Even for Sean Hannity (who previously has gone so far as to edit video to fit a pre-determined narrative), this was a bit of a stretch.

At 9:25 p.m. tonight, as “Live” flashed on the screen, Hannity claimed that Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) “doesn't wan't to be seen with the president.”

The only problem is, just a few hours before, Sen. Feingold joined President Obama at a rally with an estimated 26,000+ students at the University of Wisconsin.

What's Hannity's excuse? His program wasn't pre-taped. There are stories datelined as early as 4:57 p.m. noting Feingold's intent to attend the rally.

“As soon as I heard there were only going to be two votes today, I did what I always wanted to do, which was to be at my alma mater with the president,” Mr. Feingold told my colleague, Carl Hulse, as he raced home for the event. The senator, who is locked in a tight reelection campaign with Republican Ron Johnson, called it “a lie” that he was trying to avoid being seen next to Mr. Obama.

If Hannity chose to avoid the NY Times, he could have gone directly to Sen. Feingold's Twitter account, where he posted the following at approximately 4:50 p.m.:

Great day to be in Wisconsin! I made it! Finished voting and am proud to join President Obama at my alma mater.

Even if Hannity had an allergic reaction to Sen. Feingold's account, he could have even found this story at FoxNews.com, with an update about Feingold's planned attendance time-stamped at 5:10 p.m. -- almost four hours before the start of Hannity's show.

Hannity had a narrative, and he doggedly stuck to it despite the actual news, even though he's an employee of an organization that claims to be a “news” channel. Why, it's almost as if Hannity would rather make an inaccurate attack on Obama and Feingold than report the truth.

That couldn't be it.