Will Rovian tactics work this year?

Al Gore never claimed that he invented the Internet. Howard Dean didn’t scream. Hillary Clinton didn’t say she was staying in the race because Barack Obama might be assassinated. And Wesley Clark didn’t impugn John McCain’s military service.

Scott McClellan, the former White House press secretary, titled his tell-all memoir “What Happened.” But a true account of modern American politics should be titled “What Didn’t Happen.” Again and again we’ve had media firestorms over supposedly revealing incidents that never actually took place.

The latest fake scandal fit the usual pattern as an awkwardly phrased remark, lifted out of context and willfully misinterpreted, exploded across the airwaves.

What General Clark actually said was that Mr. McCain’s war service, though heroic, didn’t necessarily constitute a qualification for the presidency. It was a blunt but truthful remark, and not at all outrageous — especially given the fact that General Clark is himself a bona fide war hero.

Yet the Clark affair did reveal something important — not about General Clark, but about Mr. McCain. Now we know what a McCain administration would represent: namely, a third term for Karl Rove.

I was completely astounded by how Clark's words were twisted and used as bludgeon against him. And even more astounded at how readily the media jumped on the latest manufactured "scandal".

There were a few calm voice pointing out that what he said was completely true and not an attack on McCain's war record or his patriotism, but those voices were completely drowned out by the feeding frenzy. (By the way I was one of those calm voices.)

I hope the media feels ashamed of itself and will be much more circumspect the next time something like this takes place. But I have to say that I am not at all confident that is going to happen.