Memo to Mickey’s brother Stephen:

• Carol Lam did not engage in a “continuing investigation[] of powerful GOP Congressman Jerry Lewis . . .” — Debra Yang did. (Blame misleading wording by the L.A. Times, reinforced by Think Progress, for this one. Still, I’ve written about it, Stephen, and I know you’ve read my posts on the issue because you say you have.)

• It is not true, as you claim, that the investigations of Jerry Lewis and Dusty Foggo caused
  

  Kyle Samson to famously write on May 11, 2006 that “[t]he real problem we have right now is Carol Lam.”

  Rather, Sampson wrote: “Please call me at your convenience to discuss the following,” referring in part to “[t]he real problem we have right now with Carol Lam that leads me to conclude that we should have someone ready to be nominated on 11/18, the day her 4-year term expires.” It’s “with,” not “is.” As long as you’re putting things in quotation marks and all. “Let’s discuss the real problem we have right now with x” is not as serious as “The real problem we have right now is x.” Subtle — but still, the facts are the facts, and quotes are quotes. Get them right.

• Also, it’s “Sampson.” The hair is way different from Samson. (It’s a typo, unlike “Inglesias,” or “Mark Garagos” both of which misspellings appear again and again.)

• You say James Comey “debunked a charge by political DOJ appointees that Lam had an unacceptably low rate of gun prosecution. Comey pointed out that if the local District Attorney[‘s] office was adequately prosecuting gun crimes, as it was in San Diego, there was no need for the federal government to step in.” Comey didn’t say that the local District Attorney was adequately prosecuting gun crimes. He said only that if it was, that could justify a low number of federal prosecutions. He didn’t debunk the charge regarding Lam’s low numbers on guns. He said that Lam had been “in the bottom 10 in terms of gun prosecutions” and that John Ashcroft had asked him to speak to her about it. (Blame TPMmuckraker for getting this wrong initially.)

There’s this whole mythology building up around little misstatements like “Lam investigated Jerry Lewis” or “Comey said Lam’s gun numbers were just fine” or “Sampson said ‘the real problem we have right now is Carol Lam.'” And Kaus’s post incorporates ’em all.

P.S. That’s not to say there’s definitively nothing to this scandal. I’ve seen no proof, but some limited evidence that seems suspicious. But all arguments need to be rooted to facts and not mythology.