misleading wingnut website posts an edited video of your employee seeming to profess racism. What do you do?

The first sign of trouble arrived about 2 p.m. on July 19, in an e-mail from USDA communications staffer Wayne Maloney.

Maloney informed Chris Mather, the department’s director of communications, that a video had popped up online and that a conservative website soon would publicize it.

“It speaks for itself and you need to watch it right away,” Maloney writes.

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[DNC email]

The Hill, 8:55 p.m. Tuesday:

Sen. Richard Burr (N.C.) is expected to take over as senior Republican on the Senate Energy panel after Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) lost the position Tuesday.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) was behind the switch.

CNN, 2:51 p.m. Wednesday:

In a surprise move, Senate Republicans decided not to remove Sen. Lisa Murkowski from her top position on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Wednesday, according to several Republican senators who refused to explain their decision.

Actually, they voted to remove Lisa Murkwski, but discovered their error too late.

“Ernest Withers, a revered civil rights photographer, who captured iconic images of Martin Luther King Jr. on the night he was shot in Memphis, actually played a different role the day before: FBI informant.” Withers didn’t take the balcony photos, but they were developed in his studio. [Yahoo, Memphis Commercial Appeal]

“White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs today offered an apology to Shirley Sherrod on behalf of the Obama administration. He said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is trying to reach Sherrod as well, to offer his own apology and to ‘talk about their next steps.'” [TPM]

[ Media Matters Flash video not available. ]

Glenn Beck today criticizes the Obama Administration — just like us! — for throwing Shirley Sherrod under the bus after a heavily abridged tape of her “surfaced” yesterday.

On Drudge Jr.’s website. And promptly picked up by Fox News. Before the story crashed today, leading even Erick the Red to disown it.

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