The proudly epicurean R. W. Apple Jr. of the New York Times's Washington bureau has eaten many a fine meal in his days as a pavement-pounding reporter. Nevertheless, THE SCRAP-BOOK bets Apple has never in all those many years tasted so perfectly prepared a dish of crow as was recently served him by his own paper.
On the front page of its January 19 edition, the Times ran one of Apple's long "news analyses," this one explaining how John Ashcroft's confirmation hearings reveal that black voters -- just between you and me -- are disinclined to support President Bush's policies. And on its second page the very next morning, the Times ran one of its always illuminating corrections:
"A front-page news analysis article yesterday about the nomination of John Ashcroft as attorney general misidentified the senator who suggested that Mr. Ashcroft had vilified Judge Ronnie White for selfish political ends. It was Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, not Alan J. Dixon, who left the Senate in 1993."
Seems like only yesterday, doesn't it?