Greg Sargent at TPM quotes from a story by Billy Townsend for The Tampa Tribune, about Florida GOP Rep. Adam Putnam, chairman of the House Republican conference committee: Putnam now acknowledges he had no personal knowledge of any Pelosi request. He said he was commenting on an anonymously-sourced story in The Washington Times and additional coverage from CNN.
"This was a classic case where the media got out in front of us," Putnam said. "Did we jump on it? Yes."
And he is unapologetic about that. He calls the Pelosi plane story, whatever its legitimacy, "the first break [Republicans] have had from the media in driving our message since before the Mark Foley story broke."
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