Not Now, Howie

Howie Kurtz, Time Lord, seeks to cover his own shoddy reporting by manipulating the timeline:

"Wrong About Rove?

"By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 23, 2006; 7:54 AM

"I reported yesterday (and if you missed it, start paying attention!) that the liberal Web site Truthout.org was standing by its claim that Karl Rove had been secretly indicted in the CIA leak case, despite strong denials by the White House aide's lawyer and spokesman.

"Why the Rove team would lie about information that, if true, was certain to come out soon was never quite clear. More than three dozen mainstream journalists checked on the Truthout report but could not confirm a word of it.

"Now Truthout has backed off, at least partially, from the story by reporter Jason Leopold, who has had some credibility problems in the past (as he acknowledges in a new book) but has also worked for such news outlets as the L.A. Times and Dow Jones.

"Marc Ash , the site's founder, writes: ...." (Emphasis added; link in original)

When Howie says "now," what he means to say is "four days ago" or, perhaps, "three days before my original story was published." No matter how you spin it, How, May 19 is not May 23.

And the last thing you should want is readers who pay attention to what you write.