About that hoax regarding the death of Katherine Harris....

[Dover]

Anybody been following this story today? It's just plain odd. A story appeared saying she was killed in a plane crash, then it was declared a hoax and now this interesting retraction:

http://www.tomflocco.com/retraction_of_rep.htm

Retraction of Rep. Harris Story:

Late last night we reported that Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL) had died in a plane crash off the coast of Toronto, Canada. We were misinformed on this matter, as an unidentified staffer in Harris' office told us this morning that the Florida legislator was in her office. However, we still stand on the fact that we both talked to an individual in Harris' office at 10:30 pm and midnight Eastern Time yesterday requesting the individual to confirm or deny the story before publishing Monday on the day of the plane crash in Toronto.

Our phone records will also indicate that the female we both talked to was in Harris' office and did indeed answer the telephone. Moreover, Mr. Thomas lives on the West Coast and actually talked one more time to a woman in Harris' office at approximately 1:30 am Pacific Time before retiring, which would be 4:30 AM Eastern Time in Washington, DC -- confirming activity in Harris' office from 10:30 PM until 4:30 AM at a minimum.

We still question why someone other than a maintenance worker (who would be unauthorized to do so) would answer the telephone so late Monday evening during a four-day holiday weekend and tell us two times that she "did not have the authority to confirm whether Rep. Harris had died in a plane crash," instead of saying she's alive, she's fine, she's here in town, and please call her press secretary in the morning.....MORE >

[UCLA02]

1. I wouldn't wish that on anybody...

except, of course, Katherine Harris.

[Cocoa]

2. that was weird

and the retraction is weird too: "OK, Harris didn't die, but we stand by the part about people being in her office at night." :wtf:

[Virginian]

5. Answering Service?

Couldn't the person answering the phone belong to an answering service? Doctors do that all the time.
If someone wanted me to confirm a "death" and I knew nothing about it, I wouldn't comment either. What if they really had died and I just hadn't heard yet?

[jiacinto]

3. Liability reasons

Maybe the janitor or whomever it was saying what he thought he needed to say to cover his butt. That way he was saying a neutral statement that neither confirmed nor denied the rumor.

I guess that the janitor did not want to say something inappropriate and so he took what he thought was the quickest way out. I really don't know.

[ParanoidPat]

16. janitor?

ROFLMAO! Janitors don't spend hours in the same office answering the phone. :evilgrin:

[Dover]

4. Apparently she was in Rochester and Buffalo campaigning

http://www.10nbc.com/news.asp?template=item&story_id=8056

Katherine Harris visits Rochester campaigning for election reform

Florida Congresswoman Katherine Harris visited Rochester Monday campaigning for election reform. Harris, the former Florida Secretary of State, became quite a public figure during the 2000 presidential election...>

[Shiraz]

6. I live in Rochester

and I didn't hear anything about her being here yesterday and it definitely would have been on the local news because it has in the past when she has been here also Lake Ontario is between us and Toronto. It is indeed very strange

[arcos]

11. she's campaigning for election reform?!?!?!?!?!

:puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke::puke:

[anamandujano]

14. probably wants to just let the supreme joke select the winner, like

last time. Why waste money?

[pschoeb]

17. Sorry that was on June 23, Katherine Harris was not in Rochester

The site you linked to has no date at all for the story, and merely says Monday. Katherine Harris was in Rochester and Buffalo campaining with Tom Reynolds on Monday June 23rd. So to me it seems, this TV station story is from then.

The story appears in the Buffalo News

Here's google link because the story is older than a week and must be purchased

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=Tom+Reynolds+campaign+rochester&spell=1

Also this google link to your TV news station story has a date of June 23rd on it.

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=Tom+Reynolds+harris+Court

Patrick Schoeb

[greyl]

7. flocco

should reveal his source from last night.

Is he bound to confidentiality ethics if the source lied to him?

[anamandujano]

9. agree--who set him up?

Since seeing the thread last night, I started thinking it was part of an effort to discredit the internet as a news source. Several posters mentioned the fact that Bev Harris' introductory story about the vote machince fraud was on the same website and page. That is way too much of a coincidence. And, someone also mentioned that Flocco has been active in one of the 911 investigation websites.

My mother listens to the right wing radio nuts. Several times when I told her some news she said, "where did you hear that, the internet?" (in a somewhat dismissive tone). I started getting the feeling that there is a campaign to discredit.

[Dover]

10. I would like to see the story confirming that a plane crash had occurred

at all. You may be right about it being an attempt to undermine the sites that ran or linked the story. It's kind of funny that this whole thing was pretty much lost in the bigger news of the day regarding Bush's Niger intelligence fraud. And Bev's story. And the 9-11 probe story. Even Bush's African trip took a back seat.

Did anyone see a mainstream source report this?

[anamandujano]

12. well that's a relief

I don't listen to any news, just read here and a few other websites. I was afraid this would be the top news and everything else would be dismissed.

If you check the original thread, there is a link to a plane crash story, a Mr. Gregg from Chicago. They hinted that Harris was on that plane.

[Wonk]

13. Here you go

http://www.news-journal.com/news/content/news/ap_story.html/Intl/AP.V9239.AP-Canada-Plane-Cr.html

(snip)

Bill Yule, a manager at the Toronto City Center airport, said the flight plan mentioned only one person on board--the pilot.

[Dover]

15. Thanks. Is this the original story? I see no hint of Harris being onboard

Well, I hope Flocco tracks down his bad source and figures out how/why this story got so distorted. Too weird....

[Dover]

8. Jeb was initially reported to be at the scene of the crash?????

more from the article:

...Why wasn't standard protocol followed pursuant to House rules, policies and procedures; and what was going on in Harris' office during the wee hours on Monday night?

We were also told by our source that Governor Jeb Bush was reportedly at the scene of the crash shortly thereafter. And not only did we confirm the small plane crash in Toronto yesterday morning via the Globe and Mail story; but we also confirmed that the Florida Governor was in Toronto, having flown there yesterday on a trade mission. Thus, a confluence of confirmed events along with our trust in the source led us to go with the story...>

****

It is interesting that Harris and Jeb were both up in/near Canada at the same time....

[pschoeb]

18. See Post 17, Katherine Harris not in Rochester on Monday

nt

Patrick Schoeb

[robcon]

19. Flocco has to take some of the blame.

A person is either alive or dead. Her death is not confirmed by someone who says he/she doesn't know if that person is alive or dead. Flocco's retraction is not terribly sincere, IMO.