Posted on 09/04/2004 5:36:40 AM PDT by Dog
Booing the AP When the AP story about a Republican crowd booing President Bush's well-wishes for Bill Clinton first broke at 2:12 p.m., the story carried the byline of Tom Hays. After coming under fire, the AP pulled the story down. The original link now brings you to a dead page.
After a brief interlude, the AP reposted the story, minus the claims that the crowd had booed Clinton's heart scare. The revised story is here. It carries the time stamp of 2:31 p.m. and, curiously, no byline. It also carried no mention of the story's previous version, nor any mark that the new version is indeed a revision. (For those looking for it, there was one tell-tale sign in the AP's URL: The URL for the first version ended in "bush_clinton_1", while the URL for the second version ends "bush_clinton_2".)
So the AP: (1) Puts out a story with falsified reporting; (2) Pulls the story; (3) Removes the faulty reporting; (4) Makes no note of its mistake; and then (5) Pulls the byline of the reporter who made the error. If you were going to impute bad faith to the folks at AP--and at this point that's not unreasonable to do--you might suspect that they have pulled Tom Hays's byline to protect him.
Behold the power of Lexis-Nexis. The AP was able to cover their tracks on the web, but Lexis-Nexis keeps all versions of stories which carry different time-stamps. The Hays original is preserved there in its entirety:
September 3, 2004 Friday 2:12 PM Eastern Time SECTION: INTERNATIONAL NEWS
LENGTH: 649 words
HEADLINE: Bill Clinton hospitalized with chest pains, will face bypass surgery
BYLINE: TOM HAYS; Associated Press Writer
DATELINE: NEW YORK
Former President Bill Clinton checked into a Manhattan hospital Friday with chest pains and will soon undergo bypass surgery, his office announced.
An angiogram given to Clinton revealed "significant blockage," said a Democratic official, who had discussed the condition with the former president's staff and spoke on condition of anonymity. It did not appear that Clinton suffered a heart attack, the official said.
Clinton, 58, was admitted to New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia after undergoing initial testing near his suburban home, his office said. Clinton's wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, and their daughter, Chelsea, were to be with the president in the city, the statement said.
Clinton canceled a two-day joint trip with his wife across upstate New York.
Sen. Clinton made a brief appearance Friday at the New York State Fair in Syracuse, after which she noted that her husband was hospitalized and would need heart surgery, and apologized for leaving right away. "He's in excellent hands," she said.
Dozens of reporters and camera crews were assembled outside the city hospital, which is north of Clinton's Harlem office. Hospital officials had no immediate comment.
There was no word on when the surgery would take place. A source speaking on condition of anonymity said the surgery was not likely to take place Friday, but instead at a later date.
In Little Rock, Arkansas, Clinton's mother-in-law, Dorothy Rodham, said Clinton had called her to tell her about the situation.
"He sounded wonderful as usual and very upbeat, as he always is," she said. "I just told him how much I love him."
She said she didn't know if he was in the hospital when he called.
Clinton had a cancerous growth removed from his back shortly after leaving office in early 2001. It turned out to be basal cell carcinoma, the most treatable form of skin cancer. In 1996, he had had a precancerous lesion removed from his nose and a year before that had a benign cyst taken off his chest.
Other than that, Clinton has had the normal health problems that often accompany aging - periods of slightly elevated cholesterol and hearing loss - and an appetite for junk food. In 1997, he was fitted with hearing aids. He has also suffered from allergies.
Clinton went to Northern Westchester Hospital on Thursday after suffering "mild chest pain" and shortness of breath, his office said in a statement. He spent the night at his Chappaqua home, but checked into the Manhattan hospital after further tests Friday revealed the medical problem.
"He's going to be fine," Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said at a rally in Newark, Ohio.
"But every single one of us wants to extend to him our best wishes, our prayers and our thoughts and I want you all to let a cheer out and clap that he can hear all the way to New York," Kerry said to cheers. Clinton had been expected to campaign extensively for Kerry.
President George W. Bush, campaigning in Wisconsin, wished Clinton "best wishes for a swift and speedy recovery."
"He's is in our thoughts and prayers," Bush said. Bush's audience of thousands in West Allis, Wisconsin, booed. Bush did nothing to stop them.
In June, a Clinton spokesman characterized the ex-president as "doing very well" health-wise. The 42nd president has struggled with a weight problem, but had recently seemed much leaner at public appearances.
During his two terms as president, Clinton was known for his love of fast food. But in January of this year, Clinton said he had gone on "The South Beach Diet" and started a workout regimen.
Clinton has led an active lifestyle since leaving office. Most recently, he was on the road plugging his memoirs, "My Life."
Associated Press writers Ron Fournier and Frank Eltman in New York, David Hammer in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Marc Humbert in Albany, New York, contributed to this report.
