Gateway Pundit is too dumb for words
July 20, 2009 4:42 pm ET by Eric Boehlert
Honestly. The right-wing site actually turns to the Drudge Report for news and reporting. I mean, what more can you say?
So naturally Gateway Pundit, blindly following more of Drudge's fictitious claims, posted this big, blaring headline:
2 Pounds of Frozen Ham in Stimulus Bill Cost $1,191,200
Your Obama Government at work--
The government was charged $1,191,200 for a Stimulus project started on April 28, 2009 and completed on June 30, 2009.
The description of work or service performed:
2 POUND FROZEN HAM SLICED
I'm not making this up. Right-wingers, including Gateway Pundit, actually thought that the U.S. government spent more than $1 million for two pounds of ham.
Um, not quite. Gateway Pundit was only off by 759,998 pounds:
“Press reports suggesting that the Recovery Act spent $1.19 million to buy ‘2 pounds of ham’ are wrong,” [Agriculture Secretary Tom] Vilsack said in a statement. “In fact, the contract in question purchased 760,000 pounds of ham for $1.191m, at a cost of approximately $1.50 per pound.”
Here's the kicker: It's been hours since Vilsack debunked the idiotic story, but Gateway Pundits won't acknowledge the blog's earth-sized blunder.
UPDATED: Gateway Pundit, doing whatever Drudge does, falls back to the position that the U.S. government spent $1.50 lb on ham but that ham can be purchased at Food Lion for $.79 lb. (Does your head hurt as much as mine having to even read about this kind of idiocy when real issues are in play?)
Talk about being divorced from reality. Right-wing scribblers like Drudge and Gateway Pundit apparently don't have any clue how the real world works, or what everyday grocery store items cost. Because anybody who's in touch with foods costs would tell you $1.50 lb. is a great price for ham.
As for Food Lion's $.79 lb offer that Drudge touted, the Food Lion link no longer contains any valid information. But before it was advertising "shank portion ham" for $.79 lb.
Mmm, enjoy.
It boggles the mind, but they are. Just look at the polls. Assuming that they are correct, the Hannities and Limbaughs are winning the Healthcare debate.
If they were winning with facts, it wouldn't be so bad. Unfortunately, the Democrats' ability to counter Right Wing Bullsh*t is not much better now than it was in 1993.
I'd pay $1.50/pound for ham, as long as it was good ham.
Gee-sh, you can't seem to make the right wing crackpots happy either way!
And if Dems fail to knock these myths down, they'll take root and flourish. Just ask John Kerry, the coward who lied about his war service, dodged combat and wrote his own awards because he knew in the 1960s that his padded resume would come in handy 40 years later when he ran for president. Just ask Al Gore, the serial exaggerator who falsely claimed to live in Tennessee, invented the Internet, discovered Love Canal, and was the inspiration for Love Story.
So, this M.S.U. strategy that Republicans employ with the aid of the so-called liberal media (just read the fawning e-mails to Sanford's staff) in an effort to stop or slow down advancement of the Democratic agenda. And because Democrats really ARE interested in advancing their agenda, they don't use the same obstructionist tactics against Republicans.