Proving that the rabidly partisan journalists at CNN have way too much time on their hands, reporter Michelle Krupa on Wednesday actually fact checked a White House joke about Russian salad dressing. During his daily briefing on Tuesday, Press Secretary Sean Spicer teased, “If the President puts Russian salad dressing on his salad tonight, somehow that's a Russia connection.”
The humor-challenged CNN sprung into action. On CNN.com, Krupa wrote, “Thing is, Russian dressing isn't Russian." Wait for it, here is the devastating bombshell:
The mayo and ketchup concoction -- often dressed up with horseradish and spices -- was created in Nashua, New Hampshire.
It was grocer James E. Colburn who invented the spread in 1924, according to "New Hampshire Resources, Attractions and Its People, a History," by Hobart Pillsbury. The Washington Post cites the 1927 text, which says Colburn sold the condiment to "retailers and hotels across the country, earning 'wealth on which he was enabled to retire.'"
This isn’t the first time CNN has been clueless when it comes to comedy and “fact checking.” In 2009, the network investigated a Saturday Night Live sketch attacking Barack Obama. Wolf Blitzer justified, “Even though SNL deals in comedy, what they said about the President rings true for a lot of you, apparently. So, did the show accurately capture a mood, or did it go off track for comedic effect?”
In 2014, the Washington Post did the same thing, scolding SNL for daring to make fun of Obama: “This skit got a couple of things right, and a couple of things wrong.”
In January of 2017, the Associated Press fact checked President-elect Trump’s opinion that Meryl Streep is “overrated.”
It’s a good thing this country has a free and open press. What would we do without such revelations from these sleuths?
