A normally reasonable and level-headed local talk show host in Cincinnati, Mike MCconnell, put his foot in his mouth this morning. He was railing against various news headlines that read basically "Putin surprises Bush with offer", (about a alternate site in Europe for the missile defense shield that Putin has been angry over). Mike was claiming that was misleading and that it was actually Bush's idea, not Putin's. Well, I looked into the story and it WAS Putin's idea, based on what I read in the articles shown below.

I emailed his show (he's read my emails on the air before) but so far he hasn't addressed the issue. I pretty sure he won't return to the topic to correct himself--it was too large a gaffe to admit to. Most listeners will never know he was wrong. I'm guessing this is how hosts deal with a situation when they go out on a limb on an issue and they're wrong--IGNORE IT.

sfgate article:

"Putin said he had proposed to Bush that rather than deploy an entirely new system, the United States rely instead on 'the radar station rented by us in Azerbaijan'."

From the caycompass (Ap story):

"Russian President Vladimir Putin, bitterly opposed to a U.S. missile shield in Eastern Europe, told President Bush on Thursday that Moscow would drop its objections if the system were located in Azerbaijan.

 

Putin told Bush he would not seek to retarget Russian missiles on Europe if the United States agreed to put the radar–based system in Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic bordering the Caspian Sea."