Did Drudge`botch' the NYT story???

Drudge hoped the Headline would be "Iraq was close to having Nukes".

But the real headline:

With Iran and North Korea working on their nuclear technology, we're giving online nuclear tutorials to the Axis of Evil.  And in an age of Islamic terrorists, we're giving our online nuclear tutorials in arabic.  And the "we" were Republicans.

I don't know when exactly, but as early as 8:30 central, Drudge has this headline, in red, in the prime time territory at the top of the page:

NYT PLANS EXCLUSIVE STORY ON IRAQ AND RESEARCH OF NUKE BOMB... NEWSROOM SOURCE TELLS DRUDGE: 'IT WILL LEAD THE PAPER ON FRIDAY... IT SHOULD IGNITE NEWS CYCLES'... DEVELOPING...

I notice 2 things:

1.  The subject of the NYT article appears, at this point, to only cover an Iraqi nuke program.  This would appear to be very good news for the Republicans, and had some here fearing the boogeyman Rovian November Surprise, which Drudge eagerly hyped on his site, seemingly to get the dogs salivating in anticipation.

2.  "It should ignite news cycles" is telling.  It appears he's hyping the story.  Perhaps Drudge himself actually believes we're about to hear fantastic news for the Republicans.  I can't imagine he'd use that phrase if he were expecting bad Republican news.

So is it possible that all he heard was "Iraq Nuclear Research" and he starting his endzone dance assuming his team scored a touchdown?

Well, look how he proceeded to cover the story over the next hour:

At 9:25 central, he posted the following, with a link to the times article:

U.S. POSTING OF IRAQ NUKE DOCS ON WEB COULD HAVE HELPED IRAN...

NYT REPORTING FRIDAY, SOURCES SAY: Federal government set up Web site -- 1. Operation Iraqi Freedom Document Portal -- to make public a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war; detailed accounts of Iraq's secret nuclear research; a 'basic guide to building an atom bomb'... Officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency fear the information could help Iran develop nuclear arms... contain charts, diagrams, equations and lengthy narratives about bomb building that the nuclear experts say go beyond what is available elsewhere on the Internet and in other public forums...

Website now shut... Developing...

Oops!  He's read the article, and he knows this is potentially terrible for the whole republican party.  Now he has to try to downplay it, especially since he's already overhyped it should 'ignite news cycles'.  The good news for drudge is, perhaps he can get Wolf Blitzer to say, "Matt Drudge is really driving this story."

At 9:45 central the headline is cut to one single line in red:

NYT: U.S. POSTING OF IRAQ NUKE DOCS ON WEB COULD HAVE HELPED IRAN...

At 10:15, Drudge ran the same headline, but in Black.

The story that would `ignite news cycles' was now getting the same attention as "Concert goer throws Pepsi at Barbara Streisand".

And there we have it...the rise and fall of a potential banner weekend for the Republican, as reported by Matt Drudge.

He currently has no talking points.  I assume there's a meeting going on somewhere to come up with the gameplan.

But I'll repeat our talking points:

With Iran and N Korea working on their nuclear technology, we're giving online nuclear tutorials to the Axis of Evil.  And in an age of Islamic terrorists, we're giving our online nuclear tutorials in arabic.  And the "we" are Republicans.

And the topper is that Drudge helped hyped the story.

(all times are central, and were noted to the best of my knowledge)