"MSNBC retracts false Palin story; others duped

"NEW YORK – MSNBC was the victim of a hoax when it reported that an adviser to John McCain had identified himself as the source of an embarrassing story about former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, the network said Wednesday.

David Shuster, an anchor for the cable news network, said on air Monday that Martin Eisenstadt, a McCain policy adviser, had come forth and identified himself as the source of a Fox News Channel story saying Palin had mistakenly believed Africa was a country instead of a continent.

Eisenstadt identifies himself on a blog as a senior fellow at the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy. Yet neither he nor the institute exist; each is part of a hoax dreamed up by a filmmaker named Eitan Gorlin and his partner, Dan Mirvish, the New York Times reported Wednesday.

The Eisenstadt claim had mistakenly been delivered to Shuster by a producer and was used in a political discussion Monday afternoon, MSNBC said.

"The story was not properly vetted and should not have made air," said Jeremy Gaines, network spokesman. "We recognized the error almost immediately and ran a correction on air within minutes."

Gaines told the Times that someone in the network's newsroom had presumed the information solid because it was passed along in an e-mail from a colleague.

The hoax was limited to the identity of the source in the story about Palin — not the Fox News story itself. While Palin has denied that she mistook Africa for a country, the veracity of that report was not put in question by the revelation that Eisenstadt is a phony.

Eisenstadt's "work" had been quoted and debunked before. The Huffington Post said it had cited Eisenstadt in July on a story regarding the Hilton family and McCain.

Among the other victims were political blogs for the Los Angeles Times and The New Republic, each of which referenced false material from Eisenstadt's blog.

And in July, Jonathan Stein of Mother Jones magazine blogged an item about Eisenstadt speaking on Iraqi television about a casino in Baghdad's "Green Zone."

Stein later realized he'd been had.

"Kudos to the inventor of this whole thing," Stein wrote. "My only consolation is that if I had as much time on my hands as he clearly does, I probably would have figured this out and saved myself a fair amount of embarrassment." 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081113/ap_en_tv/palin_hoax_1

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"Sarah Palin explains

"Last night I saw part of Sarah Palin's interview with Greta Van Susteren. Palin made three points about her relations with the McCain staffers who worked with her during the campaign.

First, it was a strange experience to have a group of people, none of whom she knew, suddenly appear to take responsibility for how she would present herself on the campaign trail.

Second, she quickly came to realize, however, that these people were "sharp" and were trying hard to assist her.

Third, she nevertheless thought that, as a candidate, she should not be entirely scripted, but rather should at times express herself in her own way.

The first and third points seem quite reasonable, as a general matter. The second point is true, I assume. And to the extent that she may have held less positive views of some of the staffers, it is to Palin's credit that she doesn't express them.

There may be another side to this story. But until someone goes on the record to state it, I think that Palin's comments should put to rest allegations that she was a "rogue" candidate or that she otherwise behaved inappropriately during the campaign.

JOHN adds: I saw the Palin interview last night and thought she did a good job. My favorite part was at the Palins' home, when Greta van Susteren was doing the interview with a camera guy, Todd was holding the baby, and Sarah was making dinner as she answered Greta's questions. It was a nice touch.

Apparently John McCain will be on the Leno show tonight. It will be disappointing if he fails to disassociate himself from his classless aides. "
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2008/11/022053.php