NYT Corrects Its Bush "On Vacation" Error, But Offers No Explanation

Yesterday I posted, The New York Times gets it wrong again. A Feb. 10 New York Times page one story, "White House Knew of Levee's Failure on Night of Storm," reported President Bush was “on vacation in Texas” on Aug. 30, the day after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.

In fact, on Aug. 30, the President began his day in San Diego where he took part in an anniversary observance of V-J Day and visited a Naval hospital. Later he flew to Arizona to speak on medicare; after which he flew to Texas. Throughout the day, the President was kept informed of Katrina developments and made decisions regarding relief efforts.

Today, there's this in the Times' Corrections section:

A front-page article yesterday about documents showing when the White House learned of the levee breaches in New Orleans referred imprecisely to President Bush's whereabouts on the morning of Tuesday, Aug. 30, the day the public learned that New Orleans had flooded. He was in San Diego that morning, giving a speech and meeting with soldiers, and returned that afternoon to his ranch in Crawford, Tex. He was not vacationing in Texas that morning

The Times’ correction should really be just a first step.

Readers are owed an explanation for how such an error could have occurred, since the President’s whereabouts on Aug. 30 are well-known and have been discussed extensively in the press.

The Times itself reported on the President’s Aug. 30 appearance in San Diego in this article (subscription required ):

At an appearance in San Diego on Tuesday to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the victory over Japan in World War II, Mr. Bush again spoke in positive terms about the draft constitution (for Iraq).

The Times reported on Bush's Aug. 30 appearance in Arizona in this article (subscription required):

President Bush alluded to the energy situation today during a appearance in El Mirage, Ariz., where he was speaking on Medicare.

While readers are due an explanation of how the Times could have made the false Bush "on vacation in Texas" report, I doubt the Times will provide it.