Poor John McCain must be wondering why no one will lie about him any more. Here’s the Washington Post’s latest smear, a page one story:
Palin Links Iraq to 9/11, A View Discarded by Bush
Gov. Sarah Palin linked the war in Iraq with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, telling an Iraq-bound brigade of soldiers that included her son that they would “defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans.”
The idea that Iraq shared responsibility with al-Qaeda for the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, once promoted by Bush administration officials, has since been rejected even by the president himself. On any other day, Palin’s statement would almost certainly have drawn a sharp rebuke from Democrats, but both parties had declared a halt to partisan activities to mark Thursday’s anniversary.
These soldiers are not time-travellers, sent to fight Saddam. They are fighting today’s enemy, who, as everyone knows, is al Qaeda now. They’re called “al Qaeda in Iraq” (or, as some prefer, “al Qaeda in Mesopotamia.”) Palin’s statement was absolutely accurate.
They know it too, because they’ve edited the article to read:
Palin Links Iraq to 9/11, A View Discarded by Bush In Talk to Troops in Alaska
Gov. Sarah Palin linked the war in Iraq with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, telling an Iraq-bound brigade of soldiers that included her son that they would “defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans.”
The idea that Iraq the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein shared responsibility with al-Qaeda for helped al-Qaeda plan the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, once promoted by Bush administration officials, has since been rejected even by the president himself. On any other day, Palin’s statement would almost certainly have drawn a sharp rebuke from Democrats, but both parties had declared a halt to partisan activities to mark Thursday’s anniversary. But it is widely agreed that militants allied with al-Qaeda have taken root in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion.
So where’s the retraction? With the article’s lede struck, there’s nothing left. The rest of the article is just “this comes as a time when” filler.
Also on the Washington Post’s front page today is a hatchet job on John McCain’s wife. Nice.
(Via Commentary, via Instapundit.)
UPDATE: Fox News noticed this.
UPDATE (5/17): Finally, a “clarification“. How wrong do you have to be to rate a correction? (Via Extreme Mortman, via No Silence Here, via Instapundit.) Plus, another Palin correction the same day.
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