Massive WaPo Blunder

We're so used to the relentless media bias that we've come to expect it on a daily basis. Considering the amount of times they screw up, the mainstream press unwittingly has become a boon for bloggers over the past several years. Today we have a whopper from the Washington Post and a lengthy "correction" that soon followed.

Of course, they were spoonfed the misinformation by none other than the unctuous Carl Levin.

A Feb. 9 front-page article about the Pentagon inspector general’s report regarding the office of former undersecretary of defense Douglas J. Feith incorrectly attributed quotations to that report. References to Feith’s office producing “reporting of dubious quality or reliability” and that the office “was predisposed to finding a significant relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda” were from a report issued by Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) in Oct. 2004. Similarly, the quotes stating that Feith’s office drew on “both reliable and unreliable reporting” to produce a link between al-Qaeda and Iraq “that was much stronger than that assessed by the IC [Intelligence Community] and more in accord with the policy views of senior officials in the Administration” were also from Levin’s report. The article also stated that the intelligence provided by Feith’s office supported the political views of senior administration officials, a conclusion that the inspector general’s report did not draw.The two reports employ similar language to characterize the activities of Feith’s office: Levin’s report refers to an “alternative intelligence assessment process” developed in that office, while the inspector general’s report states that the office “developed, produced, and then disseminated alternative intelligence assessments on the Iraq and al Qaida relationship, which included some conclusions that were inconsistent with the consensus of the Intelligence Community, to senior decision-makers.” The inspector general’s report further states that Feith’s briefing to the White House in 2002 “undercuts the Intelligence Community” and “did draw conclusions that were not fully supported by the available intelligence.”

All the gory details are laid out in painstaking detail at Captain's Quarters, Hot Air, NRO's Media Blog, Michelle Malkin, Forward Movement, Sister Toldjah, Ace of Spades, 7.62mm Justice, Right Voices, and the Political Pit Bull.

The AP screwed this up as well, as noted by Power Line.

Reuters is still spinning as best they can.

Let's see how quickly the tinfoil hat crowd translates "inappropriate" into "illegal".

Let's see how quickly the talking heads retract their commentary on this. I won't hold my breath.