AJ Rose caught an interesting bit of discordian faux pas in the AP Wire story on the suicide of Hunter S. Thompson which I caught via a headsup from Philip H. Farber on his email discussion list. The original story misquoted Thompson and gave his quote to Nixon:

Writing in Rolling Stone and other publications, Thompson became a counterculture hero at the height of the Watergate era, and President Nixon once said he represented "that dark, venal and incurably violent side of the American character."

This is wrong. Actually, Thompson said that about Nixon:

"…it is Nixon himself who represents that dark, venal, and incurably violent side of the American character almost every other country in the world has learned to fear and despise." — Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail 1972 (1973), on page 416, bottom of the page, 1st Warner Books edition 1983.

The AP has now corrected their story so the current version reads:

Thompson was a counterculture icon at the height of the Watergate era, and once said Nixon represented "that dark, venal, and incurably violent side of the American character."

The misquoted story was already delivered via the wire and so newspapers around the world are carrying it. A few, such as one Australian paper, are embellishing it and adding to it.

Reminds me of the Edgar Allen Poe story The Facts In The Case Of M. Valdemar which was mistakenly published as a factual news story by several newspapers in Europe upon it’s release.