Shame on the NY Times

What happens when you hire a partisan hack, ersatz journalist, and world-historically bad prognosticator in the name of editorial "balance?" Well, when you're not reduced to publishing 800-words of inane drivel thumbed into a blackberry from a Sunday night soiree at Henry Kissinger's house (btw, Tighten Uppers throw better parties than right wing blowhards), you're stuck with breathtakingly inaccurate, hyperventilating accusations about somebody's patriotism that hinge on thinly-sourced gruel from the venerable publishing institution that is Newsmax.com.

I'm referring to the now-discredited column by Bill Kristol in today's Times which states, citing Newsmax as a source, that (via. Marc Ambider):

But Ronald Kessler, a journalist who has written about Wright’s ministry, claims that Obama was in fact in the pews at Trinity last July 22. That’s when Wright blamed the “arrogance” of the “United States of White America” for much of the world’s suffering, especially the oppression of blacks. In any case, given the apparent frequency of such statements in Wright’s preaching and their centrality to his worldview, the pretense that over all these years Obama had no idea that Wright was saying such things is hard to sustain.

This is, of course, demonstrably false, thus undermining the entire point of Kristol's inane column. Obama was travelling to Miami when this speech was made. Hey Bill Keller, nice hire! You could have enriched your readers with any one of dozens of credible conservative commentators, and you had to go hire the biggest hack in the entire media landscape. Tighten up, buddy.

Bonus upside: I can't wait for the paper's right-wing critics to lambast their editorial page for their lax journalistic integrity and call for Kristol's resignation.