One of my good blogfriends, Patterico from Patterico's Pontifications, has done remarkable work over a long period of time documenting the bias and carelessness that has become routine for the Los Angeles Times. When the paper asserted last week that none of the Swiftvets had ever served on Kerry's boat, Patterico complained to the paper about the inaccuracy on his blog and in a letter to the Times' readers rep, Jamie Gold:

Dear Ms. Gold,

A front-page story in today's L.A. Times titled "Kerry Starts Firing Back at Critics of War Record" (August 20) states: "None of the men in the Swift boat group behind the anti-Kerry ad, including [Larry] Thurlow, served on Kerry's patrol boat during the war."

This is not true.

As an article in your paper's August 17 edition acknowledges, Steven Gardner, a member of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, served on one of Kerry's patrol boats during the war.

This merits a correction.

Finally, seven days later and only after Instapundit noted their refusal to acknowledge Patterico's factual refutation of the most significant argument against the Swiftvets, the LA Times ran this correction:

Swift boat ads — An article in Section A on Aug. 20 about Sen. John F. Kerry's response to a veterans group critical of his military record stated that none of the members of the group served on Kerry's patrol boat in Vietnam. Steve Gardner, a member of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, was a Kerry crewmate. He was not on Kerry's boat during the incidents for which Kerry was awarded medals.

Even that correction elides the truth behind their error, which is not a minor point. Steve Gardner provided critical refutation to what has been the most significant blow to John Kerry's narrative -- the Cambodian Christmas fable. He served on Kerry's boat during that period of time and has stated on numerous occasions that PCF-44 never went into Cambodia on Christmas Eve or any other day while Gardner was on board. Gardner's unassailable testimony forced the Kerry campaign to backtrack (for the first of many times) and attempt to re-spin the Cambodia excursion into January, then February, and finally March in order to escape Gardner's testimony. To insinuate that Gardner's only value to the Swiftvets regards the legitimacy of Kerry's medals is still to deliberately hide information from the readers of the Los Angeles Times.

But kudos again to Patterico, who continues to shine the light on John Carroll and his advocacy enterprise. He's absolutely invaluable, and any Los Angeles Times reader who isn't checking out Patterico daily misses the antidote to the Times' poisoned perspective.

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