The newspaper of record

For over 100 years, the New York Times has been considered the "newspaper of record." Sometimes you've got to wonder about that. Consider the lead in this article, published today and reprinted on the Star Tribune website (http://www.startribune.com/10216/story/1496599.html)

After Rush Limbaugh referred to Iraq war veterans critical of the war as "phony soldiers," he received a letter of complaint signed by 41 Democratic senators. He decided to auction the letter, which he described as "this glittering jewel of colossal ignorance," for charity, and he pledged to match the price, dollar for dollar.

If you've been following this story at all, you know two things. First, Limbaugh in no way "referred to Iraq war veterans critical of the war as 'phony soldiers.'" He was referring specifically to a guy named Jesse Macbeath, who never served in the Iraq War; in fact, he was a guy who had not been able to finish basic training. And the letter in question wasn't sent to Limbaugh; it was sent to one of his radio show's main syndicators, Clear Channel. And the letter wasn't just "a letter of complaint," it was essentially designed to put pressure on Clear Channel to take action against Limbaugh, up to and including removing him from the air. The actual addressee of the letter (Mark Mays of Clear Channel) gave the original to Limbaugh, who promptly put it up for auction on eBay, with all proceeds going to a charity that helps Marine veterans.

The good news about all this is that Limbaugh's eBay auction of the letter netted a winning bid of $2.1 million, which Limbaugh will match dollar for dollar.

You have to love the New York Times, though - the lead was nearly 100% wrong. But I guarantee that the Star Tribune won't be the only newspaper that runs this story. It's been 25 years since Don Henley sang these words, but they sure ring true:

We all know that crap is king

Especially for the newspaper of record. Feh.