Politico published a MAJOR “GOTCHA” story on Ben Carson this morning. Little did they know that not only would the fact checkers start poking major holes into their story, but Ben Carson himself, as Kim wrote about earlier today, would fight back.

Ben Shapiro played a key role in exposing Politico’s “GOTCHA” story. In fact, below is the relevant portion from Ben’s book “Gifted Hands” that Politico is claiming as false.

At the end of my twelfth grade I marched at the head of the Memorial Day parade. I felt so proud, my chest bursting with ribbons and braids of every kind. To make it more wonderful, We had important visitors that day. Two soldiers who had won the Congressional Medal of Honor in Viet Nam were present. More exciting to me, General William Westmoreland (very prominent in the Viet Nam war) attended with an impressive entourage. Afterward, Sgt. Hunt introduced me to General Westmoreland, and I had dinner with him and the Congressional Medal winners. Later I was offered a full scholarship to West Point. I didn’t refuse the scholarship outright, but I let them know that a military career wasn’t where I saw myself going.

That’s it. That’s the only mention of West Point in the entire book. And the additional story about the fabrications in the statement that Carson’s campaign issued, which you can read in full here, is also shot full of Politico holes. But boy howdy, that sure didn’t matter to the folks over at Politico! Well, until the heat got too much and they had to run from the kitchen. However, rather than owning up to it, they decided to covertly change the headline, the lede, and portions of the story itself and hope that no one would notice. Well, guess what? They got caught! Check out this from YoungCons Michael Cantrell.

Politico’s original lead:

Ben Carson’s campaign on Friday admitted, in a response to an inquiry from POLITICO, that a central point in his inspirational personal story was fabricated: his application and acceptance into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Take a look at how it reads now:

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson on Friday conceded that he never applied nor was granted admission to West Point and attempted to recast his previous claims of a full scholarship to the military academy — despite numerous public and written statements to the contrary over the last few decades.

Oh goodness, there’s some backpedaling going on for sure! Yes, they are still doubling down on the story… but in a passive/aggressive sort of way. However, that certainly hasn’t stopped others from calling them out for their shoddy sensational tabloid trash journalism.

Wow, the @Politico rewrite is totally stealth. No note/correction/retraction of any kind. Journalism!

— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) November 6, 2015

The Politico story on Ben Carson and West Point has undergone significant changes. Several updates. No editors note. https://t.co/pJZVrLm0Fh

— T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) November 6, 2015

Note: Politico just altered the headline and lede to remove the bombshell claims about Carson. Doesn't note that it made the changes.

— Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) November 6, 2015

Oopsie – they missed one of their edits!

.@politico also removed "fabricated" claim except in this photo caption https://t.co/zQGRPoqThB pic.twitter.com/8ayHuYH2sY

— Joe Perticone (@JoePerticone) November 6, 2015

Keep in mind that Politico realized, much to their dismay, that their grand story was tanking rapidly. So, rather than own up to it, they started editing on the sly and hoped they wouldn’t get caught. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that they want all this to go away RIGHT NOW so none of Politico’s reporters, Terence Mulcahy and Kyle Cheney especially, will have to issue any type of mea culpa. As Ben Shapiro succinctly stated:

Politico went for a hit and came up short. In the end, they stepped on a rake. Carson, whose campaign is largely built around bashing the media as biased attack machines for the left, will emerge not only unscathed, but stronger.

Politico practiced shoddy journalism, got caught and doesn’t want to admit it. You know, if they really wants to get into the weeds and practice tabloid trash…maybe they should join up with the brain trust over at The View? They’d fit right in!