Free Republic goes nuts over phantom claims of a hairdresser for Palin in Haiti

The far, far right Free Republic (just slightly left of death wish SDA) , egged on by countless wingnut blogs, has its panties in a twist over what it claims is an AP story on Palin bringing along a hairdresser to Haiti. Probem is, AP never reported this fact. Free Republic is right that Palin did not have a hairdresser accompany her. But it gets it wrong that anyone has made that claim. It simply did not happen. (The Huffington Post was fooled for awhile but quickly corrected its error.)

Here’s the problem: The AP never reported Palin brought a “hair stylist” or a “hairdresser.” Those phrases came from Free Republic. It’s true: Free Republic rushed into to defend Palin from the AP allegation that Palin had brought a “hair stylist” or “hairdresser” with her to Haiti.

But oops! The AP never made that claim.

Here’s the accurate AP caption to the photo:

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, center, has her hair done during a visit to a cholera treatment center set up by the NGO Samaritan’s Purse in Cabaret, Haiti, Saturday Dec. 11, 2010. Palin arrived Saturday in Haiti as part of a brief humanitarian mission in an impoverished nation struggling to overcome post-election violence and a cholera epidemic. At right, Palin’s husband, Todd Palin.

This is just another example of the right wing manufacturing outrage on a slow outrage day. Happens all the time. You can call it lying but nah, it’s just some lonely, damaged people scraping at any semblance of being actual human beings. All we can do is sit back, sympathize and mock.