Did you hear the one about how Kerry has been excommunicated? Even the NYT was taken in (enough to write this story). Well, it turns out that all the fuss is about a letter written by one conservative lawyer to the Holy Office, not disclosing that he was targetting Kerry. The Holy Office refused to answer but sent to a D.C.-based priest, who wrote private opinion restating known facts in colloquial language. In other words, no news at all. The Vatican is aghast at the implication that it called Kerry a heretic, and everyone is now denying everything. But it was a Rove dream come true: the words Kerry and excommunicated appear in the same headline and the deed is done.

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