Free Republic

Politico has already begun to backtrack its explosive story accusing Ben Carson of lying about an acceptance to West Point, deleting its claim that Carson had confessed to “fabricating” his admission.When it first published its story Friday morning, the Virginia-based blog aggressively declared that Carson had admitted to telling a big lie about his past.“Ben Carson’s campaign on Friday admitted … that a central point in his inspirational personal story was fabricated,” Politico’s story originally said.Just hours later, though, this opening line was removed entirely and Politico’s accusation significantly scaled back. “Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson on Friday conceded that he never applied...

Politico has rewritten the headline, lede, and several portions of the text of an article accusing Ben Carson of "fabricating" part of his personal biography involving the Military Academy at West Point. The story, bearing the byline of reporter Kyle Cheney, now omits the original version's declarations that Carson's statements were false or fraudulent, as seen in an archive of the article.

News site Politico.com admitted Friday that it made an "error" in attributing a nasty quote about Rep. Michele Bachmann to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. The article said: "Palin's bus tour had some of the hallmarks of a primal scream: 'I built this constituency, not Bachmann, not anyone else,' she said. Looking at it through her eyes, she has a point." However, Palin never said that. Her political action committee promptly issued a statement urging the media to "quit making stuff up." "An absurd opinion piece in Politico includes a quote attributed to Governor Palin that is a total fabrication...