I see GMA this morning debunked the photo that Drudge posted yesterday, suggesting Obama had been caught leering at a young woman. And ABC's Jake Tapper also pointed out that after watching the video of the pointless encounter, it's clear that the photo did not capture Obama doing anything tawdry.

It's nice to see folks at ABC News stepping forward and doing Drudge clean-up duty. And I can't help wondering if the ABC news team recently learned a valuable lesson after Drudge completely concocted a ridiculous claim that an ABC News special about health care, broadcast from the White House, would exclude any criticism of Obama's agenda.

Drudge's 'scoop' was transparently false and everyone at ABC News knew it was false. Still, the predictable hysteria the manufactured controversy caused for ABC execs I'm sure was substantial and distracting and unpleasant. Which got me wondering if Beltway journalists within ABC News, many of whom have slavishly followed Drudge's pointless 'news' leads on a daily basis, might rethink their routine and look at Drudge's work with a new perspective.

Perhaps now they are.