For the Record: Finlay Lewis Did Not Oversleep
But he did have what sounds like a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Here's what actually happened with respect to yesterday's White House pool report , from Mr. Lewis himself (whose email we reprint with his permission):
You might have at least picked up on my invitation to call for details. No, I didn't oversleep -- I'm recovering from surgery and my pain pills didn't kick in until 4 a.m. There was a communications mixup with my back up meaning the one and only poolable event - Bush's appearance with the governors -- was uncovered. Scott's announcement and the aborted takeoff were open coverage, and therefore not my responsibility. I included those items only for the sake of the making a little fun of myself -- systems failures etc. I arrived in the office to deal with the missed pool assignment with four hours sleep and my arm in a sling.
We apologize to Finlay Lewis, a well-respected veteran of the White House press corps, for the incorrect implications of our original post . As for why we didn't call him for details, well, we're bloggers -- we can't remember the last time we picked up the phone!
(When we've called people in the past , in our feeble attempt to engage in this thing you call "reporting," we've gotten less than stellar responses .)
Earlier: Wednesday Morning Massacrette: Have You Seen This Man?