The NY Post's novel concept of attribution

Rupert Murdoch's New York Post has an article this morning that's sure to cause a stir on talk radio and the conservative blogosphere, reporting that President Obama rudely shot down the idea of playing a round of golf with Rush Limbaugh.

The basis for their report, however, is an unattributed quote relayed second-hand from an unnamed source, and the Post even acknowledges that they don't really know who said the quote.

The Post reports:

When President Obama was asked if he would play a round of golf with his talk-radio nemesis Rush Limbaugh, the response, relayed by a top Democrat, was: "Limbaugh can play with himself."

This is according to Zev Chafets in his new book, "Rush Limbaugh: An Army of One," due May 25 from Sentinel.

The caustic comeback is another example of the verbal venom between the White House and the conservative radio star. In an interview with CBS News last month, Obama called the views spelled out by Limbaugh and Fox News Channel's Glenn Beck "troublesome."

First of all, who knew that Post reporters were the sort of shrinking violets who consider calling someone "troublesome" to be an instance of "verbal venom"?

Second, take a good look at that passage above. It certainly suggests quite strongly that President Obama told this unnamed "top Democrat" that "Limbaugh can go play with himself." They call it Obama's "response" and "caustic comeback." But later in the article we learn this:

Chafets writes that he reached out to Obama adviser David Axelrod, "whom I know slightly," but Axelrod didn't return calls. Then Chafets spoke to "a very senior Democratic activist with whom I'm friendly" who said he would convey the message.

A day or two later the adviser responded, "Limbaugh can play with himself." Chafets wouldn't name the aide or say whether the quote was directly from Obama.

So now we're going to have a round of silly, hand-wringing reports on how Obama was rude to Limbaugh, all because the New York Post can't seem to figure out the concept of attribution.