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Iranian news agency duped by fake Onion story: ‘Rural Whites Prefer Ahmadinejad To Obama’

Iran may want to invest a little more in fact checkers and less in nuclear fission: The country’s top news agency today fell for a fake news article from a satirical newspaper touting a poll showing rural white Americans preferred its president, madman Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, over Barack Obama.

The semi-official Fars news agency picked up as fact a joke report from The Onion, titled “Gallup Poll: Rural Whites Prefer Ahmadinejad To Obama,” and reprinted it on its own website.

Apparently the subtle humor of the just-for-laughts Onion article — which included quotes from a supposed voter who said at least Ahmadinejad would “never let some gay protesters tell him how to run his country like Obama does,” — was lost on the Iranians.

The English-language service of Fars news agency republished the story earlier today, several days after it appeared in The Onion.

The Iranian version is copied word-for-word from the original. It leaves out only The Onion’s description of Ahmadinejad as “a man who has repeatedly denied the Holocaust and has had numerous political prisoners executed.”

The news agency was only too happy to include a joke that claimed the poll found, “60 percent of rural whites said they at least respected that Ahmadinejad doesn’t try to hide the fact that he’s Muslim.” Obama is not a Muslim, but rumors to the contrary persist in some circles.

Red-faced Iranian newsies pulled the article from its site today.

With AP