Case in point: The "Karl Rove indictment" hoax Ash's commie lib buddy Jason Leopold, dedicated "journalist" that he is, pulled out of his rectum backed by the full faith and credit of Ash and "Truthout" the web site. As it happens, they didn't get a hell of a lot of "truth out" on this one.

Truthout, the web site: It is to laugh. Come to think of it, the name "Truthout" isn't that laughable at all: Ash, Leopold, and the lot are just joining their buddies in the mainstream liberal press working hard to get the truth out of journalism. The facts and real research aren't necessary: Only a burning desire to have the stories of Republicans going down – those fairy tales woven in the fertile minds of liberal "journalists" and bloggers in the throes of liberal wet dreams – become reality via a liberal journalist/blogger’s imagination, a keyboard, and an Internet connection.

Because they want it to be so really, really badly -- because Jason Leopold was simply peeing his pants to see Karl Rove perp-walked in handcuffs out of the Oval Office -- throw a anonymous source in here, carefully placed speculation there and like magic you have Rove Informs White House He Will Be Indicted. The next day, take a few "could not be reached for comment" and "will not comment" sources, mix them up with more wild, overreaching speculation and that burning desire for the "conservative goes down" story to be true and you get Karl Rove Indicted on Charges of Perjury, Lying to Investigators.

The defensiveness exhibited when a skeptical Salon.com columnist tries to get some answers out of Leopold indicates to me that the story is clearly more fiction and fantasy than truth, but Ash appears to stand by Leopold's account of Rove's "indictment". As the hours and days drag on however and still no Karl Rove perp walk, Ash begins to backpedal:

While we paid very careful attention to the sourcing on this story, we erred in getting too far out in front of the news cycle. In moving as quickly as we did, we caused more confusion than clarity. And that was a disservice to our readership and we regret it. As such, we will be taking the wait-and-see approach for the time being. We will keep you posted."

Wait and see what? Wait and see if there is any merit to the story that Karl Rove has been indicted? Last time I checked it hadn't happened yet. At least Ash got one thing right:

"Unless we get some official confirmation, we're going to look stupider and stupider."

With Leopold's reputation as a hack who doesn't get the story right (or "Leopold reporting that hasn't panned out" as Salon.com's Tim Grieve diplomatically put it) and the fact that he's been banned from writing for some truly commie lib sites due to his "inaccuracies", it's a good bet that Ash and Truthout are going to look stupider and stupider and stupider still.

At least Leopold can sleep easy at night knowing that he's in good company. As Leopold goes, so goes Dan Rather and Mary Mapes, the reporters on the "millions of Americans wiretapped" story at USA Today, and all the news networks breathlessly reporting the "domestic wiretapping" story and the "prisoner torture" story and all the "economic indicators are all pointing up but ..." stories. They all just look stupider and stupider and stupider.