After Senator McCain announced that he would fire SEC Chair Chris Cox, many media outlets (wrongly) reported that the President lacks such authority. In fact, the President can remove the Chair of the Commission for cause, and may remove a Commissioner for cause. Nonetheless, the likes of Keith Olbermann mocked Senator McCain's comments, even though McCain was essentially correct (and the NBC News correspondent upon which Olbermann allegedly relied had been told as much by yours truly the same day Olbermann went on the air).

Few media outlets ever corrected their error. Thus it's notable that the LA Times ran the following correction in yesterday's paper.

SEC chairman: Articles in Section A on Sept. 19 and 20 about the financial rescue plan said the president could not fire the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The statute governing the SEC does not explicitly give the president the authority to fire the commission's members. However, federal courts have held that the president can remove members of independent commissions like the SEC "for cause," including "inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office." The president can also demote the chairman of the SEC without removing him or her from the commission.