That's Watt I'm talking about

Brian Carnell and A Little Reason offer a couple more follow-ups on the questionable James Watt quote. Reverand Miles informed me that he recalled the quote from an episode of the PTL Club, which makes it difficult to check. And as pointed out in the above blogs, the media often had field days with Watt's verbal missteps, so its total absence from the public record

Perhaps most damning is a comment at Carnell's site from Watt's own son-in-law, saying that the quote is a total fabrication. Of course, the only way to decisively prove or disprove the legitimacy of the quote is to produce a videotape of the show, but the evidence gathered thus far does not favor the quote being real.

Finally, I wrote a letter to Grist asking where Scherer got his information about the quote being from "1981" and "before Congress." Should there be a response, I'll be sure to share it.