Great Moments In Journalism

CNN right now is reporting on this allegation that Harry Reid called Peter Pace and David Petraeus "incompetent" in a discussion with liberal bloggers. The Politico reported it originally; CNN called it a "newspaper," when it's a website owned by a far-right Reagan-era official. The right is having a field day with the story.

Only it maybe didn't happen.

We asked Joan McCarter, who blogs at DailyKos under the name McJoan and wrote about being on the call here, if she recalled Reid calling Pace "incompetent."

"I don't remember him saying anything like that," she answered. "I can't swear he didn't say it. But I have no memory that he actually did. It's not in my notes."

Asked if Reid had disparaged Petraeus at all, McCarter said: "No. He said something about [Petraeus] coming back in September to deliver a report." But on the question of whether he'd said something disparaging, McCarter said: "Not that I recall, no."

"I don't even recall Pace's name specifically being mentioned," adds Barbara Morrill, who blogs at Kos under the name BarbinMD and says she was on the call. "If it was, he did not say that he was incompetent."

Asked if he'd criticized Petraeus, Morrill said: "Not that I recall. I checked my notes," and there was nothing like this. "He mentioned the report that Petraeus is supposed to be coming out in September. I only recall him saying something along the lines that the Bush administration had run the war poorly. Any criticisms were against the Bush administration."

Finally, here's what MyDD's Jonathan Singer, who wrote about the call here, told us: "I don't remember him calling Pace incompetent." He added that while he couldn't promise that he hadn't done it, "I just don't recall those statements."

The Politico runs an unsourced story about Reid making comments on a blogger conference call, reports that no blogger remembers or ever made in their postings on the subject, and that's... good enough for everybody! There was nobody on the call except for bloggers and staff aides, so you have to wonder where the Politico got its information. And I love how the fact that Reid "didn't deny" the charge means that he absolutely said it.

I think that the Politico is going to end up with egg on their face on this one - again.