News? Weak.

You might recall that yesterday every right winger on the internet (spurned on by Scotty Mclellan) was crying "Newsweek Lied, People Died." For a reality check regarding this offensive meme, see August. More importantly, let's take a look at the causal connection implicit in this cute little phrase . . .

Q: Do either one of you have anything about the demonstrations in Afghanistan, which were apparently sparked by reports that there was a lack of respect by some interrogators at Guantanamo for the Koran. Do either one of you have anything to say about that?

GEN. MYERS: It's the -- it's a judgment of our commander in Afghanistan, General Eikenberry, that in fact the violence that we saw in Jalalabad was not necessarily the result of the allegations about disrespect for the Koran -- and I'll get to that in just a minute -- but more tied up in the political process and the reconciliation process that President Karzai and his Cabinet is conducting in Afghanistan. So that's -- that was his judgment today in an after- action of that violence. He didn't -- he thought it was not at all tied to the article in the magazine.

(Thanks, Olbermann.) Oh, I get it. So it's not like "people died" BECAUSE "Newsweek lied." It's more like coincidentally "people died" SOMETIME AFTER "Newsweek lied." Sort of like "Bush (s)elected, World Trade Center attacked," except rhymey.

Now about the "Newsweek lied" bit... some on the right are now cautioning that this comes nowhere close to a lie. Even the rabid Michelle Malkin has now inserted a frickin' asterisk after "Newsweek lied" - because, you know, Newsweek, like, didn't lie or anything. In fact, the veracity of the issue - whether a Koran was flushed down the toilet at Guantanamo - is sort of lost in the right-wing hysteria at the moment. So Newsweek didn't lie, but it, you know, based its story on a single source.

And basing your story on a single source is just wrong.