On yesterday’s Meet the Press, Tim Russert asked Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean about attacks on Michael Steele:

RUSSERT: Picking up on what Ken Mehlman said about Michael Steele, the African-American Republican candidate in Maryland, being called an Uncle Tom, the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee seeking his credit report. Should you not…

DEAN: I don’t like that stuff, and I–now, look, the Republicans have a long history of saying that those things happened. And they may or may not have. So if that happened, it’s not right. But I didn’t hear Ken condemning the chairman of the Maryland party when he called me an anti-Semite. So let’s try to up–speaking of moral values, let’s have a better tone in our political campaigns. Because the truth is, the other thing that Time Kaine’s race showed is that the person with the better tone and the more positive agenda won, and I like to see voters exercising their rights in that way.

RUSSERT: But the workers on the campaign committee who sought his credit report have been dismissed.

DEAN: They should have been. Absolutely, they should have been. I don’t like that kind of stuff.

It’s quite clear that Dean was questioning whether the claims about Steele were accurate, but saying that if they were, he doesn’t “like that stuff” and “it’s not right.” But here’s how “America’s newspaper” reported the story under the headline “No Dean apology for Steele” (via Drudge):

The chairman of the Republican Party yesterday challenged his Democratic counterpart to condemn racist statements against Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, but Howard Dean demanded his own apology and ignored the question.

The former Vermont governor was asked by host Tim Russert on NBC’s “Meet the Press” to respond to the statements, in an appearance that Mr. Dean insisted be separate from an interview with Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman.

Mr. Dean gave no response, aside from saying he didn’t receive an apology for being called an anti-Semite by a member of the Republican Party.

Mr. Steele, a Republican candidate for the Senate, is the first black elected to statewide office in Maryland, where Senate President Thomas V. “Mike” Miller Jr. labeled him an “Uncle Tom” in 2001. Some black political leaders maintain that Mr. Steele is not exempt from racial comments because of his political views.

“There’s been an utter silence in response to what have been vicious and racist attacks on Michael Steele in Maryland,” Mr. Mehlman said.

Mr. Mehlman on “Meet the Press” called on Mr. Dean to “condemn this kind of racist and bigoted activity. It’s wrong.”

“He’s had racial epithets thrown at him. He’s been derided on a Web site that the Democrats have. And while some Democrats in Maryland have criticized it, there’s been utter silence from national Democrats on this important issue,” Mr. Mehlman said.

“I would also hope he’d condemn the following: There are a whole bunch of Democratic candidates and Republican candidates around the country. But Charles Schumer and the [Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee] chose one candidate [Mr. Steele] to go after his credit report and engage in identity theft against him,” Mr. Mehlman said.

Mr. Russert put forth both questions to Mr. Dean, who said “moral values” should bring a “better tone in our political campaigns.”

“I don’t like that stuff,” Mr. Dean said of the credit-report incident.

Mr. Dean declined to address the statements against Mr. Steele, but said, “I didn’t hear Ken condemning the chairman of the Maryland party when he called me an anti-Semite.”

Notice how “I don’t like that stuff” is narrowed to the credit report incident only. In addition, the Times utterly distorts what Dean said in claiming he “declined to address” the Steele issue, and it also takes the rejoinder to Mehlman out of context.

With media outlets like this, it’s no wonder conservatism is becoming so postmodern…