Olbermann, Blog Falsely Smear Matt Drudge

On May 22, 2006, Matt Drudge posted an item that said, "Burn: Gore & entourage took 5 cars to travel the 500 yards from hotel to screening of pic in Cannes ..." Keith Olbermann and lefty blog Think Progress jumped on Drudge, claiming that the story was false. Olbermann went as far as to say that Drudge is a "long-time schmuck" and was again "making stuff up" (via Expose the Left).

As it turns out, according to this Reuters "Notebook" report about Gore/Cannes, it appears Drudge's original claim was well founded. From Reuters (emphasis mine):

Gore and his team were seen driving the 500 metres or so from a hotel to the Cannes festival headquarters in several cars. The representative said that arriving at events like photocalls and news conferences in cars was normal practice in Cannes. And Gore walked the shorter distance from another hotel to the festival for the movie's screening.

Although they may not have walked to the screening, it appears that Gore and company did in fact take cars to the Cannes festival headquarters. The difference is minimal. The problem is that Olbermann and Think Progress left their audience with the false impression that Drudge made up the story out of whole cloth.

The Reuters report shows that Drudge has solid support for his post.