GOODBYE, SCRAPPLEFACE

One of my favorite websites is Scrappleface.com, which runs satirical news stories, most of them spoofing politics and politicians. Their banner brags, "News Fairly Unbalanced. We Report. You Decipher." Some of their recent offerings include gems like these:

"Debate Sways Uncommitted Kerry to Vote for Self"
"Kerry Called Up in Draft, Misses Debate"
"Rev. Jackson Brings Black Windsurfers Into Kerry Camp"
"Bush Lets Weapons Ban Lapse, Locks Up Criminal Vote"

But now I'm getting confused. Any more, I don't know whether I'm reading the regular news or Scrappleface. For instance, today there was a story called, so help me, "The Mystery of the Bulge in the Jacket." It turns out that at certain camera angles you could see a mysterious bulge in the back of Bush's jacket in the first presidential debate. This is nothing like the famous bulge produced by Al Gore's "package" in that Rolling Stone picture. This is a MYSTERIOUS, maybe even sinister, bulge. A reporter's phone call to the White House brought no satisfactory explanation, so the logical conclusion is that it must be "a radio receiver, getting answers from an offstage counselor into a hidden presidential earpiece." And who might be feeding these answers to that dummy George Bush? Karl Rove, of course.

Hey, what a funny spoof! But wait a minute! As Kinky Friedman would say, "Hold the weddin'!" What am I reading? This isn't Scrappleface, this is the NEW YORK TIMES! Mentioning in passing, of course, that the story is a "rumor," but still going breathlessly on and on about it, how the White House can't explain, blahblahblah.

Turns out the original source of the story is a nutjob named David Lindorff, who pops up all over the internet with rants like "Bush, Hitler, and Goebbels." And the NY Times, the Late Great Gray Lady, the Newspaper of Record, is running with this?

Goodbye, Scrappleface. It's been great reading you, but we don't need you any more. We've got the New York Times for entertainment.