Debra Saunders Develops Sullivan-Kaus Syndrome

A Daily Howler take-down of a most deserving target:

Meanwhile�yes, we quoted Debra Saunders accurately in last Friday�s HOWLER. The San Francisco Chronicle subsequently changed the on-line version of her column without noting that a correction had been made. Many readers went to the link and thought that we had doctored her quote. Sorry�that�s the sort of thing Saunders does.

The original quote:

The second result was political. Then-Sen. Al Gore, and later an independent campaign supportive of then-Vice President George Bush, ran TV spots on Horton during the 1988 presidential election. Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis lost.

The doctored one:

The second result was political. Then-Sen. Al Gore used the furlough program against Dukakis in the 1988 presidential race. Later an independent campaign supportive of then-Vice President George Bush ran spots on Horton. Dukakis lost the presidential race.

A journalist lying and then covering up. At least as reprehensible as a politician stealing newspapers, one might say.

Saunders, the Bay Area's biggest embarrasment, has written a book on Gore. Is this lie in there too?

12/17 -- Somerby's Update: Saunders invokes a ridiculous "I ate my own homework" defense.

(For the clinicians who first discovered Sullivan-Kaus Syndrome, click here.)