What's more, the Gerth-Van Natta allegation was directly challenged last week when the one person said by the authors to have first-hand knowledge of the alleged plot to make her President strenuously denied its existence to The Washington Post.

Here's how The Washington Post, which broke the news of the Gerth and Van Natta book's contents in a much-discussed piece last week, described this allegation -- and the key witness' disavowal of its veracity:

The authors report that the Clintons updated their plan after the 1992 election, determining that Hillary would run when Bill left office. They cite two people, Ann Crittenden and John Henry, who said Taylor Branch, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and close Clinton friend, told them that the Clintons "still planned two terms in the White House for Bill and, later, two for Hillary." Contacted last night, Branch said that "the story is preposterous" and that "I never heard either Clinton talk about a 'plan' for them both to become president."

Gerth getting a story wrong? Who'da thunk it? Besides Wen Ho Lee of course. And Susan McDougal. And . . .