Is This The NRO Or

Is This The NRO Or The NYT?

Where, the CalPundit might wonder, are the standards? Stephen Moore has a column with an egregious arithmetic error, as the CalPundit noted here. But wait, the cover-up is worse than the crime - the column has been fixed with no explanation! If the NRO can have a "Krugman Truth Squad", maybe they should also deliver "Moore Truth".

Now, I part ways with Mr. Drum when he says:

No explanation is offered. Of course, since the only explanations are that Moore is either (a) innumerate or (b) a lying sack, I guess that's not surprising.

That's it? The CalPunster can only think of explanations? C'mon, we have seen him spin like an Okie twister in a trailer park, coming up with one, two, three, four, five, six posts on Jayson Blair before admitting that maybe part of the problem is affirmative action as implemented at the Times. Maybe he is just dizzy, and can't spin the Moore story. I can help extend his list.

(c) "we regret the editing error" - c'mon, pass the buck! Moore submitted a text saying "roughly 60%", and some helpful editor who should stick to "Spellcheck" decided to "tighten up the text". YES, that is Moore's name on it, but who knew?

(d) He phoned it in! In a good way, that is. Look, he was calling from some airport on his way to some Important Meeting, and outlined the column to an Earnest Lackey (I've been one, I know the drill). Moore supplied the theme and the lead, told the Lackey to fill in the blanks, and was off to Cut Taxes and Save the World. The rest is grim history.

Shocking? I know you have a (depressingly accurate) mental image of the Minuteman, typing furiously in the MinuteGarret, with the Encyclopedia Brittanica at my side and a fully-paid subscription to Google on my PC.

In fact, I myself can imagine the Cal Pundit, a fine looking youngster perched in his aerie overlooking Southern California, swooping down like a hawk to carry away poor miscreants like Roger Moore. Perhaps, given his generous budget, he is at poolside, typing on a laptop with a cool wi-fi connection while some slinky babe hands him a double latte. (HEY, that is not some slinky babe, that is his wife! Whatever.)

But the point is, we write this stuff ourselves. Not everyone does. Maybe Moore didn't. He looked it over, and put his name on it, and overlooked the mistake. But it was wrong, wrong, WRONG!

I have exerted the influence of the MinuteMan to investigate this. If there is power in e-mail, this will be resolved!

There is no excuse for the non-announcement of the correction. Troubling.

And there is no reason that the CalPundit can't come up with better spin. Also troubling.

But what really puts sand on my strawberries is the complete absence of a proper double latte here in MinuteParts, despite an abundance of fine looking MinuteLadies.