When some people are backed into a corner, they often do and say some ridiculous things. That seems to be the case with many key players in what we’ve termed Stonegate. You can read our previous posts on Stonegate here and here.

To bring everyone up to speed, Roger Stone, a NYS Senate GOP Consultant, stands accused threatening Governor Spitzer’s father, Bernard Spitzer, by leaving a explative laden voice mail at the 83 year old Spitzer’s office. Yesterday, Bernard Spitzer’s lawyers sent a copy of the voice mail to Senate Investigations Committee Chair George Winner, because Stone, in the voice mail, claims Bernard Spitzer will be subpoenaed to testify before Winner’s committee and, if needed, will be arrested to compel his testimony. Moreover, Bernard Spitzer’s lawyers hired an investigator who traced the call to Stone’s apartment. So, they have his voice recorded and the call was traced to his apartment.

One would think Stone would fess up and admit he made the call. Unfortunately, Stone is making the absurd claim that because his apartment building is owned by a democrat, someone could have gained access to his apartment, spliced together previous recordings from Stone’s media appearances and left the message on Bernard Spitzer’s office voicemail. Here’s what Liz Benjamin over at Daily Politics reported last night (she also provides a recording of the call in question):

Stone noted his building is owned by Democratic fundraiser Dale Hemmerdinger, whom Spitzer has tapped to serve as MTA chairman, and suggested Hemmerdinger’s management company, ATCO, which has keys to every apartment, may have allowed someone into his apartment to make the call.

“This is another in a pattern of dirty tricks - the same kind of dirty tricks that they tried on Sen. (Joseph) Bruno,” Stone said.

(snip)

The voice on the answering machine recording sounds like Stone’s, and Kroll provided a recording of a Stone TV appearance for comparison that sounds remarkably similar.

But given how frequently he has been on TV, Stone suggested that a “voice tape” could be easily put together by someone seeking to frame him.

“I believe this voice tape was doctored,” he said.

OK. There’s a recording of what sounds like Stone’s voice threatening the Governor’s father and the call was traced back to Stone’s apartment. Despite this evidence, George Winner, in a sad attempt to deflect attention, had this to say to the NY Times:

Mr. Winner also noted that technology is available that makes it possible to mimic another person’s phone number on a caller identification machine.

The fact that Winner is giving Stone’s “Vast Left Wing Conspiracy” theory any credibility exposes Winner as the hypocrite he has always been. I mean, here’s Winner constantly intimating Governor Spitzer is responsible for the Troopergate non-scandal, despite there being no evidence to support any Spitzer involvement whatsoever, yet he’s willing to accept Stone’s laughable excuses.

Perhaps it’s time Winner slid back in the black hole that is becoming not only his future, but also that of the GOP Senate majority.