Thursday, November 13, 2008

Palin Accuser Exposed As Hoaxer


It was among the juicier post-election recriminations: Fox News Channel quoted an unnamed McCain campaign figure as saying that Sarah Palin did not know that Africa was a continent.

Who would say such a thing? On Monday the answer popped up on a blog and popped out of the mouth of David Shuster, an MSNBC anchor. “Turns out it was Martin Eisenstadt, a McCain policy adviser, who has come forward today to identify himself as the source of the leaks,” Mr. Shuster said.

Trouble is, Martin Eisenstadt doesn’t exist. His blog does, but it’s a put-on. The think tank where he is a senior fellow — the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy — is just a Web site. The TV clips of him on YouTube are fakes.


Oh, how delightful!
Maureen Dowd, as late as Tuesday, was still using the Africa story.

UPDATE: my headline may be misleading; it isn't clear whether he is falsely claiming to be the source, or claiming that he ... uh, I'm confused.

3 comments:

Drang said...

The local fish wrap reported this and claimed that, although the source turns out to be a hoax, the story wasn't...

Turk Turon said...

Weird!

phlegmfatale said...

DW Drang -your local fishwrap no doubt got their bullet points from the Daily Kos, who was immediately saying "but they didn't deny the story."

Tedious.