03 September 2004

Why can't I edit reality?

[source, source ]

The current version of a story by the AP:

WEST ALLIS, Wis. - President Bush (news - web sites) on Friday wished Bill Clinton (news - web sites) “best wishes for a swift and speedy recovery.” “He’s is in our thoughts and prayers,” Bush said at a campaign rally.

The original version added the line “Bush’s audience of thousands in West Allis, Wis., booed. Bush did nothing to stop them.”. Here’s a sound clip if you want to listen yourself. I didn’t hear any booing. Based on that and other accounts from people there, the only explanation seems to be the reporter flat out made it up. Yet, like the plastic turkey I expect this will go on in snide comments for months, if not years.

I wonder if this kind of blatant falsification is a sign of desperation or a final break from any connection to objectivity.

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Making it, big time

[source]

Only three months after the controversial release of Moveable Type Developer Edition 3.0, Six Apart announced on Wednesday its release of Version 3.1 of its popular blogging software.

Wow. Movable Type announcements are now stories in Yahoo’s technology news stream.

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I thought they'd hold the gates against the barbarians!

[source]

Yet one aide said Kerry privately conceded that he, like most of his top staff, miscalculated the impact of the attacks by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and the influence of 24-hour cable news in shaping public opinion, and thought the controversy would blow over. One Kerry friend said the candidate focuses on more traditional news outlets and lacks a sophisticated understanding of modern media. “You would think he would have recognized this five years ago,” the friend said.

This is just another way of saying that the Kerry campaign was counting on Old Media to suppress any blowback from the focus on Vietnam. It also implies that the campaign doesn’t think there’s any meat on the SBVfT claims, which is very odd if the campaign has admitted to some of them.

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