Unbridled sanctimony, thy name is "Globe and Mail".

Dear Yanks:

No, you have no monopoly on really, really crappy journalism. This morning's Grope and Flail has a pathetic editorial, swallowing enthusiastically the GOP talking points about Newsweek's Koran "blunder" hook, line and sinker.

The first paragraph of that editorial (which is all you can get without paying for more, but which is more than enough to be depressed at the stupidity/dishonesty of the writers):

Newsweek's stumble

Newsweek magazine made an error with fatal consequences when it reported this month on the alleged desecration of the Koran, the Islamic holy book, by United States military interrogators. Anti-U.S. riots in Afghanistan linked to anger over the report have killed 17 people.

Uh huh. Ignore, of course, that accusations of Koran desecration by U.S. interrogators are fairly old news. And ignore, of course, that Pentagon spokesman and weasel Lawrence DiRita first disavowed any connection between the Koran-desecration claims and violent protests with:

"The nature of where these [protests] occurred, how quickly they occurred, the nature of individuals who were involved in it, suggest that they may be organized events that are using this alleged allegation as a pretext for activity that was already planned," said DiRita.

until he wised up and saw the delightful political value, at which point his tune changed completely:

Told of what the NEWSWEEK source said, DiRita exploded, "People are dead because of what this son of a bitch said. How could he be credible now?"

as you can read here and here.

Apparently, the Globe is now engaged with the National Post in a death-defying race to the bottom to see who can suck up to the Bush administration the fastest. And they're off ...

P.S. If crappy, dishonest editorials like this piss you off, hey, feel free to drop the Globe a note at letters@globeandmail.ca and let them know what you think.

P.P.S. Timmy the G has a good take on all of this here, as do, naturally, lots of other folks. But a small suggestion for Timmy: it's "Instawanker", not "Instahack".