Disgusting

I believe Dan Rather set the standard for television newscasts when he pushed his totally unsourced story on Bush and the Texas Air National Guard a few years ago. As recently as two weeks ago, he and his CBS producer, Mary Mapes, were still publically arguing that their original story was correct.

With that precedent, and others too numerous to mention concerning the national media's phony and unsourced and usually uncorrected stories on Bush, I think Fox owes no one an apology.

Terry --

You are the reason there are media-related problems in this country.

Fox doesn't owe an apology because Rather was duped by a source. So a mistake by one news agency allows another to counter, with at most recent count, say 3,756 lies?

What are some of the other uncorrected Bush stories? The ones he won't comment on...like the coke one?

And Chris, you are typical of the reason that the Left is so obviously ill-equipped to run the country. Your entire post is free of a single FACT. Dan Rather to this very day denies that he was "duped by a source." He argues that everything he said in his reporting was 100 percent accurate.

The documents that Rather presented may have been forged but there is plenty of other evidence supporting the story. However, we never see the MSM looking into that. Perhaps it is because they are too busy researching whether Democratic veterans deserve the medals they won.

It's quite disgusting indeed, but it is as old as politics. Let's focus on ideas, it's far more interesting.

Britt Hume will never apologize. He knew the story was BS. That isn't his function. What fascinates me Joe is that you seem to be under the impression that Britt Hume actually accidentally slurred Obama.

Please. They are just getting started. Obama will have been a member of the Osama youth or some such nonsense by the time they are done.

He will have rolled up Vince Foster's body in the carpet for Hillary and dumped him in the park before this is over.

Britt Hume did this deliberately. Why would he feel like apologizing?

I'd just like to back up Terry's important message of "Hey, look over there!"

I would like to point out that I ask Kurtz about every other week on his WaPo chats if Fox is held to a different standard than other news programs and he won't answer. Further he protects their right to do these things quite often by defending them against people who have problems with them.
CBS runs with a poorly sourced story, albeit with legitimate allegations (that people involved with the story said had the correct gist even if the documents were not real...and they have never been proven fake to this day) and the attack harpies come screaming out of the hills. Fox runs with a fake story with fake allegations and fake sourcing and everyone shrugs their shoulders like it isn't a big deal. You know how many times they run with some fake story they read on Drudge or Pajama Media? Enough that they should be punished for it.

Dan Rather receives documents.

Dan Rather reads documents over the phone to people involved.

Those people confirm the information read to them.

Conservatives manage to convince the nation that, since the documents had been transcribed (unbeknownst to Rather), that they should ignore the factual information.

And so they do. They protect a priveledged chickenhawk while another group slanders an honest-to-God war hero.

But enough about Dan Rather and the fact that Bush neglected his National Guard duties in a time of war.

Today is about Barack Obama and the impending swiftboating of his name, heritage, family - there are no limits for conservative hate. I am heartened to see Joe Klein step up and fight back against this stuff.

Good job Joe. I think you tilt a bit too right at times but honesty should not have a party affiliation. Keep them honest.

Joe,

You are right in wanting to Fox News to apologize, but you are wrong in assuming they are a news operation. They are not. They are a conservative propaganda operation using the "tv news" medium to peddle their lies. They really don't care about the truth.

Republicans are scared of Obama. The lies have started before Obama's campaign has begun.

They might be scared of Obama. They might be scared of Hillary and make people believe that she's behind that ugly rumor. That rumor might also be a very bad joke, coming from anybody. In any way, that's a dirty trick.

And am I the only one that thinks the Osama/Obama typo (or intentional misspelling) is simply beyond the pale, even for Fox News?

"And am I the only one that thinks the Osama/Obama typo (or intentional misspelling) is simply beyond the pale, even for Fox News?"

Yes, Michael, you are one of the relatively few fools that feels that way. Ted Kennedy made exactly the same accidental mistake in introducing Obama late last year.

"...the moderate form of Islam practiced in Indonesia..."

???

Do you ever read or report the actual news, Joe?

Where were the Bali bombers from, trained, educated, protected, and wrist-slapped for MASS MURDER?

Get real, or get an actual job.

good call "question hillary." its good to know that there are still honest americans out there doing their duty as ignorant lamebrains judging whole countries based on a few.

I've started seeing mentions of the idea that "the Right" is Machavellian enough to start the "Barak Hussein Obama attended a madrassah" rumor in order to make everyone think that Hillary's people did it.

What about the idea that Hillary's people DID do it? It would be right in character. "No telling what you'll find when you drag a fifty dollar bill through a trailer park". "Monica was a smitten little girl with an overactive imagination".

Two points here:

1) On my computer keyboard, the letter 's' is in the second row, second from the left. The letter 'b" is in the middle of the third row of letters. It's not easy to make that mistake.

2) Rightly or wrongly, Dan Rather was fired for his mistake. There is no other way to look at it. Has anybody at Insight or Fox been fired?

Thought so. End of discussion. This was no accident.

Joe - Please do not stop digging on this one. Name the players involved and follow their affiliations. Dissect this case in public so that the story becomes the people who tried to peddle this crap. Call Brit Hume and ask him why he was so willing to spread this lie.

Do not stop here. If you do it will only be easier for them to keep doing this. Campaign season should not be a truth-free zone.

When someone is accused of something there has to be some evidence. There is absolutely no evidence that the Clinton camp was involved with this. These republicans are currupt beyond repair. They are dispicable and love to bear false witness. Let's all just call them what the bible refer to them as; they are the modern day "Publicans." People who have no empathy or scruples.

CBS ran numerous corrections, Mapes got fired immediately and Rather not long after.

Fox won't fire anyone for getting a story wrong for political purposes, because getting a story wrong for political purposes is not a firing offense at Fox.

It was CNN, not FOX, that spelled Obama as Osama next to his picture!

I think I saw someone excusing Fox News by comparing them to Ted Kennedy. Classic.

This is hypothetical before someone throw stones at me "If a muslim extremist that has lived in US and has accepted the market economy and everything that makes USA becomes president in a democratic way, wouldn't this bring peace? or would create extremist in USA to try and revoke this president?" Just to make you think,wouldn't be best that this presidency race we choose based on programs and policies and NOT in personal and charismatic matters? or is that we didn't learn anything for the past 7 years?

Carol is correct, it was CNN, not FOX, that fubar'd the Obama name. Michael, like most Democrats, is simply misinformed.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/01/02/D8MDBBEG0.html

I should probably take this a little further and state that, contrary to Dave's belief, it is very simple to make such a typographical error as "Osama" in lieu of "Obama" when the top news story for the last 5+ years has been Osama, not Obama. Muscle memory or something akin to it... I do believe Obama would make a fine candidate for the Democratic Party for President of these United States of America. So would Hillary for that matter. Neither can win.

What's in a name? Think about it. You are not likely to vote for an Obama or Hussein any more than you would vote for Vladimir Leninovich Hitler. Such a statement may seem narrow-minded, but it is simply the truth.