Look, to this day there are millions if not billions of people who think Al Gore claimed to have invented the internet and that Howard Dean let out a wild and crazy scream SOLO (i.e., without a crowd cheering and screaming with him as loudly). Why? Because once these myths and myth-understandings get "out there" in the media, hardly any of our "journalists" bother trying to disabuse the public of their false beliefs.   (I mean, it's far more important to have some good jokes to pass around than for the electorate to be fully and accurately informed - right?)

Although some people on the "left" whom I respect are guilty of gullibly (and gleefully) spreading the ridiculous idea that Palin didn't realize Africa is a continent (C'mon, REALLY?), such misrepresentation of the mean-mouthed and mendacious Palin is trivial compared to accusing of VP Gore of being so delusional as to try to take credit for inventing the technology of the internet.   
(In the case of Gore's statement and Dean's "scream," the press all along had the actual transcript and/or video that revealed the truth.   In the case of what Palin may or may not have said about Africa, we have no such original source for corroboration or refutation.)

What I'd really like would be for the press to do their jobs and quit trying so hard to find "juicy" stories or be comedians.    Let them show ALL such hoaxes, misrepresentations, and false accusations to be just that.

G