PeachPundit has removed a a fact-filled piece criticizing Lt. Governor candidate Casey Cagle as no better, ethically, than his opponent, Ralph Reed.

I can't say why it was taken down. It's possible the facts are wrong. It's possible the site wants to praise Cagle, not bury him, as Reed's candidacy could take the whole GOP down in an Abramoff-induced haze. (The idea that PeachPundit is not biased toward the GOP is, frankly, false.)

But RSS remembers, so in the name of memory, and to pique your interest, here is Thursday's taken-down piece in full:

1800 - BUYENDORSEMENTS

Thursday 5:21 PM | Peach Pundit |

It’s been quite amusing to me as I’ve sat and watched various posters/contributors on this site, as they have decried Ralph Reed for almost everything under the sun, except perhaps the kitchen sink. He’s been accused, directly or indirectly, in the words of GaWire, of “mislead[ing], misrepresent[ing], hire[ing], bend[ing] the legal regulations, etc.” It seemed interesting to me, because I was sure that Casey Cagle is no choir boy, I just hadn’t the time to do the research it would take to prove it.

Well, it’s Christmas, and there’s a larger surplus of time than normal, and, well, turns out I was right. I spent a few minutes going through Casey Cagle’s disclosure, originally just to look for spending patterns and such, but as I did so, I happened upon an interesting pattern of contributions/expenditures between Cagle, David Shafer, and the other legislators who have so enthusiastically endorsed Casey. I’ll elaborate a little.

1. On May 6, 2005, the wife of one Senator Eugene (Chip) Pearson donated $5,000.00 to the campaign of Senator Casey Cagle. That wouldn’t raise a red flag to anyone, except the small fact that just 11 months before, Senator Cagle had given $2,000.00 to Senator Pearson’s Senate campaign.
2. Senator Rene Unterman endorsed Cagle, but what is interesting is that one Marc Unterman, registered at the SAME address as her campaign committee, contributed over $1,000.00 to Ralph Reed’s campaign committee in 2005. But I digress.
3. Senator Ross Tolleson gave Senator Cagle $1,000.00 on June 28, 2005. Senator Cagle had given Senator Tolleson $2,000.00 almost a year to the day earlier on 6 – 24 – 2004. Senator Tolleson also received $2,000.00 from Senator David Shafer in 2004.
4. Senator John Bulloch received a $1,000.00 donation from Senator Cagle on October 30, 2004, which he returned to Senator Cagle April 1, 2005, the day after the session ended. Incidentally, Senator Bulloch also received a total of $3,500.00 from Senator Shafer in 2003 – 04.
5. Senator Brian Kemp: in 2003 and 2004, Senator Kemp received a total of $3,500.00 from Senator David Shafer, and $3,000.00 from Senator Cagle in that same period. On June 21, 2005, Senator Kemp’s company donated $500.00 to the Cagle campaign. I reckon Joel gave him a break on the rest.
6. Senator Judson Hill received $1,000.00 from Senator Shafer on November 1, 2004, and $2,000.00 in kind from Senator Cagle on October 2, 2004. Of course he endorsed Senator Cagle!
7. Senator John Douglas received $1,000.00 from Senator Shafer November 8, 2004. Senator Douglas gave Senator Cagle $1,000.00 on June 30, 2005. Senator Bill Heath got $2,000.00 from Senator Shafer on August 24, 2004, and gave Senator Cagle $500.00 on April 4, 2005.
8. Senator Johnny Grant donated $2,000.00 to Senator Cagle on June 28, 2005, having received $4,000.00 from Senator Shafer in 2004. Sounds a little like 1 – 800 BUYENDORSEMENTS. Maybe Mcelhannon learned more from Reed than we thought.

I know, I know, none of it’s technically illegal, but hasn’t the argument against Ralph been all along that a candidate should be above reproach?

What exactly are we to make of this? All Republicans are crooks? Cagle's support is bought? Obviously these are the words of someone with sympathies for Reed and lots of time for research.

While RSS can bring along all the text of a story, it doesn't bring along bylines from group blogs. It didn't in this case anyway. So we're building a mystery here. Good luck with it.