One More Reason The Press Stinks

Sarah Palin thought Africa was a country. Remember that one, along with the other anonymous smears? It was all a hoax, and our lazy, ignorant press bought it all hook line and sinker. Most surprising is that the New York Times is actually reporting this press stupidity. I figured they'd use the old Dan Rather "The faked documents are real" defense.

“Turns out it was Martin Eisenstadt, a McCain policy adviser, who has come forward today to identify himself as the source of the leaks,” Mr. Shuster said.

Trouble is, Martin Eisenstadt doesn’t exist. His blog does, but it’s a put-on. The think tank where he is a senior fellow — the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy — is just a Web site. The TV clips of him on YouTube are fakes.

And the claim of credit for the Africa anecdote is just the latest ruse by Eisenstadt, who turns out to be a very elaborate hoax that has been going on for months. MSNBC, which quickly corrected the mistake, has plenty of company in being taken in by an Eisenstadt hoax, including The New Republic and The Los Angeles Times.

I wouldn't be too proud of myself if I were the hoaxsters. Fooling the press isn't really that hard. They go after anti-Republican propaganda like a dog on its hind legs going after a dangling sausage.