It appears as if the hunt for the first enrollee in Obamacare might have to continue. Bill Johnson, the father of the first reported participant, Chad Johnson, was tracked down by Reason.com and he pretty much contradicted everything his son said. Additionally, the details Chad offered to just about every major media outlet in the country yesterday don’t match up at all with the healthcare plans on offer in Georgia. Turns out Chad has been an avid supporter of the President and maybe got a little ahead of himself in his zeal to see the plan get good PR.

It’s easy to understand and excuse Chad’s youthful enthusiasm. The reporters on the other hand who chased him down and then misreported the story are doubly culpable. First, they should have known better than to report it without some verification and second, their participation in the mad hunt for someone, anyone, who had enrolled in Obamacare was pitiful. You can also throw in HHS here as they evidently planned to feature Mr. Johnson on a conference call.

It’s a sorry vignette to what, so far, has been a sorry effort to launch this experiment.