(Community Matters) A bit of an understatement. Of course this is/was the 2004 rumor about the first lady barging in on the governor in a compromised, same sex situation (it gained national attention). HuffPost wasn’t the only national news organization recently digging around – lots of smoke, no credibly confirmed fire.
from today’s Politco’s Playbook:
HOWARD FINEMAN, Editorial Director of AOL Huffington Post Media Group, protests a passage in our new eBook written with Evan Thomas, “Playbook 2012: The Right Fights Back.” During one of our trips to Austin, the political community was abuzz about a HuffPost reporter asking questions around the capitol about a rumor regarding Gov. Rick Perry. The reporting expedition prompted insiders to gossip about what they had heard over the years. We were told the campaign was “at Def Con 9,” fearing a distracting story that other media would pick up.
–FINEMAN EMAILS: “We had gotten some credible leads on a possible story. We spent time and effort carefully looking into those leads. After doing so, we decided at the time not to pursue them further or to publish. Had we moved ahead, we would have done so only with named and vetted sources, and only after seeking full comment from the Perry campaign. … Jason spent time in Austin working on a variety of stories, and produced several on diverse topics before and after the one he did NOT write. In fact, he returned with a box of financial documents, which included Perry’s college transcripts, internal memos on a Perry-Phil Gramm insurance deal, and evidence that the FBI had investigated Perry for insider trading.”
Community Matters 