This one's gonna make your head hurt, trust us. It's what happens when trivial pursuits collide with incompetence.

First up, NBC apparently does not know how to transcribe its presidential interviews, even when the president speaks clearly and slowly. NBC managed to botch the transcripts to its Obama interview. Specifically, at the end of the Q&A, Matt Lauer, for whatever reason, decided to ask Obama about his wife and daughters being on the cover of US magazine.

Lauer held up the magazine, which also featured cover photo and headline in the upper-right hand corner about singer Jessica Simpson's' apparent weight gain. (“Inside Jess' weight battle.”) In fact, the unflattering photo of Simpson actually cropped out Obama himself on the US cover.

From the NBC transcripts which were released to the press:

LAUER: You got replaced by Jessica Simpson.

OBAMA: Yeah, who's losing a weight battle apparently. (LAUGHTER) Yeah. Oh, well.

Well, that ticked some people off, including Karen Tumulty at Time. “He laid a big one in yesterday's interview with Matt Lauer," she wrote as she reproduced the NBC transcript online. And yes, right-wing blogosphere also denounced Obama, printing up the same transcript.

Thing is, Obama never said Simpson was “losing a weight battle.” As Politico notes, NBC mangled the transcripts. Here's what Obama actually said:

LAUER: You got replaced by Jessica Simpson.

OBAMA: Yeah, who's in a weight battle apparently. (LAUGHTER) Yeah. Oh, well.

It's obvious from watching the clip that Obama was not making fun of Simpson's weight. If anything he was very gently mocking the fanzine culture in which Simpson's weight is considered to be newsworthy.

But back to Tumulty and then the blogs. How did they respond to the fact that Obama never said what they criticized him for saying? From Tumulty [emphasis added]:

*Alert Swampland commenter travellingatlanta notes that the transcript that NBC put out was wrong. “Who's losing a weight battle” is actually “who's in a weight battle.” I went back and listened to the video, and it sounds that way to me, too. Which makes it slightly better. I guess. But in the future, Mr. President, just don't go there.

I'm chuckling over Tumulty's detective work; about how she went back and listened to the video again and confirmed that, yes, Obama said “Yeah, who's in a weight battle apparently.” I'm chuckling because the audio/video is clear as day and there is no dispute, which only highlights how supremely NBC mucked up by concocted parts of the transcripts in the first place.

Second, Obama shouldn't go there? Give us a break. The only reason Obama mentioned any of this was because a network news anchor brought up the frivolous topic of US magazine. The president was simply, and politely, humoring the interviewer by reading back to him the inane mag cover line.

As for the right-wing blog, well it's just priceless. This is what Gateway Pundit wrote:

UPDATE: The Politico is defending the president for joking about Jessica Simpson's weight problem. Figures.

Classic, right? Gateway pundit first mocked Obama for something he never said. When Politico pointed out Obama never said what NBC (and Gateway Pundit) claimed the president said, Gateway Pundit simply informed readers that Politico was “defending” Obama. What did Gateway Pundit fail to do? It failed inform readers that Obama never said what Gateway Pundit claimed Obama said.

Just keep moving along folks, nothing to see here. Corrections? Retractions for flogging phony story? Pleeease.

We told you this was gonna make your head hurt.