I feel it necesssary to begin this post by pointing out that I am not an evangelical Christian. I am probably not even a Christian, technically. I wish this disclaimer was not necessary, but I think we all know why it is.
The LA Times yesterday published a front page story and an apparently unrelated guest commentary attacking the US general in charge of finding Osama. Why? Because he was too lax in his job? No. Because he hadn't got Osama yet? No. It was because he was an evangelical Christian. The horror!
Both artlcles referred to an NBC News piece for corroboration. Turns out all the atrticles, including the NBC piece are largely the work of one man, William Arkin, the author of the op-ed. Turns out that his quotes from the general are. to some extent, fabricated. Hewitt provides details here; Lileks provides ridicule here.
One would expect the LA TImes, always careful of avoiding even the appearance of dishnesty or bigotry, to have published a correction in today's paper. Alas, what we got was an editorial decrying the information that it had trumped up the day before.
See cartoon, below