Hats off to Matt Drudge and the “blogosphere” for prompting and then charting the hilarious antics by the Associated Press in reporting on a campaign stop by President Bush in West Allis, Wisconsin.

Originally, AP writer Tom Hays filed this report at 2:12 p.m. on Friday (emphasis added):

President George W. Bush, campaigning in Wisconsin, wished Clinton “best wishes for a swift and speedy recovery.”

“He’s is in our thoughts and prayers,” Bush said. Bush’s audience of thousands in West Allis, Wisconsin, booed. Bush did nothing to stop them.

How thoughtless! How terrible! How insensitive!

More importantly, how completely fabricated!

Someone posted an audio recording of Bush’s remarks and the crowd’s reaction, and Matt Drudge posted it on his site. What one hears in the mp3 file is cheering in support of Bush’s statement that Clinton is “in our thoughts and prayers.” Not booing.

Normally, I suppose, a comment like this could at best lead to TV news programs hosting debates over whether the Republicans actually booed, with Hays standing by his report and those in attendance saying the reporter is totally out of his gourd. (“Republicans: Grossly Insensitive or Simply Misquoted?”) The existence and, more importantly, widespread Internet distribution of the audio, however, prevents that possibility. It just doesn’t even pass the giggle test.

Speaking of giggles, Drudge also posted the initial AP retraction (again, emphasis added):

[BC-Bush-Clinton, 1st Ld-Writethru,150 Bush offers best wishes for Clinton’s recovery Eds: SUBS lead to include reference to surgery. DELETES 3rd graf previous, Bush’s audience, because of uncertainty about crowd reaction.]

Shortly thereafter, the AP posts a revised story, at 2:41 p.m., removing Hays’ byline and making no mention of the crowd reaction:

President Bush on Friday offered former President Bill Clinton, who faces heart bypass surgery, “best wishes for a swift and speedy recovery.”

“He’s is in our thoughts and prayers,” Bush said at a campaign rally.

Even later (6:06 p.m.), for whatever reason (perhaps in response to “How the heck did you get boos from cheers?”), the AP revised the story again without Hays’ byline. Now it reads:

President Bush on Friday offered former President Bill Clinton, who faces heart bypass surgery, “best wishes for a swift and speedy recovery.”

“He is in our thoughts and prayers,” Bush said at a campaign rally in Wisconsin.

The crowd reacted with applause and with some “ooohs,” apparently surprised by the news that Clinton was ill.