Drudge Loses Advertiser in Wake of Kerry Blunder

The Drudge Retort (drudge parody site) ^

[sdk7x7]

XXXX DRUDGE RETORT XXXX 14:26:29 EST FEB 19 2004 XXXX

Matt Drudge loses advertiser in wake of Kerry blunder!

**DRUDGE RETORT EXCLUSIVE**

Sound the siren: Matt Drudge has lost a long-time advertiser in the wake of last week's groundless report alleging that Sen. John Kerry had an extramarital affair with a 27-year-old woman.

AT&T Wireless has pulled all advertising from the Drudge Report in response to a complaint about its sponsorship of the site.

"We care about the places our on-line ads appear, and that site doesn't reflect the values of AT&T Wireless," e-mailed Jeremy Pemble, the company's vice president of public relations.

Matt Drudge earns $1.2 million a year from advertising and his weekly radio show, selling a single banner ad for $4,400 a day, according to a September 2003 story in the Miami Herald.

The loss of an advertiser comes during a week in which Drudge has taken numerous hits for spreading the Kerry rumor while making no claim it was true -- passing it along simply because news organizations were supposedly looking into it.

As Drudge wrote: "Intrigue surrounds a woman who recently fled the country, reportedly at the prodding of Kerry, the Drudge Report has learned."

In spite of the lack of a single on-the-record source willing to back up the claim, the story spread within hours from Drudge to conservative talk radio shows and the British tabloid press. As it began appearing in the mainstream U.S. media, Kerry and the woman, former AP reporter Alexandra Polier, both denied the allegation.

Polier's full statement to the press: "For the last several days I have seen Internet and tabloid rumors relating to me and Senator John Kerry. Because these stories were false, I assumed the media would ignore them. It seems that efforts to peddle these lies continue, so I feel compelled to address them. I have never had a relationship with Senator Kerry, and the rumors in the press are completely false. Whoever is spreading these rumors and allegations does not know me, but should know the pain they have caused me and my family. I am in Kenya with my fiance visiting his family, and we ask that the press respect our privacy and leave all of us alone."

Kathleen Parker, Dan Kennedy, and other professional journalists blasted Drudge for spreading the story. "Drudge is even more unreliable and wrong than he used to be (and he was pretty bad to begin with)," Michelangelo Signorile wrote in the New York Press.

AT&T Wireless cancelled its Drudge Report ads after receiving a complaint Monday by Robert Caraway, who described himself as a Kerry supporter.

"I find your support of Matt Drudge both distasteful and alienating," e-mailed Caraway. "By advertising on his site, you are condoning his current smear campaign against a very popular presidential hopeful."

Though Matt Drudge is widely credited with being right on Newsweek's Monica Lewinsky story, the self-styled Walter Winchell has made several infamous blunders over the years:

Reporting in January 1999 that a 13-year-old boy who "looks exactly like the President" was the secret love child of Bill Clinton and a prostitute. DNA tests proved it was a hoax. Reporting in August 1997 that Sidney Blumenthal had been in court on charges of domestic violence. He retracted the story a day later. Making up a source in a May 2001 story, claiming that Drudge Report webmaster Andrew Breitbart was a professor with the Cashmere Institute of Media Studies, a fictitious organization. Note: This story has been edited to reflect a comment e-mailed to the Drudge Retort by Jeremy Pemble after its original publication: "We did pull advertising from this site -- because it should not have been placed on the site in the first place ... independent of any recent articles that may have appeared on that site."

© DRUDGE RETORT 2004

[sdk7x7]

interesting. I must say, it does seem that Drudge's claim was groundless...

[SouthernFreebird]

I wonder if AT&T is so honorable in all their advertising...

[EggsAckley]

So, you're citing the Drudge RETORT as the source for an article about Drudge.

Cute.

[Seruzawa]

Is AT&T Wireless going to stop advertising in, say, the LA Slimes or NY Grimes? These rags deal in constant lies.

[Diddle E. Squat]

I must say, it does seem that Drudge's claim was groundless...

Yeah, after several days the parents suddenly change their tune and the girl in hiding denies her previously videotaped allegations, without the press questioning her about the reversal. Did you also buy into the wagging the finger denial 6 years ago?

[Saundra Duffy]

Yikes.

[Bogey78O]

AT&T was so badly managed it's getting sold to keep AT&T afloat. If they're pulling their ads it's probably a bad move. The general idea is do the exact opposite of a loser company.

[Timmy]

AT&T, the pro-homosexual telecommunications giant, doesn't represent MY values. That is why they will never have my business.

[Ignatius J Reilly]

Groundless? possibly. Chance that Kerry's has enough money at his disposal to shut this woman up IF it were true? definite

[ReleaseTheHounds]

To borrow a phrase from a real slug: "Hey AT&T Wireless, don't let the door hit you in the *ss on the way out."

[21st Century Man]

I wonder if this is why Drudge was so indignant in the attacks upon his failed attempt...it appears someone has an attack Matt campaign started.


***DEVELOPING***

[Buffettbassman]

To me the critcs seemed to protest a little too much. If Matt hadn't posted the story, we would have never known.

[sinkspur]

Is AT&T Wireless going to stop advertising in, say, the LA Slimes or NY Grimes? These rags deal in constant lies.

Yes. There will soon be NO AT&T Wireless, as Cingular bought the entity last week.

[Blessed]

>AT&T, the pro-homosexual telecommunications giant, doesn't represent MY values. That is why they will never have my business.<

I tell them this every time they call.

[Uncle Hal]

Before comcast purchased ATT, I had their cable service. Any night of the week you could find porn on their premium stations to say nothing of their all porn channels. I do not think ATT is that pure and chaste.

[Ahban]

I must say it seems to me like the Kerry $$$$ has effectively covered up the true story- for now. As for Clinton's love child being disproved- that is incorrect. It turned out that the DNA profile that was supposed to be Clinton's was not his at all. For "security reasons" they did not use his actual DNA results in the part of the test made public.

[Lunatic Fringe]

AT&T Wireless is getting bought out anyways... they are slaves.

[21st Century Man]

Anyone actually look at those nasty, *$##@! banner & pop-up ads anyways?

Personally, I wouldn't buy anything based on those obnoxious, ****BLINKING***, pests of unwanted info.

Thank God that my firewall blocks most of that crap out.

: )

[Conservative4Ever]

I'm with you...I smell a payoff. The liberal media will let it slide. I predicted this days ago.

Red

[RightWhale]

AWE has topped out anyway. Further advertising is just money down the rathole.