Memo to AP: Photo of Obama smoking is fake

Here's what the AP reported today:

A Republican county official is taking heat for replacing a portrait of former President George W. Bush that hung in a courthouse meeting room with a small black-and-white photo of President Barack Obama smoking a cigarette.

Adams County Supervisor Eldon Orthmann said Monday that he hung the photo in the county courthouse room as a joke.

"I didn't do it because I have a lot of dislike for the president," Orthmann said. "It was about the push for health care, smoking and having a little fun. It was just tongue-in-cheek."

The AP article, headlined "Neb. county draws complaint over smoking Obama pic," also reported:

Another supervisor found a wallet-sized photo of the president, and tacked it up to the wall with a pushpin, Orthmann said. When that drew a complaint, Orthmann said it was taken down. Not long afterward, he came across the photo of Obama smoking.

"I got to thinking about, 'This is the president who's pushing health care,'" he said.

However, nowhere in its report did the AP note that the photo is a fake. In fact, it has long been debunked. If you Google "Obama smoking photo," you immediately see the doctored photo as well as several other obviously phony images of Obama smoking. And the third link is to the Museum of Hoaxes article debunking the photo.

From the Museum of Hoaxes:

In early 2008 the top photo began circulating online, showing Obama with a cigarette in his mouth. It is not real. The original photo (bottom) was taken by Kwame Ross on Aug. 3, 2004 while then-State Sen. Obama met with constituents at the University of Illinois while campaigning to become a U.S. Senator.

An unknown hoaxer digitally added the cigarette into the photo.

And now he's duped the AP...