Fox News has posted a redaction and an apology for running a story filled with falsified Kerry quotes. Yes, Fox actually made up quotes and attributed them to John Kerry, then published them on their web site. Now they say their sorry, but they've already done the damage they set out to do.

The quotes have been removed from the Fox story but here's what they claimed Kerry said before posting their redaction and apology. Note that everything inside this quote block is the invention of Fox News:

Rallying supporters in Tampa Friday, Kerry played up his performance in Thursday night's debate, in which many observers agreed the Massachusetts senator outperformed the president.

"Didn't my nails and cuticles look great? What a good debate!" Kerry said Friday.

With the foreign-policy debate in the history books, Kerry hopes to keep the pressure on and the sense of traction going.

Aides say he will step up attacks on the president in the next few days, and pivot somewhat to the domestic agenda, with a focus on women and abortion rights.

"It's about the Supreme Court. Women should like me! I do manicures," Kerry said.

Kerry still trails in actual horse-race polls, but aides say his performance was strong enough to rally his base and further appeal to voters ready for a change.

"I'm metrosexual he's a cowboy," the Democratic candidate said of himself and his opponent.

A "metrosexual" is defined as an urbane male with a strong aesthetic sense who spends a great deal of time and money on his appearance and lifestyle.

Yes, they actually published this. It was the work of Fox reporter Carl Cameron, who is assigned to cover the Kerry campaign. According to the Talking Points Memo, Fox spokesperson Paul Schur said, "Carl [Cameron] made a stupid mistake which he regrets. And he has been reprimanded for his lapse in judgment. It was a poor attempt at humor."

The published Fox news apology reads, "Earlier Friday, FOXNews.com posted an item purporting to contain quotations from Kerry. The item was based on a reporter's partial script that had been written in jest and should not have been posted or broadcast. We regret the error, which occurred because of fatigue and bad judgment, not malice."

If you believe that, I have a great bridge to sell you. Where are the calls for a Congressional investigation of Fox News? Has Fox violated election law?

---Nick

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