Drudge gets it wrong

Written by Steve Rhodes
Published October 16, 2002

The top headline on Matt Drudge's page currently reads, "NOT AGAIN?! STREISAND REFERS TO SADDAM AS 'IRANIAN' DICTATOR IN LATEST 'TRUTH ALERT'..." and he is right.

A page on Streisand's site does currently say "...completely misrepresenting Ms. Streisand's deep opposition to the Iranian dictator, Saddam Hussein." Though I doubt it was Babs herself who made the error.

Drudge on the other hand, does make his own mistakes. Perhaps he should focus on correcting the errors on his own site before working on the ones on Streisand's.

Since earlier today, he has had this ominous headline on his page, "Socialists Sending People to MN to illegally vote for Wellstone..."

The problem is the page he links provides no evidence of what Drudge claims. It says:

Together with YDS, DSA's Youth Section, we are mobilizing to bring young people to Minnesota. Minnesota is one of the few states that allow same day voter registration. We will therefore focus our energy on registering young Minnesotans. Wellstone will need a high percentage of young people to register and vote for him if he is to stave off the campaign that Bush, the Republicans and the Greens are waging against him.

It is a voter registration drive involving people from out of state, something many political groups of with a range of beliefs are doing all over the country. It says nothing about out of state voters voting in Minnesota, just "registering young Minnesotans."

Drudge could have called DSA's offices in New York (the phone number is on the site he links to) to check before posting it on his site, and they could have explained to him he needs to work on his reading comprehension.

Or he could have looked up the requirements for voting in Minnesota which include a voter must "a Minnesota resident for at least 20 days before the election" and a list of the type of ID needed for same day registration.

I emailed Drudge about the error earlier today and when he added his criticism of Streisand. He still hasn't responded or put up a correction on his site.

And after being online for so long, he should know not to use ALL CAPS.

Update: Drudge finally removed the headline from his page around 9 pm. Ofcourse there is no correction (at least Babs makes corrections) and it is still on an archive of his page.

Earlier Update: Drudge has now posted an article on Streisand added a photo of her on his page. His incorrect MN headline is still up.

David Horowitz also mentions (2nd item) this on his blog. But he is a bit smarter than Drudge. He realizes the DSA isn't sending legions of socialists to vote illegally, he just questions using donations to the effort as a tax write-off (though consercative groups do the same thing and the DSA says they are registering young voters, not Wellstone supporters).

Steve Rhodes is a journalist and photographer in San Francisco.
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Drudge gets it wrong
Published: October 16, 2002
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Section: Culture
Writer: Steve Rhodes
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Comments

#1 — October 16, 2002 @ 19:25PM — Eric Olsen

Nice one Steve - that's real reporting.

#2 — October 17, 2002 @ 09:30AM — Phillip Winn [URL]

Good catch! Only one question - do people really still pay attention to Drudge? I've always dismissed him as a rabid idealogue akin to Michael Moore and Rush Limbaugh, or Ann Coulter and Andrea Dworkin.

#3 — October 17, 2002 @ 19:09PM — Steve Rhodes [URL]


Drudge still gets incredible traffic and is picked up by the mainstream media (most recently his whole flap with Babs).

I think the main reasons he gets so much traffic is because his links are usefull, a few of the articles he links to at the top are usually of interest, and all the mentions of him in mainstream media.

The problem is the media will pick up on his fights with Streisand, but not all the inaccurate stories or slanted headlines he posts.

I've caught many over the years and emailed him about it, sometimes resulting in him taking down a link. Never in a correction. The only time he emailed me back was when he thought he had proof he was right.

Here is one example from 98 (though none of the links probably work anymore).

#4 — October 18, 2002 @ 15:15PM — Bill Quick [URL]

Nope, no catch at all. Drudge said Babs referred to "Iranian Dictator Saddam Hussein," and on her page, she refers to "Iranian Dictator Saddam Hussein."

You offer no proof that she didn't write or okay that phrase, (and if she didn't, it makes her pretty much of a moron for letting things go out under her name without at least reading them, doesn't it?) and all the handwaving about Drudge errors elsewhere does not make his headline incorrect, because by your own admission it is correct.

I know the left has a deep aversion to facts, but what the hell, there it is.

#5 — October 18, 2002 @ 15:53PM — Steve Rhodes [URL]

I never said there was anything wrong with the headline (except that it was in all caps and hurt my eyes). I said "he is right" about the error on Babs page.

And I said I doubt she was the one who made the error. I didn't say she wasn't the one who did (though she did clain an earlier error was because of an assistant. So she should have been smart enough to be more careful).

Drudge could have called and asked before running his screaming all caps headline and then his "story." I didn't call Babs or DSA to get a comment because I'm broke. Drudge doesn't have that excuse. And I did email him and he never responded.

I was merely pointing out the pot was calling the kettle black. Drudge has made many mistakes over the years and doesn't correct them and he he did have a false headline on his page for hours while he was slagging Babs.

You're the one that doesn't provide any evidence that I was wrong about Drudge's mistake.

It is because I think facts are important that I wrote the item.

And it may have been coincidence that he finally removed the headline (but not other headlines posted earlier) right after I emailed him the URL for this item.

#6 — October 19, 2002 @ 21:06PM — Lee [URL]

Sorry, Steve. Barbara's name is on it, therefore it's her responsibility. If I pay someone to write a contract for me and I sign it, I am legally bound by the terms of that contract, irrespective of the fact that I didn't write it. If Barbara wants to put her name on things like letters to Congress she should damn well hire someone who isn't a complete fool to write them for her.

As far as Drudge and the DSA goes, what he said is a completely valid interpretation of what they wrote. It was also made on a number of other blogs, such as Angry Clam and Eugene Volokh. It sure as hell sounds to me like they're recruiting to suborn voter fraud. But, voter fraud being a crime, they can't come right out and say that, can they?

Face it, dude, you're bust on this one.

#7 — October 20, 2002 @ 00:32AM — Steve Rhodes [URL]

Then a bunch of other blogs got it wrong (either by dittoing Drudge or perhaps he picked it up from one of them).

The DSA was recruiting people to do a legit voter registration drive aimed at younger voters.

I'm afraid they don't have the budget or membership to pull off a socialist voter fraud invasion of the land of lakes.

If anyone really believes that to be the case, they should at least call the DSA and found out how many people they acually sent to MN and get other details before blaring a headline charging criminal activity on a webpage with huge traffic.

And if Drudge was right and I'm so bust, why did he pull the headline before many of the others he added earlier?

#8 — October 21, 2002 @ 09:20AM — Eric Olsen

Steve, Unless I am missing something, your characterization seems appropriate and I am unclear why you have been attacked here other than for ideological reasons.

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