Media Matters notes change in Examiner story referring to Blunt "affair"

As we noted this morning, a Washington Examiner story posted yesterday was changed after publication and distrubution to remove the words, "having gone through an affair" from this sentence: 

Rep. Roy Blunt, the former House Majority Leader who is now a GOP candidate for governor in Missouri, is no stranger to scandal, having gone through a public divorce and remarriage under the scrutiny of the press.

KY3's Dave Catanese reported this afternoon that a Blunt spokesman called the Washington Examiner sentence "incredibly inaccurate," though it's not clear from Catanese's story if that's a reference to the removed language or the assertion that Blunt is running for Governor. 

The Examiner does not state that a correction or change has been made anywhere in the current version of the article.

The folks at Media Matters are not impressed:

So, why was the story changed when it is demonstrably true that Blunt did have an affair with a tobacco lobbyist who would go on to become his current wife?

Confronted by the progressive blogosphere and folks on Twitter, Charlie Spiering, The Examiner's online community manager, posted the following on his Twitter profile:

@owillis @Kombiz don't be inane. . its called a correction.

A "correction"? For something that's true? We've seen a lot here at Media Matters but this takes the wedding cake.

By the way, it's nice to know the Examiner apparently has a policy of not letting its readers know when a story has been corrected. You'd think they would at least put something at the end of the article noting what the error was and that it's been fixed. But, I guess since there was no error this is to be expected? 

The same Media Matters post links to a 2006 Rolling Stone article, which reads:

Of the two leading candidates for the recently vacated House majority leader seat, one (acting leader Roy Blunt) had attempted to slip tobacco-friendly language into a Homeland Security authorization bill while having an extramarital affair with a Phillip Morris lobbyist, while the other (John Boehner) had once been caught handing out checks from tobacco interests to members of Congress on the floor of the House.

The Washington Post reported that Blunt was "very close" to his now-wife Abigail Perlman in 2002, when he secretly tried to insert a provision benefiting Philip Morris into a homeland security bill.

Just hours after Blunt was named to the House's third-highest leadership job in 2002, he unsuccessfully tried to insert a measure benefiting Philip Morris into the 475-page bill creating the Department of Homeland Security. Blunt's ties to the company are thick: He was very close to a company lobbyist, Abigail Perlman, at the time, and married her in 2003.

The Washington Post also reported in June 2003 that Blunt's "romance" with Perlman was "raising eyebrows and giving fits to self-appointed ethics cops."

Are recently divorced House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Philip Morris lobbyist Abigail Perlman headed for the altar? Word around town is that the two lovebirds -- whose romance has been raising eyebrows and giving fits to self-appointed ethics cops -- are planning to announce their engagement soon. Perlman didn't return our phone calls and Philip Morris spokesman Dave Tovar dismissed concerns that the relationship might bend House rules governing personal transactions between members of Congress and lobbyists with legislative business before Congress. "We have a very strict compliance and integrity program. As far as our lobbying is concerned, we are confident that we are in full compliance of all legal and ethical obligations," Tovar said. Meanwhile, Blunt's press secretary, Burson Taylor, told us: "I have a policy of never commenting on Congressman Blunt's personal life."

The New Republic referred to Blunt's divorce and remarriage as a "personal indiscretion" in 2006.

For the most part, however, divorce and remarriage are now so common in the broader culture that they no longer pose a significant political liability. The [Former Senator Tim] Hutchinson affair notwithstanding, even self-professed family-values Republicans like House Majority Whip Roy Blunt--who married his second wife a mere six months after the divorce from his first was final--tend to be forgiven for their personal indiscretions come election time.

Blunt and his first wife, Roseann, finalized their divorced in April 2003.