This morning, the New York Times published a letter from the mayor of Paris, France:
With all the respect and admiration I have for Ms. Kennedy’s late father, I find her bid in very poor taste, and . . . in my opinion she has no qualification whatsoever to bid for Senator Clinton’s seat. . . .
The Kennedy era is long gone, and I guess that New York has plenty of more qualified candidates to fill the shoes of Hillary Clinton. Can we speak of American decline?Bertrand Delanoë
Then, this afternoon, the Times published a correction:
Early this morning, we posted a letter that carried the name of Bertrand Delanoë, the mayor of Paris, sharply criticizing Caroline Kennedy.
This letter was a fake. It should not have been published.
Doing so violated both our standards and our procedures in publishing signed letters from our readers.
We have already expressed our regrets to Mr. Delanoë’s office and we are now doing the same to you, our readers.
Can we speak of New York Times decline?