Joe - since we're apparently on a first-name basis now - I'm happy to be proven wrong on Tony's role in this story. But I find it a little odd that the same criticism of Romney has cycled through at least three media iterations with no reference to previous reporting. That might not indicate a conspiracy, but the alternative is that the Christian Right is so ingrown or conformist that it has trouble thinking critically about what's been reported to them. I'm not sure that's where you'd like to go with that.

I've also never known the FRC to sit passively when you thought you had a story to push. Half the press releases I see from you all are about obscure controversies nobody's ever heard of. Since Romney's connection to the Marriotts has been known for some time, it seems logical to assume that his connection to the porn in their hotels would have been known as well, and thus that the critique would have been made by this point.

That's backed up by the fact that Romney addressed Regent University at the beginning of May. If you didn't pick up on the story at that point - or haven't talked to Phil Burress in the meantime - then what the hell have you been doing?

Don't tell me Burress operates without coordination - he led the effort to push hotels to drop porn channels last year - an effort that included the FRC. If your boss didn't know that his partner in activism had issued a major-league slam of Romney, he should have. And if he didn't want to pile on, he should have specifically mentioned that he wasn't being critical of Romney in particular.

So either you missed the story and are now getting caught with your pants down, or you've known the story and held back on making the criticism of Marriott until an opportune time.

And last, I can't help pointing out that you're one of the founders of Blogs for Fred, so you're hardly a neutral observer in this situation. Or is it just naive of me to notice that, too?