Think Progress

New York Times issues correction for Kristol column.

By Matt on May 21st, 2008 at 1:45 pm

New York Times issues correction for Kristol column.»

kristol2.jpgEarlier this week, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol asserted in a column that he could not find “a single recent instance of a candidate who ultimately became his party’s nominee losing a primary” by a 41-point margin like Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) did in West Virgina. But as ThinkProgress and other blogs quickly pointed out, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) lost to Mitt Romney in the Utah’s primary by 85 points in February. The Times has now issued a correction for Kristol’s column:

Correction: May 21, 2008
In his column on Monday, Bill Kristol said he could not find a recent primary in which the candidate who would go on to win the nomination lost by as big a margin as Barack Obama lost by (41 points) in West Virginia. Mitt Romney won the essentially uncontested Utah primary on Feb. 5 with about 90 percent of the vote.

Also, the California Supreme Court is based in San Francisco, not the state capital, Sacramento.

In just six months, this is the third time that the New York Times has been forced to clean up Kristol’s factual errors.

UpdateJerry Skurnik points out that Utah wasn't "essentially uncontested" as the Times correction asserts, considering that McCain was endorsed by the governor and he campaigned in the state. (HT: JosephP)
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40 Responses to “New York Times issues correction for Kristol column.”


  1. octamethyl Says:

    That depends on how you define ‘facts’. Under this administratino, facts have been redefined to mean ‘any old BS that supports Dumbya and his army of inbred underlings’.


  2. paleolib Says:

    Perhaps the Times should add a new weekly feature called Kristol’s Korrections every Wednesday after the blogs perform the job for which the NYT opinion page editor is apparently unsuited.


  3. Who Misspoke Today? Says:

    For someone who is an editor, he sure misses alot of errors.


  4. StratRat Says:

    Besides the Bush administration and the New York Times, how can a person still be employed while getting his facts wrong over and over? Doesn’t it occur to the readers that a paid water carrier for the Bush administration would have to be corrected this many times? Is it that they are so used to the right side being wrong, they just are de-sensitized to it all? I would think any adult would turn away from anyone who continues to lie to them.


  5. ralph the wonder llama Says:

    As I pointed out the other day, to be scrupulously fair to William the Bloody, when he brought up a candidate losing by 41 points and still becoming the nominee, he didn’t say that it had never happened before. He simply said that he “couldn’t find a single recent instance” of it.

    So, if Kristolmeth didn’t bother to look, then he’s not wrong, just incredibly lazy and possibly willfully delusional. And those qualities shouldn’t disqualify someone from writing an opinion column with the NYT, should they?


  6. Marie Says:

    So does this mean that after three strikes, they will remove him from their payroll?


  7. Leftside Annie Says:

    Perhaps the next “correction” taken by the NYT should be to fire that ridiculous bloviating asshat - you know, to correct the fact that they ever hired him in the first place.


  8. trollsbwild Says:

    What are the consequences for Kritol and Brooks for their so-called errors? In the REALworld, it one continues to make errors in their line of work, they get FIRED!
    The NYT is complicit due to their lack of punishment meeted out to them. Accordingly, their decline in subscriptions seems to be well deserved.


  9. Roket Says:

    Billy doesn’t have the time to check on such things. Performing these menial tasks is beneath him. After all, he is a Journalist. No, wait…


  10. Max-1 Says:

    I’m still awaiting the correction: The Times corrects it’s decision to hire William Kkkrystol.


  11. Austin Avery Says:

    The NYT retraction, however, is begrudging and poorly down. Keith Olbermann pointed out several other recent primaries in which McCain was beaten by more than 41 points–and those were not, to my knowledge, essentially uncontested.

    Here’s the link:
    http://www.crooksandliars.com/ 2008/ 05/ 20/ worst-persons-bill-kristol-rush-limbaugh-and-oliver-north/

    So the NYT appears to have treated Kristol with kid gloves.


  12. JosephP Says:

    As Jerry Skurnik points out, the Utah primary was not “essentially uncontested:”

    McCain was endorsed in the Primary by Utah’s Republican Governor Jon Huntsman and that McCain campaigned in the state before the Primary, calling it a battleground.

    This editorial addition of the words “essentially uncontested” diminishes the sincerity of the correction. And lumping this correction with the less significant error regarding the location of the California Supreme Court is an attempt to trivialize the error.

    Furthermore, it could be pointed out that McCain also lost the Arkansas primary by 40 points to Huckabee.


  13. Pernell Says:

    The NYT knows Krystol is wrong often and that foisting his opinions on the nation is helping to take the country to hell. The NYT knows this but they do not care, it is what they want. They obviously like someone consistently deceiving their readers and turning the nation to sh-t or they would not do it. Also, they want us to bomb Iran or they would not publish this man’s drivel.

    Hey, they are still a bit ahead of the WP that posts racist homophobes under the guise of “free speech.”


  14. Shayne Says:

    When Kristol gets something correct, that will be news.


  15. Freedom Rebel Says:

    He is only 55, to young to claim the errors are senior moments. I would expect more out of a Ph.D. from Harvard.

    “Among conservatives there’s been too much pseudo-populism, almost too much concern and attention for, quote, ‘the people’… After all, we conservatives are on the side of the lords and barons… We…are pulling up the drawbridge against the peasants.” Kristol quote.

