Hold the phone! Deadspin just dropped a big, steaming pile of Real Journalism on us:
Is a Colorado Senate candidate lying about his football career? http://t.co/uTOHS3haqc
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) October 15, 2014
According to a major exposé by Dave McKenna, Colorado GOP Senate candidate Cory Gardner’s stories of his high school football career were all just a big sham!
https://twitter.com/MikeMadden/status/522521080574255105
No way, says Chuck Pfalmer, a now-retired Yuma High School teacher: “Cory Gardner wasn’t on the football team.”
…
But Gardner, who graduated in 1993, never played in any of the Yuma games Pfalmer saw under the Friday night lights. Not at “fullback” or “middle linebacker” or anywhere else.
There’s no mention of Gardner’s football career in his online bios or in any news outlets in the LexisNexis database, at least not that I could find. An editor at the local newspaper, the Yuma Pioneer, said everybody knows Gardner, but nobody remembers him as a football player.
Media lefties ate it up:
Wow. RT @AdamWeinstein: Ah ha ha ha ha @Deadspin just killed the GOP's Senate hopes in Colorado ha ha ha ha http://t.co/0PKv72Wae0
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) October 15, 2014
Why did Cory Gardner lie to WaPo about playing HS football?? http://t.co/aP1zJX30HQ #cosen
— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) October 15, 2014
https://twitter.com/dylanlscott/status/522515305852321793
https://twitter.com/AdamWeinstein/status/522520027850080256
Did Cory Gardner completely fabricate his high school football playing days? @Deadspin makes the case: http://t.co/12rTyAFcY8
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) October 15, 2014
Like lying about Personhood & his health care plan @CoryGardner's ability to disassociate on full display again #copolitics #cosen
— Laura Chapin (@LauraChapin) October 15, 2014
https://twitter.com/KCollierWrites/status/522511361230647297
And don’t forget about Brad Woodhouse:
Is A Colorado Senate Candidate Lying About His Football Career? http://t.co/qVcV6lo5QV
— Brad Woodhouse (@woodhouseb) October 15, 2014
.@chucktodd this disqualifying? http://t.co/qVcV6lo5QV
— Brad Woodhouse (@woodhouseb) October 15, 2014
Nice job @denverpost – endorsing THIS guy. What a tool. http://t.co/qVcV6lo5QV
— Brad Woodhouse (@woodhouseb) October 15, 2014
Yeah, Brad. Gardner’s the tool.
@DavidCornDC @AdamWeinstein @Deadspin Boy, you guys really beshat yourselves this time.
— Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) October 15, 2014
Did they ever. It’s sad enough that Deadspin went back to Gardner’s high school years to dig up dirt on him. But it gets even more pathetic:
https://twitter.com/zhanover/status/522521931011330048
Ouch.
Cory Gardner spokesman @jasiciliano to me: "He played junior high school through sophomore year." #cosen #copolitics cc @Deadspin
— Nick Riccardi (@NickRiccardi) October 15, 2014
I never thought my unheralded sports career would make it onto @Deadspin pic.twitter.com/llKf62Z7UL #copolitics
— Cory Gardner (@CoryGardner) October 15, 2014
Hoping @johnelway notices my “good form” if he needs another left bench this weekend. #copolitics #cosen pic.twitter.com/nM3qeYolZN
— Cory Gardner (@CoryGardner) October 15, 2014
Awesome.
https://twitter.com/llondo/status/522524542489481216
Never thought high school football would be an issue in a #cosen race. #copolitics #checkbeforeyoutweet
— mjasandoval (@mjasandoval) October 15, 2014
@redsteeze @Deadspin He knew when he was a freshman in HS he was running for office someday.
— PreviouslyKnownAsSomeoneElse (@DryHumorDryBeef) October 15, 2014
https://twitter.com/bccover/status/522523512939249665
https://twitter.com/davidharsanyi/status/522525191868801024
https://twitter.com/Thomasismyuncle/status/522516767454011392
Seriously? The best hope is a bogus high school football story?
— Brian Faughnan (@BrianFaughnan) October 15, 2014
Backfiring so hilariously I'm wondering if it’s Gardner MT @EsotericCD: want to speculate who fed inept Cory Gardner "oppo hit" to Deadspin?
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) October 15, 2014
Rathergate-ish bogus hit job by Dave McKenna at @Deadspin blew up instantly in the Udall camp's face http://t.co/52DvV8gU2o
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) October 15, 2014
@JoeBrettell @Deadspin Actually, a yearbook search might have helped in @CoryGardner "investigation."
— Bob Moore (@BobMooreNews) October 15, 2014
.@Deadspin Guess this attack fizzled. Maybe you should see if @CoryGardner cut another kid's hair in high school.
— jon gabriel (@exjon) October 15, 2014
Ha! That should keep ’em busy for a while.
https://twitter.com/OrwellForks/status/522525409767067648
Coming soon: Cory Gardner Tuthers. He Photoshopped those football pictures!
— Drew McCoy (@_Drew_McCoy_) October 15, 2014
If Gardner didn't have those photos he could have just said they were on his computer but his hard drive crashed. That's acceptable to libs.
— Drew McCoy (@_Drew_McCoy_) October 15, 2014
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/522521284568444928
Congrats to Deadspin, on joining the ranks of hack news outlets making up fake stories
— Jeremy (@knowsknothing) October 15, 2014
https://twitter.com/chuck_dizzle/status/522529057435430912
Maybe they’ll get there … someday. But not today.
Yuma townspeople are telling us Deadspin story on @CoryGardner is dead wrong. #copolitics
— Lynn Bartels (@lynn_bartels) October 15, 2014
Oh man.
@davidharsanyi @kenvogel @Deadspin Good grief, they're slow with a correction.
— Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) October 15, 2014
https://twitter.com/bccover/status/522521873297723392
Yo, @deadspin, been an hour since your hit piece http://t.co/TpSeEjhGjh went down in flames. ETA on update, Sparky? pic.twitter.com/OGQLSQJpMl
— Moe Lane (@Ogiel23) (@moelane) October 15, 2014
None of the gleeful idiots who passed around the Gardner/football thing are issuing corrections. Hilarious.
— American Journalists Publish Chinese Propaganda (@JohnEkdahl) October 15, 2014
Well, no. But there is an update:
UPDATE: A spokesman for Cory Gardner says he played football "through 10th grade": http://t.co/HbOirguL1B
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) October 16, 2014
No update about this, though:
Hahaha. @Deadspin’s source is now saying they mischaracterized his comments. http://t.co/4GMaD9kwka pic.twitter.com/BmCr1ceW1l
— American Journalists Publish Chinese Propaganda (@JohnEkdahl) October 16, 2014
I asked the editor of the Yuma Daily Pioneer "Do you have pixs of @CoryGardner playing football?" A few minutes later, "In the yearbook."
— Lynn Bartels (@lynn_bartels) October 16, 2014
https://twitter.com/justkarl/status/522541470327529473
Oy. Go bench yourselves, Deadspin. You’re done.
Here's what we can expect next from @Deadspin: pic.twitter.com/PseKKZHL4h
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) October 15, 2014
Editor’s note: This post has been updated with additional tweets.
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