Did you know that Sarah Palin has never been to Mongolia? Yeah, and despite the fact she never claimed to have visited there, we are making a big deal about it because of the impression she left only in our fervid imaginations that she did indeed visit Mongolia.

Think that was ridiculous? Well, guess what? That is exactly what CNN is doing with a manufactured scandal that Sarah Palin never visited Iraq. The problem for CNN is that Palin never claimed to have visited Iraq. Here is her answer in the recent ABC interview with Charles Gibson about her foreign travel:

Canada. Mexico. And then, yeah, that trip that was a trip of a lifetime, to visit our troops in Kuwait and stop and visit our injured soldiers in Germany. That was a trip of a lifetime and it changed my life. 

So where was Iraq in her answer about foreign travel? Nowhere. However, that hasn't stopped CNN from acting outraged about the fact that Palin never visited Iraq despite the fact that she never claimed to have visited there:

CNN) -- Sarah Palin did not visit troops in Iraq, a spokesperson for the Republican vice presidential nominee confirmed Saturday, as new details emerged about the extent of the Alaska governor's foreign travel.

All CNN had to do was listen to Palin's answer to the question about her foreign travel to find out she never claimed to have visited Iraq.  However, CNN is somehow making this out to be a some sort of big scandal as you can see:

In July of last year, Palin left North America for the first time to visit Alaskan troops stationed in Kuwait. Palin officials originally said her itinerary included U.S. military installations or outposts in Germany and Kuwait, and that she had visited Ireland.

Right. No Iraq. Got it, CNN? However, they just can't let go:

A Palin aide in Alaska said Iraq was also one of the stops on that trip.

Oh, I see. A nameless Palin aid in Alaska mistakenly said Iraq was one of her stops. Stop the election! Bring out the special prosecutor! This scandal must not go uninvestigated! Meanwhile CNN continues to sniff for a scandal that doesn't exist:

The Boston Globe reported Saturday that Palin visited the Iraqi side of a border crossing -- but never journeyed past the checkpoint. Earlier, campaign aides confirmed reports that Palin's time in Ireland on that trip had actually been a refueling stop.

And Palin didn't include Ireland as part of her foreign travel in her answer to Gibson. Keep looking, CNN. Perhaps you will find out that Sarah Palin once visited Colonel Lee's Mongolian BBQ. You can also make that a scandal even though Palin never claimed to have visited Mongolia. Of course, the Obama campaign, sinking in the polls, is so desperate for any bit of dirt they can manufacture about Palin jumped on this "scandal" like a starving piranha on red meat:

The Obama campaign -- which has increasingly accused the McCain campaign of deliberately lying in ads and on the stump -- was quick to highlight that story, along with a news report that explored whether the McCain campaign has been sending out wildly inflated crowd estimates.

Yes, yes. Maybe we can find that the McCain campaign estimated one of its crowds at 10,000 people when reliable sources put it at no higher than 9900. Bring on the investigators! With "scandal" stories such as these, you just know that Obama and his MSM allies are really grasping at straws. However, their pathetic desperation to turn absolutely anything, even if doesn't exist, into a scandal does provide for a lot of laughs.

Psst! MSM...check to see if Sarah Palin ever illegally ripped a tag off her mattress in the past. There could be a major scandal there. 

—P.J. Gladnick is a freelance writer and creator of the DUmmie FUnnies blog.