The Associated Press very unwisely reported that Democrat candidate for Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe lied to a federal official. Its evidence? A Grand Jury report with the initials “T.M.” — and it seems like not much else!
AP has retracted the false claim:
That WaPo page now features a different AP story without a correction on it. http://t.co/An5ZmvMSu4 used to be: pic.twitter.com/l3nMuDITXS
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) October 10, 2013
As of this writing, the original, incorrect AP report is still up at some news outlets (see, e.g., here and here).
Naturally, there was plenty of mockage on Twitter:
Mindbogglingly stupid that @AP would report that "TM" in this doc is @TerryMcAuliffe. Terry works construction? pic.twitter.com/EytTykgWXq
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) October 10, 2013
When the editor of ThinkProgress is mocking your journalism, you know it’s bad!
Giant error by AP; reporter infers "TM", accused of lying by feds, is Terry McAuliffe. Headlines "McAuliffe lied." Not him. Retracted.
— Tom Jackman (@TomJackmanWP) October 10, 2013
https://twitter.com/LoganDobson/status/388135289320767488
"Why are Terry McAuliffe's initials (TM) next to all those brand names?" – The AP, probably.
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) October 10, 2013
https://twitter.com/rsmccain/status/388148657674932224
Two possibilities: McAuliffe camp is self-destructing or the AP just did something mind-blowingly irresponsible.
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) October 10, 2013
FYI: My son's initials are ISP. He is not, despite AP's recent report, an internet service provider.
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) October 10, 2013
Total fail by @AP. I have almost nothing good to say about Terry McAuliffe, but he got screwed by a false hit piece. Terrible.
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) October 10, 2013
@DouthatNYT @RameshPonnuru Terry McAuliffe apparently.
— Joseph (@JB_Peterson) October 10, 2013
"Can we get new art on this withdrawn story?" pic.twitter.com/JiqCe7lrN7
— Ben Dreyfuss (@bendreyfuss) October 10, 2013
https://twitter.com/rsmccain/status/388152574739615744
this was amazingly sloppy work by AP. and someone should be fired for it.
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) October 10, 2013
Wait, I'm sorry, this AP fracas boils down to someone else's initials? Someone is going to have a very bad day at work tomorrow.
— Liliana Segura (@LilianaSegura) October 10, 2013
Apparently that person is Bob Lewis, but at least he quickly fessed up to the mistake:
The error was mine and I take responsibility for it. http://t.co/2tGpw7Ye0n
— Bob Lewis (@BobLewisOfRVA) October 10, 2013
All who tweeted the errant story please pass along the retraction. http://t.co/hBhNmHytLH
— Bob Lewis (@BobLewisOfRVA) October 10, 2013
