Bush’s top domestic policy aide, Karl Zinsmeister, changed his quotes in a Syracuse newspaper’s profile on him and then re-posted the article on his website. One of the quotes he changed was originally published as: “People in Washington are morally repugnant, cheating, shifty human beings.” The editor of the paper says she is consulting a lawyer.


Editor & Publisher:

The top editor of Syracuse (N.Y.) New Times, which saw its profile of President Bush’s new chief domestic advisor altered and reposted on his Web site, calls the incident “insulting” and said she plans to consult a lawyer about possible legal action.

“What is getting lost here is that he changed quotes, that is getting lost here,” Molly English, who has served as editor-in-chief of the alternative weekly for five years, told E&P today. “I find it insulting and his excuse is awfully lame.”

English’s comments came a day after the newly appointed domestic policy advisor, Karl Zinsmeister, acknowledged taking the 2004 New Times profile of him and changing both quotes and text. He then reposted it on the Web site of the American Enterprise Institute magazine, which he edits — still under the New Times author’s byline. The article, by New Times staffer Justin Park, had been written because Zinsmeister lived in the Syracuse area.

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