Today The Politico reported that Harry Reid disparaged Generals Pace and Petraeus in a conference call with liberal bloggers. Conservatives jumped on the story, and Tony Snow even used it to bash Reid today.

But now three people on the conference call have told us in interviews that they didn’t hear Reid say any such thing.

Update: Chairman of the Republican Party joins the fun, blasts Reid over Politico story.

Oh, good. According to a 2003 Army manual for the 101st Airborne, Arabs are “reluctant to accept responsibility” and aren’t so good with time constraints. So much for timetables.

Two more bloggers on conference call with Harry Reid say in interviews with us that they didn’t hear him describe General Pace as “incompetent” or disparage General Petraeus, as reported in The Politico.

Patriot Act US Attorney Tim Griffin: Public service “not worth it.”

Okay, we’ve obtained a tape of the controversial Reid conference call with liberal bloggers.

Yes, he did say that Pace is “incompetent.” The controversy still seems overblown. But he did say it. Take a look.

The work continues.

The Bush/Gonzales Justice Department begins proceedings to purge voter rolls in North Carolina using trumped up claims about potential vote fraud.

This is of course in the pattern of earlier DOJ efforts to sue to have rolls purged in other swing states.

Today’s Must Read: the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division under Bush, a shift in priorities you might say.

Justice Department opens investigation into British defense contractor accused of paying bribes to Saudi Prince Bandar.

Hillary’s campaign manager predicts Obama will outraise her this quarter. That and other political news of the day in today’s Election Central Morning Roundup.

This is fun. Romney is facing new charges that he flip-flopped on stem-cell research — but this time, his own campaign’s to blame for it.