If this AP report is true, then it's just shameful. I'll keep an eye out for the pool report to get the full story.

Let's all pray for a speedy recovery for Clinton. I hope that for years to come President Clinton can joke about how, back in 2004, Zell Miller nearly gave him a heart attack.

UPDATE: Swimming Through the Spin says not so fast. Maybe Republicans were behaving like solid citizens. Where's my faithful pool when I need him?

(Still, I hope Clinton gets to use the joke . . .)

UPDATE II: Reader D.B. writes in, "Factor that into your old media/new media debate. Bottom line - with the new media, the truth will out." Ouch! Half-point: New Media.

UPDATE III: Powerline is all over this story too, and it has the feel of a genuine scandal. You can find the audio of the president's speech here.

It sound to me like the crowd became silent when Bush mentioned Clinton's condition and then erupted in lusty cheers when the Bush said that Clinton was in everyone's "hearts and prayers" and that he was sending everyone's "best wishes." If this audio is indicative of what happened, then this isn't a case of the AP making a mistake--they have deliberately distorted the news in a manner for which there is no reasonable explanation.

What makes this story particularly important right now is that America just had a look into the heart of the left-wing. The manner in which a great many of the liberal protesters comported themselves in New York was truly beyond the pale: Cursing, threatening, harassing, and sometimes actually assaulting anyone whom they believed might be a Republican delegate, even in front of children and families.

The small, personal, one-on-one interactions I saw in New York astonished me, and, I bet jarred anyone who read about them.

Coming less than 24 hours after the close the Republican convention, the AP story seems as though it was designed for one purpose alone: To try and convince readers that Republicans are just as rude and repugnant as the Democratic protesters recently on display in New York.

Make no mistake, if that crowd did boo Bush's good wishes for President Clinton, then it's a disgusting display of rank partisanship over decency and the good will which makes democracy work.

But if the AP has distorted the crowd's reaction as boldly as the available evidence now suggests, then this is a media scandal of the first-rate. The AP should be made to answer for this.