The next nugget on the Lexis-Nexis trail is a shortened, corrected, un-bylined version of the story that is time-stamped 2:41 p.m.:
September 3, 2004 Friday 2:41 PM Eastern Time SECTION: NATIONAL POLITICAL NEWS
LENGTH: 118 words
HEADLINE: Bush Offers Best Wishes for Clinton
DATELINE: WEST ALLIS, Wis.
President Bush on Friday offered former President Bill Clinton, who faces heart bypass surgery, "best wishes for a swift and speedy recovery."
"He's is in our thoughts and prayers," Bush said at a campaign rally.
Bush offered his wishes while campaigning one day after accepting the presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention in New York. Clinton was hospitalized in New York after complaining of mild chest pain and shortness of breath.
Bush recently praised Clinton when the former president went to the White House for the unveiling of his official portrait. He lauded Clinton for his knowledge, compassion and "the forward-looking spirit that Americans like in a president."
So what's going on here? Was Hays in Wisconsin reporting, or in New York? What role did Ron Fournier, Frank Eltman, David Hammer, and Marc Humbert have in this story? There are five reporters on the hook for this misreporting, surely one of them will want to clear their name.
P.S.: This is a fine time for Romenesko to be on vacation. Let's hope he digs into this story on Tuesday. Paging Howie Kurtz . . . posted by Jonathan V. Last at 10:49 PM
BTTT
Just sent Comrade Hays a loving email. Thanks for the addy.
I just got an email digest from the election watch on yahoo. AP has done its job. The lefties are talking about the booing as fact. They are ignoring the retraction/revision.
I just got an email digest from the election watch on yahoo. AP has done its job. The lefties are talking about the booing as fact. They are ignoring the retraction/revision.
Sorry world, I got impatient.
I took the liberty of forwarding this thread link to NewsMax.
The crowd reacted with applause and with some "ooohs," apparently surprised by the news that Clinton was ill.
The AP is going to try to play this as a typo! Boos to ooohs.
Can you cut and paste that email please Aeronaut? Thank you.
Yeah, and "Bush did nothing to stop them" from oooohing!
Right! That's it. That's what we meant.
That original report not only was wrong, it was dripping with contempt.
There are a lot of papers in the this country that need to know about this.
As a matter of policy, the US should allow NO Muslim immigrants into the country. Period. End of story.
ping
Message: 1
Date: Fri, 3 Sep 2004 16:07:25 -0700
From: "Steve and Kristina Singiser"
Subject: RE: Clinton in the hospital for a Heart incident
Bill--
According to the New York Times, he had a heart attack and is due for a quad bypass.
I should also point out that when President Bush reported the news at a rally and asked for thoughts and prayers, thousands of faithful Republicans booed.
I'd like to see one of you that always talks about hateful Democrats respond to that.
Steve (Hawthorne, CA 90250)
-----Original Message-----
From: gill0137 [mailto:gill0137@yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, September 03, 2004 9:33 AM
To: electionwatch2004@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [electionwatch2004] Clinton in the hospital for a Heart incident
Clinton is in the Hospital and undergoing some sort of heart test/surgery.
I wonder how long it will take before some one seriously pulls a Howard Dean and suggests he timed his heart problem to deflate Bush's convention bounce?
Bill Maplewood, MN 55119
Please give us your town state and zip code when you post a message. Also please avoid personal attacks and policy pronouncements and try to stick to what you have heard or read in your neighborhood or in a publication regarding opinion in this election.
what would have been your counsel to nichole after 20 slashes and stabs.. "oh what a merciful god"? go pray in the closet and not before men, ok?
Hays was placed on a terrorism watch list according to Google. Something about him in Pakistan and comments given to the press in Pakistan.
I typed Tom Hays AP reporter into google. It was about 10 to 12 pages back. I screw up links.
Kerry Calls Bush "All Hat, No Cattle" In Ohio Speech [another sign of Kerry's brain damage]
AP via WCPO ^ | 3SEP04 | AP
Posted on 09/03/2004 9:27:12 PM PDT by familyop
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry traveled by bus across Ohio Friday.
Kerry held a "front porch" discussion at the home a laid-off worker in Newark.
(excerpted)
Smarting from criticism at the Republican convention of his military record in Vietnam and his fitness to be president, Kerry lashed out at Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
(end excerpt)
Someone needs to get them to prove this with an actual quote.
I called Tom and left a message. If you call, you also get his pager or beeper number...888-467-8757...Key is not to sound infuriated, but make it seem as though you are just bringing to his attention that he was wrong...and ask him where he got his information...
Oh,my! Did you READ some of the intelligent comments by leftists? Here is a literal summary of their arguments:"Republicans are assholes." This is the mentality of the democrat party. When confronted with truth, just call names.
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