Sometimes you just can't spin it

In the wake of last week's primary elections in Pennsylvania -- in which a dozen incumbent Republican legislators were defeated, many by novices, because they had run smack up against a tidal wave of voter anger over a pay-raise vote last year -- PA GOP chair Eileen Melvin announced she wouldn't be running for a full term.

To anyone who picked up a newspaper last week, the cause of her decision was obvious: she was the sitting party chairwoman when way too many incumbents went down to defeat. One doesn't have to be a rocket scientist to make the connection.

Unless one is the PA GOP spokesman designated to explain her decision.

Here's how the Tribune-Democrat carried the story:

"SOMERSET — Just days after a dozen GOP legislators were defeated in the primary, state Republican Party Chairwoman Eileen Melvin of Somerset announced she will not seek a new term.

"Scott Migli, the executive director of the state Republican Party, said Melvin’s decision to step down had nothing to do with last week’s primary in which two high-ranking state senators and several Republican state representatives were defeated.

“'It was something she had been thinking about and decided this was the right time for her and the party,' Migli said."