What in the world is going on in talk radio when someone wants to make an unverified slur on the air and the host, the notorious confrontational and not very shy Bill O'Reilly, won't let them say it until he checks out the details?

Is some kind of irresponsible responsibility creeping into the nation's chattering airwaves in an emotional election year? Has something called fairness reared its ugly head in a world usually bereft of nuance?

It all has to do with what Michelle Obama said or didn't say about being proud of her country earlier this week. What she said at a Monday rally was, "For the first time in my adult lifetime I'm really proud of my country." The "really" part got dropped in some versions, which changes the meaning considerably and allowed all kinds of people who don't like her anyway an opening to criticize her and, by extension, her husband, the presidential candidate who's annoying some people by pulling ahead in the Democratic delegate race.

But who cares about individual words at a time of intense political passion? Well, it looks like O'Reilly does. And so, as it happens, do we.