Which of These Is Not Like The Other

One item managed to make its way on to the front pages of the Washington Post only to be completely debunked within minutes by a blogger.

The premise of that story was that a major political figure was benefiting from some unusual donors and that there was some kind of pattern developing. Too bad that Amanda Carpenter decided to do her own research, and checked the names in the article against the Open Secrets campaign databases. The names didn't come up, which shows that there's nothing there there.

The other item continues to percolate as tabloid fodder courtesy of the National Enquirer, which has sourced the story, corroborated the story from outside sources, and even claims photographic evidence of marital infidelity.

One story relates to Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for President. The other story relates to John Edwards (D), a former candidate for President and running mate to John Kerry in 2004.

If you haven't guessed by now, but the first story is about McCain, while the second is about Edwards.

A front page retraction by the WaPo is absolutely necessary on the McCain story because the entire premise of the story was bogus. The fact checkers and the gate keepers failed. Again.

The fact is that the Washington Post screwed up royally in running its latest smear piece on Sen. John McCain and for all the wrong reasons. Bias and a rush to judgment replaced fact checking and verification of key details. If the WaPo had actually checked the names against the various campaign databases, this story would never have run because it fell apart under even basic scrutiny.

It's not the first time either that a major media outlet sought to run with a story along these lines. The New York Times did the same exact thing, and it was just as thinly sourced.

Meanwhile, the big media outlets are pretty much ignoring the Edwards story as though it's somehow beneath them or isn't newsworthy. Apparently, it's far easier to run a bogus story about a Republican presidential candidate on the front page of the Washington Post than it is to get reporters to look into the question of John Edwards marital infidelities even as his presence at the DNC convention in Denver depends on how he responds to the questions. Heck, some are still floating his name out there as Obama's vice presidential choice.

Note too that in the article assessing various vice presidential candidates, there isn't a single mention of Edwards' current tabloid woes. Funny how that works.

UPDATE 8/7/2008:
Soccer Dad notes that Mosk (the reporter in the WaPo story) has tried this game in Maryland.