New York magazine has a big Caroline Kennedy feature this week, dissecting the behind-the-scenes drama of Kennedy's pursuit of Hillary Clinton's former N.Y. senate seat. As part of the feature, there's a Spy-like graphic (“Keystone Kamelot!”) to spell out all the roles played by the various pols. (It's here.) And here's what it says under the photo of Clinton [emphasis added]:

Perhaps upset that Caroline had endorsed Obama, Clinton and her camp were thought to be trying to derail her candidacy.

Yowie-zowie. "Were thought to be trying"? I don't even know what verb tense that is. Keep in mind, the caption accompanied a 6,00-word reported article by Chris Smith and contained no evidence--none--that anybody associated with the Clinton ever even got involved in the process of picking her replacement or trying to sink Kennedy's chances. In fact, Clinton and her clan barely even appear in the article.

Nonetheless, continuing a media tradition of trying to create a public spat between Hillary Clinton (or at least her backers) and Caroline Kennedy, even when there's no proof to back it up, New York mugged the English language in an effort to make Clinton look bad.