While it wouldn’t have surprised me to find out that Sarah Palin was actually unclear about Africa being a continent, part of me had a feeling that the comments were taken out of context or trumped up by a bitter aide.  As it turns out, the comments were part of an elaborate hoax, which fooled Fox, MSNBC and much of the blogosphere. The “leak” came from Martin Eisenstadt, a fabricated McCain policy adviser,  who, in video reports, was played by one of the two filmmakers that began the ruse. Here’s one of their videos:

I think a part of us really wanted to believe the gaffes, as frightening as they may have been for a now-former vice presidential candidate.  I’m impressed by how influential their hoax became, which reveals the need for us readers (and bloggers) to be more vigilant about where we get our news.

takepart by learning more about misinformation from Media Matters.