And getting back to that fiasco in Texas…

Just when you thought it was safe to return to The Carpetbagger Report without having to read about the Texas fiasco in which Democratic lawmakers fled to Oklahoma to ruin Tom DeLay redistricting scheme, it’s back. (Quit complaining; I haven’t even mentioned it since May 27.)

Yesterday, a report from the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general concluded that the federal agency did the right thing by responding to a request for law enforcement officials in Texas.

Some have interpreted the IG report as a sign that the overzealous search for the Dems on the lamb was justified and appropriate. The Washington Post ran a story under the headline, “IG Report Says Texas Air Search Was Proper.”

But I’m afraid the Post is missing the point and its story left out relevant details. The IG report said federal officials assisted in the search for the “missing” Dem lawmakers because of information they were given by the Texas Department of Public Safety (and perhaps others). The report naturally concludes that the federal agency responded appropriately, which the Post, among others, interpreted as clearing everyone involved of wrongdoing.

Wrong. Of course the Dept. of Homeland Security acted appropriately in responding to the request for assistance. That was never really at issue. After all, someone at DPS contacted the feds at the Homeland Security Dept., giving them the impression that a plane belonging to one of the Dem lawmakers was “missing, lost, or possibly crashed.”

The Post piece notwithstanding, the controversy had (and presumably still has) two facets: 1) Why did the DPS destroy all records relating to the search for the Killer Ds and 2) who was responsible for bringing federal officials into the state search? A related question is whether the DPS intentionally misled the folks at the Dept. of Homeland Security in order to get the agency’s assistance.

Indeed, the IG report from yesterday said, “There was every indication that the employee rendering assistance to the (DPS) on the telephone believed he was searching for a missing aircraft.”

That’s exactly the point. If anything, this report doesn’t conclude the absence of wrongdoing, it bolsters the suggestion that DPS officials, perhaps with some assistance, acted improperly as part of the investigation into the whereabouts of the “missing” plane.

As Matthew Yglesias put it, “What the report says is, basically, that [Homeland Security] employees didn’t do anything wrong because Texas Republicans successfully tricked them into intervening in a partisan dispute. That really does clear the DHS of wrongdoing, but it makes the relevant politicians look even worse.”