Tuesday, June 28, 2011

TELEPHONE -- OTHERWISE KNOWN AS HOW MATT DRUDGE REPORTS THE NEWS

At the Drudge Report right now:


And I suppose you might conclude that that's accurate -- if you only read the story Drudge links (from CanadianBusiness.com via AP) on the subject of the president's visit to Iowa:

Obama planned to spend only about two hours in Iowa. His first stop was Ross' 24-Hour Restaurant, a local diner in the town of Bettendorf. Among the president's orders was a "Magic Mountain", a house specialty that includes Texas toast and mounds of ground beef.

But, in fact, a newspaper that's actually based in Iowa makes clear that there's no evidence Obama actually ate the item in question at all (described in this paper as "grilled Texas toast topped with ground beef, french fries and cheese sauce"):

The President's speech followed a brief tour of the plant and also a stop at Ross' Restaurant, a Bettendorf staple for generations, where he ordered four Magic Mountains and two Volcanos but didn't stay to eat....

He greeted Cynthia Freidhof, who was shocked and very excited.

“How are you doing? We came to order some food,” Obama said.

He held up an enormous cinnamon roll, about six inches in diameter.

“I’m not sure I'm going to be able to eat one of these,” Obama joked.

He was then given a description of the sandwiches.

“Anybody who wants one, I will buy it for you,” Obama said. “Anybody in the press corps has to eat the whole thing. I already got some takers on the plane though, so we're going to order four Magic Mountains and two Volcanos.“

“Any takers on the press?” Obama asked.

No one responded.

“You chickens,” he said....

Obama takes the food "to-go" and is now leaving the restaurant....


At a campaign appearance in 2008, Obama got a question from Cynthia Freidhof, who owns the restaurant. He promised to stop by someday, and now he's made good on that promise. (He promised to try a Magic Mountain, and maybe he didn't make good on that promise, but the current story suggests that Freidhof is fine with that -- "'This is just beyond,' Freidhof said." Meanwhile, Drudge has his story -- that Obama is a glutton and a food hypocrite -- and he's sticking to it. As, presumably, are the people who turn to him for news.)

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