CNN released this story on Thursday after interviewing an alleged member of the University of Southern California College Republicans, but the problem is that the College Republicans at USC have never even met the guy. In response, they sent out the following press release to combat this fabricated story:

CNN Uses Fake “College Republican” to Slam McCain
Story bashing McCain relies on planted quotes

Los Angeles, CA – on Thursday morning, CNN ran a story about young voters and the presidential election. The premise of the story is that young Republicans say there is an “enthusiasm gap between them and their candidate.” The only problem is that CNN relies on quotes from a fake College Republican.

Eric Pearlmutter, a student at the University of Southern California, was shown saying, “We try to get people out to our College Republican meetings but we can’t seem to get the same amount of support.”

Ben Meyers, the President of the USC College Republican, had different story. “I have never met Eric Pearlmutter. I have never seen him at a College Republican meeting. He is not on our membership roster. I don’t know why someone would think he has speaks for us. As far as I know, he could be a Democrat.”

Meyers says the College Republican weekly meetings regularly draw 30 or 40 attendees, far more than the rival College Democrats club.

“I’m not saying that McCain is going to win big among youth voters, but to claim that his support is weak among young Republicans is just pure liberal media propaganda,” said Meyers. “Real College Republicans are fired up for McCain. He’s our kind of Republican… a Maverick.”

“Last week when Cindy McCain visited San Diego, 20 College Republicans drove hours on a moments notice just for the chance to meet her,” said Michael Antonopoulos, the California Chairman of Students for McCain. “That’s what I call enthusiasm.”

After exposing CNN use of a “Fake Republican” to bash McCain, the true bias was uncovered.

Los Angeles Time: USC young Republicans allege phony CNN interview

A CNN spokeswoman now says it was an inadvertent error…”We regret that error. We have invited Ben Myers, the president of the USC College Republicans organization, to appear on ‘American Morning’ at a future time.”

ABC News: CNN Interviews Faux College Republican?

ABC News’ Molly Hunter reports: CNN, the cable news channel, has apologized for mistakenly labeling a supposedly demoralized college Republican lamenting a lack of support on his campus for the Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Truth Caucus: Perlmutter CNN Quote Mimics Washington Post

Eric Perlmutter, the source used in the CNN story “Young conservatives worry about McCain’s appeal,” sounds strikingly similar to David All, a young GOPer quoted in the Washington Post earlier this week.

The CR Voice: CNN Uses Fake “College Republican” to Attack McCain

CRNC Chairman Charlie Smith said of CNN’s fake story: “This is another fallacy in a long history of CNN’s attempts to smear Sen. McCain and the Republican Party. From planting Democrats in the YouTube debates and now using bogus sources, CNN is doing everything it can to put Barack Obama in the White House and it shows. Denigrating the work of college students who want nothing more then to be part of the process is simply pathetic.”

Hot Air: CNN interviews fake College Republican

If a reporter wanted to test the enthusiasm of College Republicans at a campus for John McCain, one might think that they would look up the officers of the chapter and arrange a few interviews. CNN apparently found that a little too difficult at USC yesterday, so they just stopped the first person who claimed to be a Republican.

Citizen Sugar: CNN Uses Fake Republican to Hit McCain? Real Ones on Road!

In a doom-and-gloom message from CNN today, it seemed like all was lost for the Republican candidate — no young voter was ever going to be inspired by time-tested McCain. Except, it’s all a fake! According to a press release, CNN used a phony College Republican to dummy up the story.

Also very interesting, as reported by Truth Caucus, is the fact that an Executive Producer in CNN’s News Department, Bruce Perlmutter, is likely related to the student interviewed, Eric Perlmutter (note: the spelling on screen is wrong, and CNN blacked out the article for a few hours yesterday to correct the “mistake”).

Yet another sad day of either an agenda by the media to get Obama elected or a severe lack of journalistic integrity by not confirming a sources allegations before going to print.