HOW LAME IS THIS? An alert Media Log reader sends along a Mark Steyn column that was published in London's Telegraph on October 21, 2001. Here are some lowlights:

At Thursday's press conference, Dan was in his braces with his tie loosened, his shirt button undone, and his sleeves rolled up. It's the look that says you're a grizzled working reporter or that you're appearing in a cheesy dinner-theatre revival of The Front Page....

In contrast to the bald formulations of BBC intros - "Kate Adie reports from Kabul" - Dan prefers to provide his own running commentary on his colleagues: "Bob Schieffer, one of the best hard-nosed reporters in the business, has been working his sources. What have you managed to uncover, Bob?" Bob then reads out a Congressional press release.

So not only did Steyn apparently make up a quote and stick it in Dan Rather's mouth last week, but he's done it before, complete with the exact same reference to the "cheesy dinner-theater revival" and Bob Schieffer's reading a press release. This time, Steyn merely substituted "DNC" for "Congressional."

Nice work if you can get it.