  Recent results from the ROSAT All Sky Survey, and from deep ROSAT pointings
reveal that broad absorption line quasars (BALQSOs) are weak in the soft X-ray
bandpass (with optical-to-X-ray spectral slope alpha_{ox}>1.8) in comparison to
QSOs with normal OUV spectra (mean alpha_{ox}=1.4). One glaring exception
appeared to be the nearby BALQSO PG1416-129, which is a bright ROSAT source
showing no evidence for intrinsic soft X-ray absorption. We present here our
new HST FOS spectrum of PG1416-129, in which we find no evidence for BALs. We
show that the features resulting in the original BAL classification, based on
IUE spectra, were probably spurious. On the basis of UV, X-ray and optical
evidence, we conclude that PG1416-129, is not now, and has never been a BALQSO.
Our result suggests that weak soft X-ray emission is a defining characteristic
of true BALQSOs. If BALQSOs indeed harbor normal intrinsic spectral energy
distributions, their observed soft X-ray weakness is most likely the result of
absorption. The ubiquitous occurrence of weak soft X-ray emission with UV
absorption (BALs) thus suggests absorbers in each energy regime that are
physically associated, if not identical.
