Lies & The Lying Liars Who Type Them For The Lying NYT

From the always worth-your-while Press Watch ("An intervention for political journalism"):

So much wrong in just one paragraph by Jeremy Peters of the New York Times

Much more is wrong than just one paragraph.

What makes the paper of record's reporters such sucker-ass chumps when they're on Cletus safari they're constantly bamboozled by lying hicks in diners, metaphorical & actual? Is it the food?

That said, it’s not just Peters. This sort of thing happens almost routinely in the Times. I think it’s because the reporters parachute into a place not to listen — which they damn well should be doing — but to find someone who will illustrate the (often toxic) story they and/or their editors had in mind before they even got there. They cast around desperately for someone — and find themselves a ringer.