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

[IronJack]

"We care about the places our on-line ads appear, and that site doesn't reflect the values of AT&T Wireless,"

"We have opted instead to continue our advertising purchases in such venues as "Hustler," "The New York Times," and various outhouse walls, locales which more closely resemble our corporate environment."

[21st Century Man]

I knew there was a reason I've avoided AOL for all these years...I used to think it was to keep the Internet free back in 95.

;-)

[tiamat]

I had an AOL account once.

Then I learned about the "real" internet!

;-)

[Ann Archy]

The B*TCH SET HIM UP.....Kerry campaign being the B*TCH.

[gooleyman]

From the article: ...Matt Drudge is widely credited with being right on Newsweek's Monica Lewinsky story...

-----
And IMHO he will be right about this one too. Not necessarily about Ms. Polier. Remember the original report said it was with an "intern". According to Ms. Polier, she never interned for Kerry. I think the attention was thrown toward Ms. Polier as a smoke screen and to discredit Drudge. I believe there is still an intern out there who is the REAL subject of this investigation. I have no way of knowing for sure, but there's a real stench about this is one with strange twists already.

[cyclotic]

Here's my letter to AT&T Wireless.

Mr. Pemble,

I understand that you cancelled your advertising on the Drudge Report based upon a complaint from one person. OK, I am an AT&T Wireless Customer, Account XXXXXXXXX. I am complaining that you dropped your advertising in the Drudge Report.

I'm assuming that my complaint will hold as much weight as that of Mr.Robert Caraway. I'm assuming that you will immediately reinstate your advertising on the Drudge Report.

Sincerely,

Stephen R. Xxxxxxxx

BTW- I'm an AT&T customer ONLY because my company pays for the phone.

[beckysueb]

It will all come out when Hillary is ready to take Kerry out.

[Rebelbase]

E X C U S E ME!

[oldironsides]

Drudge maintains this "ain't" over. We shall see.

[.30Carbine]

It will all come out when Hillary is ready to take Kerry out.

The Wellstone funeral comes to mind.

[Swanks]

ATT-WS is a xase study in the failure of the diversity nonsense. While ATT was always burdened with too much HR overhead, the ATT / Bell Labs crowd went off the charts on "diversity" the last few years.

Not saying minorities are inferior minds, etc. Just when the objective becomes 'the most multi-national' staff vs. the 'most talented' staff, you are bound to leave out talented people. Those less talented hang around waiting to be told what to do by those who don't know what to do.

No match for the last generaltion Bell Labs and IEEE all stars that made these firms what they were.

The fallout? In a world with razor sharp competion - a firm with mediocraty (but multi-cultural)...goes out of business. Like ATT-WS into the hands of Cingular. Now, what will the laid-off diversity crowd do? Actually they will go to the front of the line over the best and brightest again somewhere else, and the cycle starts over. But who cares, if you're Muffy the HR Diversity Director.

[Kaslin]

Please note EggsAckley's reply to sdk7x7 in post #3

[sdk7x7]

The reason I say it seems groundless is because Drudge has completely dropped this story, which is uncharacteristic of him. As of yet the mainstream media (I know, I know) hasn't confirmed any of this and the alleged intern has denied ever even working for Kerry.

Is it possible that Drudge is right and this is the next big scandal? Sure. But as it stands right now, it's just another claim by an independent newsman. And believe me, I'm a Drudge fan (Drudge Report, not Retort*)... but he could still be wrong.

[Dark Knight]

This maybe a parody page of Drudge, but it is still parading trash. General Wesley "the Mouth" Clark alledged a Kerry intern problem. He did it in front of ten or twelve mainstream "reporters". That event did not get reported until Drudge.

Drudge generally doesn't do his own stories. They are shopped by someone else, or someone gives him a tip. This parody says the Danny Williams story is proven false by DNA. That is completely wrong. They were unable to compare Danny William's DNA to Clinton's. An idiot reporter thought the information on Clinton's DNA was in the court record. Guess what, lawyers have agreed to not put the correct DNA information into the record.

So this retort points to one real incorrect story, the Sidney Blumenthal one, over Drudge's entire time and says he has a poor track record?

Bottom line, this parody has made more errors in this one story, omitting the original source (Clark), omitting the political affiliation of the VP of ATT wireless, omitting the name of the story happened in May 2001, etc.

Compare that with the number of papers that flew out with the fake presidential IQ stories or Jayson Blair, or the last faked dissatified Bush supporter NYT, etc ad nauseum.

Every time a story on how inaccurate Drudge is, the more I laugh. Wesley Clark says something so newsworthy and reportable in front of ten or twelve reporters, and no one puts it up in a day? They should have outed that one in five minutes.

DK

[Mo1]

it appears someone has an attack Matt campaign started.

If I recall .. the left said they were going to take down Rush, Hannity and Ann Coulter .. I wonder if Drudge could be on that list also?

[Radioactive]

That story about Danny Williams was covered up.

He is the son of Bill Clinton

Don't believe anything that the media says about DNA or about Clinton.

Larry Nichols states that Danny Williams IS tne illegitimate son of Bill Clinton and a prostitute.

The story was covered up with bogus DNA info and Ms. Williams, (the prostitute) was paid off in order to not dispute the issue.

Larry Nichols has never been wrong about the Clintons and has been in contact with ABC,CBS,NBC, CNN in reguards to Hillaries run in 2004.

YES FOLKS THAT'S RIGHT....2004.

Look for a Clinton / Edwards ticket by the time the DEMONCRAT convention ends.

You can bet your life on it.

[Dark Knight]

Can't say Danny Williams is BJ Clinton's progeny, but it is not disproven like the media claims. It would be easy to disprove, but has not been. Also, how does a crack addict, prostitute get a free ride into Australia?

Good questions, but the media was camped outside Richard Jewels residence to find out the real truth...

PC strikes again.

Danny Williams wasn't covered up, no one with a brain investigated it.

The Clinton's are a media phenom. Bill Clinton's step bro says he's buying cocaine for his brother who has "A nose like a vacuum cleaner." on tape and that's not big news during a campaign, but an allegation many years ago about Bush persists.

If you depend on the Lamestream media to do your investigations, your informed judgements will be based on a solid foundation of doodoo.

DK
PS That's why the FR commentary is so important. They can pick a bogus or ill thought story apart in 3 seconds.

[Defender2]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1077595/posts


HMMMmmmm....???? Check out who authored this article in the link above. Alex Polier works for AP, since when????

[Salvation]

**it does seem that Drudge's claim was groundless...**

Don't worry -- the rest of the story is coming! People got paid to shut up.