As American political scandals go, it may not rank on a par with Iraq's missing weapons of mass destruction.
But Tyler Crotty, a 13-year-old from Florida, has whipped up a surprisingly big storm in the US, considering that all he did was yawn.
Fatefully, though, Tyler chose to express his overwhelming sense of tedium -- yawning, checking his watch and staring at his feet -- while standing on a podium just behind US President George W. Bush as he spoke at a Republican Party rally.
Footage of the bored teenager was screened this week on David Letterman's nightly talk show. CNN quickly told its viewers that the White House had assured them the tape was a fake.
That prompted an outburst from Letterman, whose short temper is legendary, and who accused CNN of lying.
By yesterday it finally seemed that the truth had emerged: the footage was real, and Tyler Crotty, 12 at the time the rally took place last month, was so tired because his father, Rich Crotty, had got him out of bed early to travel there.
Not that Crotty is likely to face much retribution for embarrassing the Bush administration: he is chairman of the Orange County, Florida, Republican Party, and a major donor to the president's re-election campaign.
Tyler "was probably on stage for a minimum of three hours, including the speech," his father said.
"And a 12-year-old gets fidgety and looks at his watch and carries on after three hours in the same seat," he said.
By yesterday, media access to Tyler was being handled by the White House, which was reserving him for an appearance with Letterman last night.
"He's a young person who strongly supports the president and is excited about getting a chance to talk about it," an ever-optimistic spokesman was quoted as saying.
What remains a mystery is why CNN twice told viewers that Bush aides had been in touch to deny the scenes were real.
Several articles in the US media recently have accused mainstream outlets of accepting White House statements uncritically during the Iraq war. But this week CNN appeared to have gone even further, pre-empting any actual communication from the administration.
"It turns out, due to what we might say [was] a misunderstanding among the folks who are usually so fantastic behind me here in the newsroom, it turns out that was not true," CNN anchor Daryn Kagan said on air.
"The White House, it turns out, I guess never did call us about the tape," he said.
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