Some wingnut at the Daily Kos seems to be claiming that if your relatives are Republicans you're a member of the VRWC (Vast Right Wing Conspiracy). Being a life long liberal Democrat, Congressional press secretary, anti-war activist, nutjob, and Takoma Park, MD resident (a notoriously socialism loving DC suburb) is apparently no match for genetics...

Did the White House get out in front of this story and link Lindauer to Democrats before anyone could discover her links to Republicans?

Once the full force of the media got on the case her relation to John Lindauer and Andrew Card was exposed. For the first 10-12 hours after the story hit no one was calling her anything other than "a woman." Bloggers picked the low hanging fruit which was her work history and political affiliation. I noticed that John Lindauer had run for Governor in Alaska, but at the time I had no independent corroboration that the two were related and I didn't want to speculate.

The Andrew Card angle most assuredly came directly from the investigators as reporters tracked down which government official she attempted to influence. Since he was a very unlikely target for her to contact (were they not related), reporters probably pressed for the alleged reasons that she attempted to contact him. Investigators knew why. They also knew that Card was the person who alerted the FBI to her actions. He should be commended for his actions. If the White House was actually involved in the story don't you think they would be playing up that angle?

In the end it's the story of a somewhat delusional, radical liberal activist who (it appears) spent years in the media and on the Hill and eventually wore out her welcome at every stop. Politicical affiliation is not hereditary, it's a matter of choice. Who and what you support are a product of free will not genetics.