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People make honest mistakes. When right-leaning people make them, Soros-funded Media Matters turns it into Apocalypse Now and an opportunity to discredit all of conservatism.

But when liberal journos err, it’s like the proverbial trees falling in the forest. Does anybody hear the muffled sound?

Last night while I was on Twitter, a few left-leaning reporters fell for a hoax SEIU press release announcing the withdrawal of the union’s endorsement of Barack Obama. The timing alone — midnight-ish — should have raised eyebrows. But Marc Ambinder of the The Atlantic (who called it a “symbolic shot across the bow”) and Kenneth Vogel of Politico (who has erased his tweets about it) fell for the prank before being cautioned by Ben Smith of Politico, who quickly debunked the bogus statement. Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times also was targeted.

I asked those involved last night who they thought was responsible. My tweets were like trees in their forest. No replies.

Roll Call reports on the story this morning without mentioning who got punked:

A prankster sent reporters a fake press release Tuesday night claiming that members of the powerful Service Employees International Union had voted to take back the group’s endorsement of President Barack Obama.

The release hit inboxes just before midnight bearing the name of SEIU spokesman Mark McCullough. It included a fake quote from SEIU President Mary Kay Henry that claimed Obama hadn’t delivered enough change.

“Someone is playing a prank and using my email address,” the real McCullough told Talking Points Memo early this morning. He later issued a statement affirming the union’s support for the president.

Talking Points Memo also makes no mention of those reeled in. Lib media membership has its privileges.

SEIU’s real statement re-endorsing Dear Leader in response to the kerfuffle is here:

So just to be clear:

We stand by our November 16, 2011 endorsement of President Obama as part of a broader ’99 percent’ strategy to create good jobs now, end devastating cuts to Medicare and Medicaid and require everyone to pay their fair share.

Any reports to the contrary are simply false.

As those who have followed my coverage of SEIU and Obama for the past several years, it is inconceivable that one would disown the other. Ever. They’re stuck like glue.

But like I said: People make honest mistakes. In the end, the lightning-quick, self-correcting mechanism on Twitter worked as it should. This is the beauty of crowd-sourcing.

My question for journos on the lib side of the aisle, though: Why does it only redound to the benefit of lefties?

Something to dwell on the next time they’re tempted to hound and mock conservative bloggers, Breitbart, Fox, etc., as not “real” journalists.