The Examiner has some explaining to do...

Yesterday, "San Diego County Political Buzz Examiner" Kimberly Dvorak posted an Examiner.com article claiming that the Congressional Research Service (CRS) "took the President to task over his weekly radio address that claimed to expel myths in the health care bill." Dvorak, in support of her case, came armed with a couple of quotes purportedly from the CRS:

"There is just one problem: his (the President) statements don't match the facts," CRS said.

The President's address began with a "false claim that illegal immigrants will not [sic] get health insurance under reform." CRS reports that there are numerous loopholes in the House legislation will offer benefits to illegal aliens.

Pretty harsh stuff. But let's take a step back for a moment. Anyone who knows anything about the CRS would immediately grow suspicious at the idea that that organization would produce a sentence along the lines of: "There is just one problem: his (the President) statements don't match the facts." CRS reports, for all their informative value, are drier than white toast packed in silica gel. Just take a look at this excerpt from a recent report on Chile's economic model:

The existing prudential regulatory and oversight system has so far limited these types of mistakes from being repeated and is credited with helping maintain the health of the banking sector during the global financial crisis. It continues to update regulations to stay current with a dynamic and innovative industry so as to balance competitiveness with prudence. The result, in 2009 Chile has one of the most stable banking systems among emerging market countries, as evidenced by its capacity to withstand external shocks related to the global recession and international credit contraction.

So what has happened? Has the CRS taken on a new edgier tone? Is a rogue CRS researcher inserting punchy language into the final copies of these otherwise stodgy reports? As it turns out, the quote isn't from the CRS at all, but rather from an August 25 press release from Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX):

President Obama on Saturday continued the hard sell for the Democrats' healthcare scheme with a radio address that purported to expel myths associated with the bill. There is just one problem: his statements don't match the facts.

But wait -- there's more! The second quote that Dvorak attributes to the CRS -- the "false claim that illegal immigrants will not [sic] get health insurance under reform" -- was also from Smith's press release, but in addition to misattributing the quote, she altered it to change its meaning. Smith's press release was actually quoting President Obama's August 22 address:

The President's radio address started by calling it a "false claim that illegal immigrants will get health insurance under reform." But his statements are contradicted by fact. A new report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) validates that numerous loopholes may allow illegal immigrants to benefit under the bill.

Dvorak took that quote from President Obama's radio address, inserted the word "not" into it, and then claimed it was actually from a CRS report refuting President Obama's radio address. That's shockingly dishonest, and it would be interesting to hear from Examiner.com's editors how it was that all this managed to slip by them.