Proclaiming the Truth About the State of Emergency

What's the Mark Twain line? "A lie can travel halfway 'round the world before truth can get its boots on." The Washington Post and hundreds of other media outlets around the world have explained the slow federal response on a power struggle with Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco: "As of Saturday [Sept. 3], Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency, the senior Bush official said."

But she did. On Friday, August 26. Really. You can take a look at the proclamation yourself. WaPo has run a correction,

A Sept. 4 article on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina incorrectly said that Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D) had not declared a state of emergency. She declared an emergency on Aug. 26.

but it hasn't made much of a dent. Talking Points Memo notes that Newsweek's new issue repeats the same canard: "Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco seemed uncertain and sluggish, hesitant to declare martial law or a state of emergency, which would have opened the door to more Pentagon help." Google picks up literally hundreds of similar references, some posted within the past few hours, after WaPo corrected the record.

Editor & Publisher figures that the misstatement by an anonymous "senior Bush official" was "meant to make the governor look foolish and spread the blame around for the disastrous response to the disaster, though it was hard to imagine on what grounds the newspaper would quote an unnamed source in this case."

Thanks to Laura Rozen's War and Piece for pointing out that the big newsies have not learned their lesson about using anonymous sources to slime their opponents. She and Josh Marshall at TPM also raise the question about the propriety of "protecting" such anonymous sources who spread false, damaging info. While I still think there is a definite need for the use of anonymous sources, and an important role, I'm ready to agree that the over-reliance on the practice deserves the boot.

Quick Update: Ms. Rozen also notes a story in Monday's New York Times that sheds a little light on the who and the why behind the misstatement and its possible source. Surprise: It's Karl Rove. "In a reflection of what has long been a hallmark of Mr. Rove's tough political style, the administration is also working to shift the blame away from the White House and toward officials of New Orleans and Louisiana who, as it happens, are Democrats."