Remember the ABC News clip that caught George Bush in a bald-faced lie about John Kerry?

via Media Matters

Washington Times columnist John McCaslin falsely claimed in his September 24 "Inside the Beltway" column that, while appearing on a 1997 edition of CNN's Crossfire, Senator John Kerry advocated a unilateral and preemptive attack on Iraq. McCaslin claimed that Kerry said: "We know we can't count on the French. We know we can't count on the Russians. ... We know that Iraq is a danger to the United States, and we reserve the right to take pre-emptive action whenever we feel it's in our national interest."

The Drudge Report posted a link to McCaslin's false Washington Times report: "Kerry Argued Case For Unilateral Preemptive Action In Iraq On CNN's CROSSFIRE In 1997..."

The intern at Media Matters at this point paused to wash the Drudge off his monitor. When it was clean, he continued:

McCaslin's column claimed that "no 'Crossfire' transcripts from 1997 are available," but Kerry's opponent on the debate show, New York Republican congressman Peter King, "produced a tape of the show" revealing the quotation. McCaslin's claim that Crossfire transcripts from 1997 aren't available, though, does not hold up to the most basic test. Crossfire transcripts are available on Nexis -- a basic research tool -- dating back to 1990.

OOPS!

He must have assumed no one would fact check his ass. But isn't fact-checking their asses the whole raison d'etre for Le Blogosphere? Just ask Dan Rather.

Only this is worse, because you got an organization that can afford a Nexis subscription.

Not only is that Crossfire transcript available, but it reveals that McCaslin flatly misquoted Kerry. Kerry expressed frustration with French, Russian, and Chinese policies, but stood firm on a multilateral effort: "I don't think anybody can deny that we would have liked it to have threatened force and we would have liked it to carry the term serious consequences will flow. On the other hand, the coalition is together." Furthermore, he did not advocate taking "pre-emptive action whenever we feel it's in our national interest." Rather, Kerry said that the United States "will reserve the right to act in its best interests" when there is a "finding of material breach."

And, of course, Media Matters has posted the relevant part of the transcript. If you don't believe me. And you don't have to…after all, you have the transcript now.