NYT Admits They Lied About Kerry's Speech

Fri, Nov 3, 2006 at 8:35:35 am PST

The New York Times has issued a correction for their article about John Kerry’s slam against the military, in which they did not even print his actual words: Corrections: For the Record - New York Times. (Hat tip: Ethel.)

A Political Memo article yesterday about the fallout for Senator John Kerry over what he called a “botched joke” referred incompletely to the differences between prepared remarks and what he actually said about the Iraq war to students at Pasadena City College in California on Monday. Mr. Kerry not only dropped the word “us,” but he also rephrased his opening sentence extensively and omitted a reference to President Bush. Mr. Kerry’s aides said that the prepared text read: “Do you know where you end up if you don’t study, if you aren’t smart, if you’re intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush.” What he said: “You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

This is the Times’ time-honored modus operandi—publish a shockingly biased story leaving out important information, then a day or two later, a belated correction to give them cover.