After upgrading Bazaar to 0.14rc2, I'm still seeing this:

$ bzr merge lp:~thisfred/ubunet/contacts-api
bzr: ERROR: bzrlib.errors.ErrorFromSmartServer: Error received from smart server: ('error', "'AbsentContentFactory' object has no attribute 'get_bytes_as'")                                                                                                                                  

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/commands.py", line 727, in exception_to_return_code
    return the_callable(*args, **kwargs)                                                           
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/commands.py", line 922, in run_bzr                 
    ret = run(*run_argv)                                                                           
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/commands.py", line 559, in run_argv_aliases        
    return self.run(**all_cmd_args)                                                                
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/builtins.py", line 3527, in run                    
    location, revision, remember, possible_transports, pb)                                         
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/builtins.py", line 3634, in _get_merger_from_branch
    other_revision_id, base_revision_id, other_branch, base_branch)                                
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/merge.py", line 204, in from_revision_ids          
    merger.set_other_revision(other, other_branch)                                                 
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/merge.py", line 345, in set_other_revision         
    self._maybe_fetch(other_branch, self.this_branch, self.other_rev_id)                           
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/merge.py", line 362, in _maybe_fetch               
    target.fetch(source, revision_id)                                                              
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/decorators.py", line 192, in write_locked          
    result = unbound(self, *args, **kwargs)                                                        
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/branch.py", line 522, in fetch                     
    pb=pb)                                                                                         
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/repository.py", line 1493, in fetch                
    find_ghosts=find_ghosts, fetch_spec=fetch_spec)                                                
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/decorators.py", line 192, in write_locked          
    result = unbound(self, *args, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/repository.py", line 3057, in fetch
    pb=pb, find_ghosts=find_ghosts)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/fetch.py", line 84, in __init__
    self.__fetch()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/fetch.py", line 110, in __fetch
    self._fetch_everything_for_search(search)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/fetch.py", line 138, in _fetch_everything_for_search
    stream, from_format, [])
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/repository.py", line 3945, in insert_stream
    return self._locked_insert_stream(stream, src_format)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/repository.py", line 3973, in _locked_insert_stream
    for substream_type, substream in stream:
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/remote.py", line 1735, in missing_parents_chain
    for kind, substream in stream:
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/smart/repository.py", line 447, in record_stream
    for bytes in byte_stream:
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/smart/message.py", line 336, in read_streamed_body
    _translate_error(self._body_error_args)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/smart/message.py", line 355, in _translate_error
    raise errors.ErrorFromSmartServer(error_tuple)
ErrorFromSmartServer: Error received from smart server: ('error', "'AbsentContentFactory' object has no attribute 'get_bytes_as'")

bzr 1.14rc2 on python 2.6.2 (linux2)
arguments: ['/usr/bin/bzr', 'merge', 'lp:~thisfred/ubunet/contacts-api']
encoding: 'UTF-8', fsenc: 'UTF-8', lang: 'en_US.UTF-8'
plugins:
  bzrtools             /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/plugins/bzrtools [1.14]
  launchpad            /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/plugins/launchpad [unknown]
  netrc_credential_store /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/plugins/netrc_credential_store [unknown]
  pqm                  /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/plugins/pqm [1.3]
  rebase               /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/plugins/rebase [0.4.4]
  svn                  /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/bzrlib/plugins/svn [0.5.4]
*** Bazaar has encountered an internal error.
    Please report a bug at https://bugs.launchpad.net/bzr/+filebug
    including this traceback, and a description of what you
    were doing when the error occurred.