A Senior Fellow at the Institute of Nonexistence [Sarah Palin Africa hoax]

The New York Times ^ | 11/13/2008 | Richard Perez -Pena

[Vendek]

It was among the juicier post-election recriminations: Fox News Channel quoted an unnamed McCain campaign figure as saying that Sarah Palin did not know that Africa was a continent.

Who would say such a thing? On Monday the answer popped up on a blog and popped out of the mouth of David Shuster, an MSNBC anchor. “Turns out it was Martin Eisenstadt, a McCain policy adviser, who has come forward today to identify himself as the source of the leaks,” Mr. Shuster said.

Trouble is, Martin Eisenstadt doesn’t exist. His blog does, but it’s a put-on. The think tank where he is a senior fellow — the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy — is just a Web site. The TV clips of him on YouTube are fakes.

And the claim of credit for the Africa anecdote is just the latest ruse by Eisenstadt, who turns out to be a very elaborate hoax that has been going on for months. MSNBC, which quickly corrected the mistake, has plenty of company in being taken in by an Eisenstadt hoax, including The New Republic and The Los Angeles Times.

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[brytlea]

The frustrating thing is many people heard the info and now believe it’s true. I had a friend the other night (a dem of course) who told me that McCain was doing fine until he got Palen, but because of all of the proof that she was stupid and unfit for office came out, that’s why he lost.
This stuff will float around out there forever in people’s minds, and I fear she has been Quaylized.

[bobsatwork]

.....another reporter for The New York Times is an acquaintance of Mr. Gorlin.... - NYT was in on it, and was an active part of the fraud. Hoax lasted as long as it did because it slimed a conservative, and the MSM was complicit.

[frogjerk]

I am 100% sure Palin knows Africa is a continent. So I deduce that Carl's sources, whomever they may be, were passing on the same gossip which turns out to have been based on a hoax.

I watched two nights of the Palin interview on Greta and I have to say it was easy to watch. Why do I say "easy". I say this because sometimes it is not so easy to watch a politician for any length of time without getting a little suspicious or skeptical. Sarah Palin is so down to earth and honest you do not get tired of her! This woman is incredible and instilled in her are the values that have made this country great.

Greta has done an incredible job by just allowing the governor to talk freely. An actual "interview"! Can you believe it?

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

I have ceased to watch FNC in the evening

You should keep watching ...if for no other reason then for the laughs and giggles.

O'Reilly = Ted Baxter

[DManA]

Pretty good assumption. How did the Big Media reporters find out about this site? It is one of millions of sites. The hoaxers at least clued Big Media into this. It takes 1 minute to find out there is no such thing as the Harding Institute (Harding was a corrupt Republican, get it?)

Either they were in on it or they are completely incompetent. I have no opinion about which is more likely.

[DManA]

Half of the made up names on the “advisory board” are Jewish sounding. The hoaxers are totally antisemitic also.

Clifford Harding III
Pauline Harding
Paul Horowitz
Elliot Dundee
Josiah Bush
Hershel Smith
Lois L. Marshall
Erskine Carter

http://www.hardinginstitute.org/3.html

[count-your-change]

““With the 24-hour news cycle they rush into anything they can find...”

“While we at Fox take the careful, fair and balanced approach to rushing anything we find into the puffery fumery factory we call news”

[laweeks]

I teach at a vocational school in northeast Ohio to mostly women. As recently as today, one of my students told me she’d never vote for Palin because she didn’t even know that Africa was a continent and that Palin’s daughter had the little handicapped baby . . . today . . . she still believes that. It’s just like that Woodward creep who “interviewed” Casey’s dead body and was “told” by Casey that J.Edgar Hoover wore dresses to parties.

Once that kind of crap is spit out, it sticks. Doesn’t say much for the intelligence of my student for saying something that stupid, but it’s a good example of how bull$hit sticks . . .

[freespirited]

This is precisely why you never go with a story like this without a second source.

Cameron, O’reilly, the whole bunch of them know better. Shame on them.

[mass55th]

I haven’t watched Fox News since election night. Have they apologized for this fake story yet?