Free Republic

NY Newsday Columnist Les Payne Uses Phony Bush QuotesAccording to Les Payne, liberal columnist of the New York newspaper, Newsday ("While Bush rests, bin Laden plots", July 15, 2007): "It has been 2,130 days, however, since the president declared on Sept. 13, 2001, that "The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our No. 1 priority and we will not rest until we find him." And then Les goes on to say: "Someone, the record will show, painted the face of Saddam Hussein on Bush's wanted poster and threw the marshal off the trail....

Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch is blasting African American columnist Les Payne for what he says were racist remarks directed at President Bush. In a letter to Newsday, Koch complained about Payne's Jan. 23 column responding to Bush' inaugural address, where the pundit wrote: "The president was barely in better voice than [Chief Justice William] Rehnquist, with his simian lips tripping workmanlike over his prose." Said Koch: "Payne described the president as having 'simian lips.' The definition of simian in Webster's Dictionary is, 'Relating to, characteristic of, or resembling an ape or monkey.' "Payne is entitled to his...