Pun Salad

… and this week, President Obama widened his already hefty phony lead over Mitt Romney and Gary Johnson. It will take some pretty major phoniness in the next 37 days if Mitt wants to close that gap!

And we turn to the past week's phony news:

• Over in Iran, the VOA reports: "Iran's semi-official Fars news service Friday published a story on its website titled 'Gallup Poll: Rural Whites Prefer Ahmadinejad to Obama.'

  The poll was reported in America's Finest News Source:

  CHARLESTON, WV--According to the results of a Gallup poll released Monday, the overwhelming majority of rural white Americans said they would rather vote for Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than U.S. president Barack Obama. "I like him better," said West Virginia resident Dale Swiderski, who, along with 77 percent of rural Caucasian voters, confirmed he would much rather go to a baseball game or have a beer with Ahmadinejad, a man who has repeatedly denied the Holocaust and has had numerous political prisoners executed, than spend time with Obama. "He takes national defense seriously, and he'd never let some gay protesters tell him how to run his country like Obama does." According to the same Gallup poll, 60 percent of rural whites said they at least respected that Ahmadinejad doesn't try to hide the fact that he's Muslim.

  Yes, it's the Onion. Wonder what happened to the Fars news staff who were duped into taking the story at face value? Demoted? Imprisoned? Hired at the New York Times?

• A Huffington Post blogger notes that both Obama and Romney are pounding the protectionist drums about Red China, and how that fails to match up well with their previous actions.

  So... which of them is lying?

  Possibly, both are, as it's no secret that working class votes are up for grabs in key states like Ohio, which are trade sensitive. They may both be posturing at trying to help people who are only of interest to Washington every four years.

  The quoted blogger is (apparently) a die-hard anti-free trader, but his point is nonetheless valid: neither candidate is brave enough to embrace free trade, one of those rare issues where economists like Paul Krugman and Greg Mankiw largely agree: it makes countries more prosperous.

  If I had to guess, I'd say: Romney almost certainly knows better. Obama probably knows better, but admitting it would really piss off union leaders, so it won't happen.

• Speaking of Ohio: J.D. Tuccille reports on a recent Ohio poll that showed Obama slightly ahead of Romney, 45.2% to 44.3%.

  But then adding Gary Johnson to the question, the numbers go to: Obama 44.5%, Romney 37.8%, Johnson 10.6%. Uh oh, Mitt.