The Hollywood Liberal

Kristol Makes His Fourth Factual Error In His New York Times Column
Today in the New York print edition of the New York Times, columnist Bill Kristol attacks allegations that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) may not have been in the “cone of silence” during Saturday’s Saddleback Civil Forum: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reported on “Meet the Press” that “the Obama people must feel that he didn’t do […]

Today in the New York print edition of the New York Times, columnist Bill Kristol attacks allegations that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) may not have been in the “cone of silence” during Saturday’s Saddleback Civil Forum:

NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reported on “Meet the Press” that “the Obama people must feel that he didn’t do quite as well as they might have wanted to in that context. … What they’re putting out privately is that McCain may not have been in the cone of silence and may have had some ability to overhear what the questions were to Obama.”

That’s pretty astonishing, since there seems to be absolutely no basis for the charge. But the fact that Obama’s people made this suggestion means they know McCain outperformed him.

Kristol is wrong. In fact, the New York Times itself reports today that McCain “was not in a ‘cone of silence’ on Saturday night.” He was instead “in his motorcade on the way to the church” when Rev. Rick Warren was interviewing Obama.

Instead of issuing a correction to Kristol’s column, Tom Tomorrow notes that the Times has simply quietly revised it for the online and national print editions. The column now reads:

NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reported on “Meet the Press” that “the Obama people must feel that he didn’t do quite as well as they might have wanted to in that context. … What they’re putting out privately is that McCain … may have had some ability to overhear what the questions were to Obama.”

There’s no evidence that McCain had any such advantage. But the fact that Obama’s people made this suggestion means they know McCain outperformed him.

Perhaps the New York Times is too embarrassed to write a correction for another one of Kristol’s columns. This is the fourth factual error he has made since commencing his column in January. Here are the other three corrections. Unfortunately for Kristol, his Kristol Ball isn’t doing so well either.

Obama Tells Allies He Is Ready to Hit Back
ALBUQUERQUE, Aug. 18 — Sen. Barack Obama returned to the presidential campaign trail on Monday after a week-long Hawaiian vacation and tried to assure anxious Democrats that he is ready to fight back against Republican character attacks that grew sharper in his absence.

Any Given Tuesday
In February, the New York Football Giants stunned everyone by upsetting the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 41 (check number). Their journey to football’s highest peak was as improbable as it was surprising and their successful playoff run shows eerie similarities to this year’s Presidential race. The Giants and the McCain campaign share a few similar traits. Both were wild cards in the respective contests. At every turn, both were outspent, outgunned and not expected to win. The Giants went to Dallas and beat the Cowboys. They went to Green Bay and beat a legend on his own field. McCain, left for dead time-and-again, used the springboard of his New Hampshire victory to rack up enough victories to make his nomination a forgone conclusion by the time the polls closed on February 5th.

Obama Must Hit Harder on the Economy
Paul Krugman, New York Times