Yesterday Sen. Harry Reid applauded the Las Vegas man who planted a hoax with right wing blogger John Hinderaker that spread to conservative talk radio, saying, “It shows how foolish journalism is as we know it.”

Except the people who spread the fake story really shouldn’t be called “journalists.”

“What this guy proved to me is that journalism doesn’t exist,” Reid said. “I wish I’d meet this guy and pat him on the back.”

[…]

Pfeifer has expressed regret at making up a story about Reid’s family that spread far and wide on the Internet. He called Reid’s office in Las Vegas on Tuesday saying he wanted to apologize, according to Reid aides.

But Reid said in an interview: “I don’t see why he should apologize. I’m glad at what he did. It shows how foolish journalism is as we know it. It’s evaporating and that’s too bad.”

“Look what he did to Rush Limbaugh,” Reid said. “This appeared in newspapers all over the country, in addition to the (story) where the gangsters beat me up.”

Reid said he does not consider Limbaugh and others who circulated the story to be journalists. “If they were journalists they wouldn’t be playing around with this garbage,” he said.