    This is how he views us. NYT is really scraping the bottom of the barrel to keep someone that has his kind of mentality.


  16. Perry logan Says:

    People of the future will wonder why we tolerated Republicans for even a moment.


  17. linda Says:

    little billy’s not accustomed to being held accountable for the lies he propels.


  18. robbez_92107 Says:

    How about an apology from old Irv Kristol for allowing his drooling son to become the AIPAC/PNAC blood thirsty ghoul he has become?

    Don’t worry - I’m not holding my breath.


  19. impeachcheneythenbush Says:

    Every newspapers has a corrections section, and everyone is entitled to make a mistake once and awhile. Kristol, however, is not making mistakes. These misstatements on the facts are quite intentional.


  20. Paul W Says:

    In just six months, this is the third time that the New York Times has been forced to clean up Kristol’s factual errors.

    And yet they still employ this man. You’d think that as a news organization they’d want to print factual and relevant information, but apparently not. Oh well…that’s the “liberal media” for you.

    http://progressiveworldreview.com


  21. 5th Estate Says:

    O/T Chelsea v Man United European Champions Cup Final being played in Russia coming-up. Gotta watch.


  22. Doc Rock Says:

    The NY Times is another has-been, a once monumental newspaper, it is now just a pretentious fish and chips vehicle.


  23. theswan Says:

    Issuing corrections for billy is a poor excuse for selling print. The Times is taking on the look of a tabloid.


  24. Red Pill Says:

    Regrettably, the Times could never supply a truly sufficient correction for Kristol: retroactive birth control.


  25. Paul68 Says:

    The NYT fulfills their public service obligation by printing Bill’s opeds. They that obligation is correcting his errors. Something that is not done in the Weekly Standard.


  26. Bluestocking Says:

    In just six months, this is the third time that the New York Times has been forced to clean up Kristol’s factual errors.

    **********************************************************

    Let’s face it…if a similar rank-and-file employee with public exposure had made three factual errors over the course of six months which required his or her superiors to clean up after the mistakes, said employee would have been tossed out on his or her rump by now. Probably the only thing preventing that in this case is Kristol’s relationship with PNAC and the number of high-level political connections resulting from it.


  27. Uosdwis Says:

    How about this boner: AP reporter Glen Johnson’s headline “Kennedy family REALING.”


  28. impeachcheneythenbush Says:

    Uosdwis Says:

    How about this boner: AP reporter Glen Johnson’s headline “Kennedy family REALING.”

    Excuse me? You’re comparing a typo/misspelling with an intentional misstatement on the facts? I guess “compare and contrast” essays weren’t your strength in middle school, huh? I can only assume you didn’t make it much beyond that level, considering your obvious lack of intelligence.

    And yes…that was an intentional insult.


  29. pete Says:

    Bloody Bill and his ilk aren’t stupid. Every word is calculated to have a specific effect on the Reichwing base. And the 23%ers gleefully send their neighbor’s children to bleed in the foreign sands of Bushco’s Crusade.


  30. jay_severin_has_a_small_pen1s Says:

    Tough break for ‘mainstream partisan blogger’ Kristol, when readers actually check what you say, but also can get the publication you work for to write a CORRECTION. You never would have seen FOX News or the Weekly Standard do that.


  31. shoeless Says:

    Who Misspoke Today? Says:

    For someone who is an editor, he sure misses alot of errors.

    No he doesn’t. As editor of the Weakneed Standard, his job is to make a lot of errors.


  32. shoeless Says:

    theswan Says:

    Issuing corrections for billy is a poor excuse for selling print. The Times is taking on the look of a tabloid.

    Maybe they are trying to get Rupert Murdock, Richard Mellon Scaife, or Sun Myung Moon to buy them.


  33. Prytania Says:

    Who Misspoke Today? Says:
    ——————————————————————————–

    For someone who is an editor, he sure misses alot of errors.

    May 21st, 2008 at 1:49 pm Recommend (4) | Report Abuse

    It’s, a lot. Not, alot.


  34. able as Says:

    ‘All The News That’s Fit To Print’. The NYT would do well to fire W.K., or cease publication. It’s sad to see it happen. At least Wm. Safire got his facts straight.


  35. dasm Says:

    Kristol is an ill-informed, ignorant idiot. Why does anyone hire such a moron?


  36. kassandrasduplex Says:

    Kristol exists for only one purpose: to spread propaganda and misinformation. He is doing a heckuva job.


  37. kassandrasduplex Says:

    dasm asks:
    Kristol is an ill-informed, ignorant idiot. Why does anyone hire such a moron?

    The New York Times is NOT a liberal, nor progressive publication. They are VERY conservative and MASTERS of propaganda. That is why they printed the lies of Judith Miller in the leadup to the invasion of Iraq and that is why they hire the likes of Bill Kristol. No other reason.


  38. Pernell Says:

    I guess everyone knows that PNAC, which played such a huge role in driving us to the plan-free blunder in Iraq, was in reality Bill Kristol and a fax machine.

    http://www.dailykos.com/ storyonly/ 2006/ 4/ 17/ 124146/ 746/ 583/ 202819


  39. bigeugene Says:

    Isn’t the correction itself misleading and insincere? I mean, they left out Arkansas, where McCain lost by 40 points and Kansas, where McCain lost by 36 points. Even the correction merits a correction.


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