Sarah Wheaton and her editors at the Times might want to take a refresher courseon conservative groups after the boo-boo Wheaton made in Tuesday's paper.
In "Abortion [1]Rises Anew For Giuliani [1]," in which she revealed Rudy Giuliani's pastdonations to Planned Parenthood, Wheaton referred to the Heritage Foundation, perhaps the most influential conservative think tank in Washington, as "the Heritage Society." (The correct title appears in the online version).
Although Wheaton didn't quite nail down the name of the place, she did know that it's "conservative," and reminded her readers of the fact three times in a fairly short article.
"Rudolph W. Giuliani told a gathering of conservatives Monday that his campaign could be boiled down to two major themes: national security and economic security.
"Mr. Giuliani did not cite values as a theme, which is unusual for a major Republican presidential candidate, and the omission seemed especially striking Monday, coming as it did just hours after a report that he and his former wife had donated $900 to an abortion rights advocacy group and provider.
"The Web site Politico.com, saying it had been alerted by a rival campaign, reported before Mr. Giuliani took the stage at the conservatives' gathering that he and his wife, Donna, made personal donations to national, state, and city chapters of Planned Parenthood totaling $900 in 1993, 1994, 1998 and 1999.
"Addressing the Heritage Society, a conservative policy institute, Mr. Giuliani made no mention of abortion. He appeared at ease discussing what he called his history of fiscal restraint as mayor of New York and his strong stance on the military."