A Senior Fellow at the Institute of Nonexistence (New York Times, 13 Nov 2008)It was among the juicier post-election recriminations: Fox News Channel quoted an unnamed McCain campaign figure as saying that Sarah Palin did not know that Africa was a continent.Who would say such a thing? On Monday the answer popped up on a blog and popped out of the mouth of David Shuster, an MSNBC anchor. “Turns out it was Martin Eisenstadt, a McCain policy adviser, who has come forward today to identify himself as the source of the leaks,” Mr. Shuster said.Trouble is, Martin Eisenstadt doesn’t exist. His blog does, but it’s a put-on. The think tank where he is a senior fellow — the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy — is just a Web site. The TV clips of him on YouTube are fakes.[...][The hoaxsters] say the blame lies not with them but with shoddiness in the traditional news media and especially the blogosphere.“With the 24-hour news cycle they rush into anything they can find,” said Mr. Mirvish, 40.
Hat tip: Carrie (and special notice to enrevanche regular wtf, who managed to post this in the comments before I had a chance to blog it this morning!)
Related: The Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy
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