[wideawake]

Ah, I forgot The "Seems like a nice guy over the phone" Rule.

As long as you are polite to a reporter on the phone, everything you say is true and there is no need to check your sources.

The utter lack of professionalism tolerated by the Old Media never ceases to amaze me.

[drpix]

You are on the money. But, "[t}he 'Seems like a nice guy over the phone' Rule" has a critical second part:

"As long as you are polite to a reporter on the phone," and you're bashing the US military, President Bush or the US in general then "everything you say is true and there is no need to check your sources."