Bill Kristol Errs, Times Benefits
[UPDATES BELOW]
Earlier this morning, the New York Times ran William Kristol's Monday morning op-ed, and just a short while thereafter, the Atlantic's Marc Ambinder, rifle trained on the fish-flush barrel, rooted out a ridiculous factual error at the column's foundation - namely, that Senator Barack Obama was in attendance at Trinity United Church of Christ on July 22, 2007, when Reverend Jeremiah Wright "blamed the 'arrogance' of the 'United States of White America' for much of the world's suffering. Ambinder, with relative ease, uncovered evidence - including video footage - that this was not the case. "Now, a simple Google search suggests that Obama spent most of the day in Miami," Ambinder writes, adding, "But a simple e-mail or telephone call to Obama's campaign might have cleared things up."
And, one would think, a simple correction on the part of the New York Times might be forthcoming. Ambinder's colleague, Matt Yglesias, certainly thinks such a move would be appropriate: "Marc Ambinder's item above pointing out the error has circulated all throughout the internet already -- surely the Times could decide to stop misleading its readers."
But where would the impetus to offer a correction come from? We're talking about the newspaper that went to war on John McCain with a thinky sources tale of sordid K Street trysts that didn't stand up to scrutiny and thus washed away what substance there was on McCain's ethical dealings - or lack thereof - with the lobbyist set. And William Kristol's debut as a Times columnist was marred by a similar foundational error that didn't seem to earn the columnist any sort of censure from Times editors.
So weeks after it should have been apparent that Kristol badly needs a factchecker lurking in the corner of the room on a full-time basis, he whiffs badly once again, and the blogosphere ignites in a full-on inferno. Yet all paths lead back to nytimes.com, don't they? Proving once again that while error might be bad for the discourse, it's definitely good for unique visitors.
UPDATE: Bill Kristol has finally acknowledged his error, stating: "In this column, I cite a report that Sen. Obama had attended services at Trinity Church on July 22, 2007. The Obama camapaign [sic] has provided information showing that Sen. Obama did not attend Trinity that day. I regret the error." Indeed, the Obama campaign might have proven to be a valuable resource for Kristol in the first place, rather than a Newsmax story which is still insisting on their version of the facts: "Our writer, Jim Davis, says he attended several services at Senator Obama's church during the month of July, including July 22. The church holds services three times every Sunday at 7:30 and 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Central time. While both the early morning and evening service allowed Sen. Obama to attend the service and still give a speech in Miami."
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March 17, 2008 10:54 AM