It is unusual when a major news organization becomes the subject of major news, but that is what happened to The New York Times in the wake of an essay published Sunday which was intended to reflect “the culture at Yale when Brett M. Kavanaugh, who now sits on the Supreme Court, was an undergraduate in the 1980s,” the Times said. It also accused him of another sexual assault.

But alas — facts were wrong or scarce, corroboration of the accusation was faulty, and a very public blame game erupted in-house. The Times issued a lengthy rationale and response after readers questioned the reporting behind an accusation of sexual misconduct and “how The Times presented the information.”

Yes, well.

Talk radio host Rush Limbaugh summarized his own reaction for 14 million listeners Tuesday by declaring that the venerable newspaper had simply devolved into a “Democratic Party political action committee” and had been absent from journalism for quite some time.

But wait, there’s more. A simple review of a few headlines from the last 24 hours tells all, with “botch” as the favorite operative term:

“How did the New York Times botch the Brett Kavanaugh Story?” (Reason); “Times reporters blame editors for omission in Kavanaugh story” (Politico); “Could Kavanaugh sue New York Times over allegation report?” (Fox News); “New York Times reporters grilled about botched Kavanaugh story” (CNN); “New York Times’ political activism ignores fundamental ethics of journalism” (National Review); “Times’ latest smear is just another ugly warning to Kavanaugh” (The New York Post); “Lindsey Graham, start fighting for justice for Brett Kavanaugh” (The Federalist); “With stunning efficiency, The NYT is making an ironclad case that they’re the enemy of the people” (Townhall); “Joe Scarborough blasts Kamala Harris for believing ‘botched’ and ‘baffling’ NY Times Kavanaugh essay” (Mediaite).

“Frankly, ‘botch’ seems excessively kind for what happened here,” notes Glenn Reynolds, the InstaPundit columnist for PJ Media.

FOR THE LEXICON

“Vamos to Victory.”

That is the current motto of Latinos for Trump, a voter group very much in evidence during President Trump’s rally in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, on Monday night. Campaign manager Brad Parscale, in fact, reveals that 40% of the rally registrants for the event were Hispanic — mirroring roughly the state’s overall ethnic makeup.

“Democrats take the Latino vote for granted, but the Trump campaign is determined to earn it,” says Hannah Castillo, coalitions director for Mr. Trump’s reelection campaign.

THE TEA PARTY: STILL BREWING

An event of note just outside the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon: Lawmakers and one of the nation’s original tea party organizations will have a say on gun control. C-SPAN will cover this gathering at 3:30 p.m. EDT.

Who’s on hand for the event? Participants include Jenny Beth Martin, chairman of Tea Party Patriots Action; House Minority Whip Steve Scalise; Republican Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, and Andy Biggs of Arizona; and Patrick Neville, Republican leader in the Colorado General Assembly. They will respond to ongoing congressional attempts to limit Second Amendment rights.

The speaker’s roster also includes Alek Skarlatos, a combat vet who helped foil a mass shooting by a terrorist on a Paris-bound train in 2015; Max Eden, co-author of “Why Meadow Died: The people and policies that created the Parkland shooter and endanger America’s students”; J.T. Lewis, brother of a Sandy Hook shooting victim; and Sheriff Frank Reynolds, a Colorado lawman and longtime personal security officer for high-ranking U.S. diplomats and military leaders.

“Call Congress, tweet, and post on other social media platforms about protecting our God-given rights to keep and bear arms,” the Tea Party Patriots advises its 3 million motivated members.

Meanwhile, the National Rifle Association advises that its 2019 World Shooting Championship begins Wednesday at the Peacemaker National Training Center in Glengary, West Virginia.

“This competition is the all-encompassing test of shooting prowess,” said Joe DeBergalis, executive director of NRA General Operations. “This event attracts some of the biggest names in the industry while remaining fully open to amateurs.”

Competitors participate in “3-Gun, High-Power Silhouette and Cowboy Action” matches, among many other things during the three-day event.

“At the end, one competitor will be crowned the undisputed world shooting champion,” the NRA advises.

FOXIFIED

Another victory in the ratings race for Fox News Channel: The network’s audience throughout the day was more than both MSNBC and CNN combined last week, according to Nielsen.

Fox News also remains the most watched cable network for the 36th consecutive week, trumping non-news competition such as ESPN and HGTV. In prime-time, Fox News garnered 2.3 million viewers while MSNBC drew 1.4 million and CNN 745,000.

Sean Hannity remains the ratings dynamo with 3.4 million viewers for his show. Presentations of “Hannity,” “Tucker Carlson Tonight” and “The Ingraham Angle” delivered nine of the Top 20 cable telecasts in total viewers for the week.

‘HOGAN’S HEROES’ GETS A REBOOT

And now a word from Hollywood. The followers of the classic “Hogan’s Heroes” TV sitcom are many and devoted. Now they must mull the fact that the iconic 1960s comedy will be resurrected. The good news is that the reboot will be ushered in by Al Ruddy, the original series co-creator.

“The reimagined version will be a single-camera action adventure comedy series set in present day focusing on the descendants of the original heroes, now scattered around the world, who team up for a global treasure hunt,” reports Deadline Hollywood.

Mr. Ruddy and the late Bernard Fein were the creative minds behind the original “Hogan’s Heroes,” which lasted for 168 episodes on CBS from 1965 to 1971. The series followed Allied POWs imprisoned in a German prisoner-of-war camp who secretly used the camp to as a base for their own espionage missions.

POLL DU JOUR

• 32% of U.S. adults say they own a gun — or about 81 million people.

• 61% of that group say their gun is for personal protection; 36% say it is for hunting.

• 13% use their gun for recreation; 8% for target shooting.

• 5% simply “like guns”; 5% say their gun is a “Second Amendment right.”

• 5% say their gun is a family heirloom; 4% say owning a gun is a “family tradition.”

• 3% say their gun is related to their work in law enforcement or the military.

Source: A Gallup poll of 840 U.S. adult gun owners conducted Aug. 15-30 and released Monday. Question WAS open-ended.

• Kindly follow Jennifer Harper on Twitter @HarperBulletin.

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