A couple days ago, describing here the way MSNBC's David Shuster used a fallen soldier to play a tasteless "gotcha" game with Rep. Marsha Blackburn, (R-Tenn.), I surmised that things couldn't "get much lower."

I was wrong. They just did.

As it turns out, Pvt. Jeremy Bohannon -- the soldier whose name Shuster attacked Blackburn for not knowing -- had not, contrary to the MSNBC reporter's claim, lived in her district.

By way of background for those who hadn't read the earlier item, Blackburn had been invited onto "Tucker" ostensibly to discuss MoveOn.org's "General Betray Us" ad. But Shuster, serving as substitute host for Carlson, suddenly sandbagged Blackburn with this "gotcha" question.

SHUSTER: Let's talk about the public trust. You represent of course a district in western Tennessee. What was the name of the last soldier from your district who was killed in Iraq?

MARSHA BLACKBURN: The name of the last soldier killed in Iraq from my district? I do not know.

SHUSTER: OK, his name was Jeremy Bohannon. He was killed August the ninth, 2007. How come you didn't know the name?

Even after Blackburn expressed her appreciation for our soldiers' sacrifice, and detailed the extensive outreach she and her office does to military families in her district, Shuster continued to attack her for not knowing Private Bohannon's name.

SHUSTER: Well, you weren't appreciative enough to know the name of this young man . . . I still think it's a little bit surprising that you didn't know the name of this last soldier killed in Iraq who's only 18 years old yet you do know so much about the MoveOn.org ad and the tactics you didn't like.

It now turns out that Army Private Jeremy Bohannon had not, contrary to Shuster's claim, lived in Rep. Blackburn's congressional district. As blogger Conservative Belle brought to NB's attention, and as she has written about at her site, Private Bohannon lived in Bon Acqua, TN. Checking his nine-digit zip code reveals that he in fact lived in Tennessee District 8, represented by John Tanner, a Democrat.

I have now spoken with an aide in Rep. Blackburn's office, who confirmed that Pvt. Bohannon had not lived in the congresswoman's district.

A voicemail message left for Shuster inviting his comment had not been returned as of the time of posting this item.

A source informs me that MSNBC might be issuing a statement later today acknowledging its mistake. If so, we'll bring it to our readers ASAP.

Next time David Shuster wants to play this ugly kind of game, he should at least get his facts straight. In the meantime, Shuster owes an apology to Rep. Blackburn, and above all to the family of Private Bohannon, whose memory Shuster exploited for his partisan purposes.

—Mark Finkelstein is a NewsBusters contributing editor and host of Right Angle. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net.