May 30, 2006

Policy Advisor Doctors Text

Karl Zinsmeister, President Bush's new domestic policy advisor admits he fiddled around with an interview with a news weekly and posted the edited version on his magazine's website. Here is the original version from the Syracuse New Times, and here's the doctored version on The American Enterprise website.

Zinsmeister told the Washington Post he edited it to correct errors. However, he wrote this to the New Times reporter Justin Park,

I really appreciate your professionalism and kindness. You wrote it straight up, which is the best and hardest kind of journalism. Let me know when I can next help out your journalism.

Zinsmeister engaged in intellectual dishonesty. Obviously he was embarassed with some of his words. He could have not published the article on his magazine's website letting it sink into the information quicksand or he could have added his comments after the unedited version. Zinsmeister took the "foolish" route.

Still, Zinsmeister will be just a policy advisor. He will be offering policy suggestions to the President. He won't be running a bureaucracy or implementing regulations. This is a stain on his writing and editing reputation, nothing more.

"New Policy Adviser Admits Altering Text"

"Questions Arising Over Quotations Of Zinsmeister"