Some folks have spent years claiming that Robert Casey Sr., the governor of Pennsylvania, wasn’t denied a speaking slot at the Democratic convention in 1992 because he was pro-life. It doesn’t help that their stories about what actually happened keep changing. In 1996, for example, Paul Begala said he had heard that Casey was kept from speaking because he wouldn’t endorse Clinton. In 2004, Begala said that Casey had definitely been kept from speaking for that reason–and that he, Begala, had “helped make that decision.” I guess he remembered that somewhere between four and twelve years after the fact. (If you follow the links, you’ll see that in 2004 Media Matters, those sticklers for accuracy,

bought both versions of the story within the span of a few days–and naturally enough, beat up other people for allegedly getting the story wrong.)

Isaac Chotiner repeats the spin again. Conservatives are “dishonestly” saying that Casey was silenced for his pro-life views (they can’t just be mistaken, of course). Chotiner notes that Jerry and Kathleen Brown had spoken at the convention even though they hadn’t endorsed Clinton, either. But those, he says, relying on a totally unpersuasive article by his colleague Michael Crowley, were “special cases.” Jerry Brown had won some delegates. And Kathleen Brown, Crowley went on to write, was “one of the party’s highest-profile women.” Right. There just happens to be a special exemption for every non-endorser but the pro-life guy. Believe that who will.