Over at Big Government, Larry O’Connor has a gruesomely hilarious account of how Democratic Rep. Debbie Halvorson of IL-11 has been trying to spin her way out of a rally that her allies coordinated, in which Sarah Palin was compared to (raise your hand if you’re surprised) Hitler via a protest sign:

Campaign spokesman Anthony DeAngelo told the Southland Star that the Halvorson campaign did not stage any protest outside an Americans For Prosperity event in Joliet, IL on the night in question. ”Obviously, the congresswoman would never condone anyone comparing Kinzinger or any candidate to Hitler” DeAngelo said. Perhaps, but does that go for the congresswoman’s campaign workers? More on that later.
When Big Government showed video evidence that several members of the protest returned to Halvorson Campaign Headquarters as soon as the protest disbanded, it was time for another denial. This time it was a bit more creative: ”Some of the protesters stopped by the Illinois Victory office after the protest to say hello and get some water,” reported the Illinois political blog CapitolFaxBlog.
So, the story from the Halvorson campaign is that they did not stage any protest, would never condone Hitler posters and the folks who stopped by their campaign office after the rally were protesters getting water and saying “hi”. At least, that was their story right up until Sunday afternoon when a new version of events appeared at Media Matters.
Ironically, in a post intended to debunk Big Government’s story, the Halvorson campaign went on the record (at a left-wing site no less) disclosing more information than before about this protest they had nothing to do with. Campaign Director Julie Merz now tells Media Matters that Halvorson’s campaign had nothing to do with the signs, but, it turns out the protest is another matter:
Merz tells Media Matters that several staffers for the Illinois Democratic Party’s coordinated campaign held a rally protesting both the AFP event and what she called Kinzinger’s support for outsourcing. Indeed, the video shows one of the protestors who later returned to the Democratic headquarters leading a chant of “outsource Adam, not our jobs.”

It gets worse. Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit has positively identified yet another one of the protestors as Halvorson’s Campaign Manager, Julie Merz. Yeah, sure, the Halvorson campaign had nothing to do with that sign.