N.Y. Times Alters Hillary Clinton's Immigration Quote

There they go again, making up the news.

The New York Times took a breather yesterday from covering the Karl Rove pseudo-scandal to tout "The Evolution of Hillary Clinton" - a tribute to the ambitious Democrat's newfound voice of moderation.

Among the maneuvers cited by the Old Gray Lady was Mrs. Clinton's purported shift to the right on the hot-button issue of immigration.

Included in the evidence cited by the Times: Hillary's quote to WABC Radio's John Gambling on Feb. 11, 2003, wherein she proclaimed, "I am, you know, adamantly against illegal immigration."

The only problem is, Mrs. Clinton never spoke those words.

Apparently, the Times was offended by what she actually said, which was: "I am, you know, adamantly against illegal immigrants" - a quote first reported by NewsMax an hour after Clinton uttered it.

The distinction is important, since, in the Times version, Mrs. Clinton is condemning the crime of illegal immigration, while in realty, what Hillary did was state her opposition to the immigrants themselves.

That's not very politically correct. In fact, we'd venture to guess that if a Republican had blurted out that he was "adamantly against illegal immigrants," the Times would undoubtedly condemn the hapless GOP'er as a racist.

Somehow, every other news agency that has picked up Mrs. Clinton's blast at "illegal immigrants" in the ensuing two years - including the Washington Times, the National Review, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and MSNBC - managed to get the quote correct.

Only the folks at America's so-called "paper of record" decided that Hillary's words needed doctoring.