More on the AP lie

Talking Points has this report from the scene of Karen Hughes' reaction to the blatant lie spread by the AP yesterday:

Karen Hughes went totally apesh-t at the AP when that dispatch hit the wire. She stormed up the bleachers and starting screaming at the AP writer (who took it in stride). "They didn't boo! Were you and I in the same rally! What is this crap?" or something along those lines (it was loud in there). The AP writer then canvassed his colleagues, who all said they hadn't heard any boos.

Meanwhile, the American Thinker has weighed in on the controversy:

What does AP need to do, if it wishes to avoid destroying its own credibility over the next two weeks?

One, it must acknowledge that it is responsible for an outright hoax, consciously intended to damage the image of President Bush and his supporters. The outright fabrication of "did nothing to stop them" proves malicious intent.

Two, it must apologize to President Bush and his Wisconsin supporters.

Three, it must publicly identify all the people who wrote and approved the issuance of the fraudulent story.

Four, it must present to the public the backgrounds of those people identified in step three, including identification of all other political stories written by them concerning President Bush and other Republican candidates.

Five, it must call a press conference, identifying it as a historic occasion, and publicly apologize.

Six, the staff identified in step three must be fired, and the top management of AP must resign. They permitted an organization to grow which casually believed, without checking, the worst sort of personal character slander of an entire large class of people. And we're giving them the benefit of the doubt.

Seven, the AP must launch an affirmative action program to recruit conservatives at all levels, to correct the systematic discrimination which has enabled such frauds to pass muster in its editorial screening process.

That's just for starters.

Powerline says that the AP has retracted the story, but it only appears on Newsmax, which had posted the bogus piece Saturday morning, and then pulled it when many complained. Since I have not seen any other retraction aside from there, I'm going to withhold judgment until I see it from several different sources. Meanwhile, Powerline also reports that the left is apparently trying to keep the story alive...by faking it:

The left, though, is not convinced. It has concocted an "alternate" audio of the West Allis rally. You can hear it here. The audio is an obvious fake; they play the first half of the real tape, and then three or four lefties come in yelling "Boo" like extras in a stage production. It is slightly amusing as long as no one takes it seriously.

UPDATE: Well, here is one retraction anyways.