After being mentioned in a New York Times column by Bob Herbert, a comment supposedly made by Sen. Pete Domenici in 2000 is gaining new attention in both new and traditional media. But did it actually happen?

Herbert wrote:

Senator Pete Domenici, a New Mexico Republican, told Newsweek in 2000: “I decided I didn’t want this guy anywhere near a trigger.”

This has widely been attributed to Pete Domenici, but Domenici may not have been the actual culprit. Let’s look at the Newsweek article which spawned the quote.

[A]t a GOP meeting last fall, McCain erupted out of the blue at the respected Budget Committee chairman, Pete Domenici, saying, "Only an a–hole would put together a budget like this." Offended, Domenici stood up and gave a dignified, restrained speech about how in all his years in the Senate, through many heated debates, no one had ever called him that. Another senator might have taken the moment to check his temper. But McCain went on: "I wouldn’t call you an a–hole unless you really were an a–hole." The Republican senator witnessing the scene had considered supporting McCain for president, but changed his mind. "I decided," the senator told NEWSWEEK, "I didn’t want this guy anywhere near a trigger."

It would seem that Domenici was not the one who said the quote, but rather an anonymous Republican senator who saw the scene.

In fact the first time the quote was attributed to Domenici was in February of this year — obviously well after the event actually happened.

Libby Quaid of the Associated Press wrote the same exact quote Herbert uses in his op-ed. But that is the first instance of the quote’s being attributed to Domenici. Before that, all media mentions referred to "a GOP Senator" as reported in the original piece from Newsweek.

It appears that Domenici, as a prominent Republican Senator, is having his name used for something he never said.