Like you, I value honesty and feel that when people lie about even small things, it can be an indication to make their views on other things suspect. Even if Hoekstra (sp?) is playing loose with the mailman thing (maybe, maybe not), that's inconsequential compared to the larger point -- that CIA leakers face less punishment than people who get caught downloading music, littering, or driving 72 in a 65 zone.
True enough - I would have preferred the opportunity to slam some liberal tripe article, but this was an easy example for me. There are readers who absorb information without ever considering what the writer’s approach to the article was. I think the writer threw together a hook - entertaining, but errant. In other cases writers warp whatever is necessary to crank out entire articles. There are plenty of instances where the goal is to produce clever writing that gets in by deadline. In other instances the object is to produce an interesting story that gets the president scrutinized (or would that be screwtinized? - How is Dan Rather doing these days?).