Change you can believe in!

The Washington Post appears to have changed an already published article without noting the change. The original article started out:

President-elect Barack Obama's transition team has agreed to accompany Treasury Department officials to meet with Capitol Hill leaders to help the Bush administration gain access to the second half of the $700 billion financial rescue package, government sources familiar with the matter said.

 Read more…

Yes, of course it's true. It's on the internets! And her foes are using it to spread rumors about her!

You see how I did that? It's a neat trick, huh? Now, as the rules of second-hand prestidigitation require, I'll tell you where I learned it.

From this abomination on Page 1 of the WaHo.

Foes Use Obama’s Muslim Ties [sic] (Wouldn't "scare quotes" have been appropriate here? - scar) to Fuel Rumors About Him

By Perry Bacon Jr.

In his speeches and often on the Internet, the part of Sen. Barack Obama’s biography that gets the most attention is not his race but his connections to the Muslim world.

Since declaring his candidacy for president in February, Obama, a member of a congregation of the United Church of Christ in Chicago, has had to address assertions that he is a Muslim or that he had received training in Islam in Indonesia, where he lived from ages 6 to 10. While his father was an atheist and his mother did not practice religion, Obama’s stepfather did occasionally attend services at a mosque there.

Despite his denials, rumors and e-mails circulating on the Internet continue to allege that Obama (D-Ill.) is a Muslim, a “Muslim plant” in a conspiracy against America, and that, if elected president, he would take the oath of office using a Koran, rather than a Bible, as did Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the only Muslim in Congress, when he was sworn in earlier this year. […]

The rumors about Obama have been echoed on Internet message boards and chain e-mails.

In case you're wondering, that last part is the one sentence in the article that could be remotely construed as reality-based. All the rest is devoted to verbatim, 1996-vintage, tenth-generation inbred wingnut chain mail about how "HILLARY OBAMA is going to force EVERYONE to become a LESBIAN! MUSLIM!"

Anyway, if you've heard any facts that foes of Deborah Howell (or any other WaHo employee) are using to fuel rumors about them, please feel free to post them here, or on the WaHo's site. After all...

From L'il Debbie's online chat today:

Arlington, VA: Here's two useful ways the Post can rebuilt its credibility. First, get rid of editorial race-baiters such as Eugene Robinson. What a mean, offensive writer! Second, at least TRY to balance a blatant partisan like Dan Froomkin. While he should have free-reign, he should also have a counterpart that expresses the White House perspective without a cloak of paranoia and breathless skepticism. Unless and until the Post addresses these glaring affronts to fairness, your little sessions here online will never do much good.

Deborah Howell: I disagree about Gene Robinson. I am a fan of his. I will tell the Web site editors about your comments on Froomkin.

Notice the immediate support for Robinson.

And notice the immediate complete lack of support for Froomkin. I guess she's not a "fan," eh?

Pravda on the Potomac's demoted Froomkin. He used to be at the top of the "Today's Editorials, Opinions, Columns" dropdown. Now he's all the way down in No Man's Land at the very bottom, where you've got to scroll to get to him.

WaPo management: If Froomkin's traffic drops, it's because you buried the link to his column where nobody can fucking find it.