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The Museum of Hoaxes is dedicated to promoting knowledge about hoaxes. (Click here for opening hours, etc.) On our blog we post about dubious- sounding claims, and whatever else strikes our fancy. The site is also home to the Hoaxipedia (the museum's online encyclopedia of hoaxes), the Hoax Forum, and the Top 100 April Fools' Day Hoaxes.

The museum was created in 1997 by Alex Boese. He's assisted by a staff of deputy curators and docents. Alex is the author of three books, most recently Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments (which has nothing to do with hoaxes). Check out the list of the Top 20 Most Bizarre Experiments of All Time for a preview.

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Direct quote from the just published REAGAN DIARIES.

The entry is dated May 17, 1986.

'A moment I've been dreading. George brought his ne're-do-well son around this morning and asked me to find the kid a job. Not the political one who lives in Florida. The one who hangs around here all the time looking shiftless. This so-called kid is already almost 40 and has never had a real job. Maybe I'll call Kinsley over at The New Republic and see if they'll hire him as a contributing editor or something. That looks like easy work.'

The literary editor of The New Republic, Leon Wieseltier, brought the joyous news. "Guess what, Mike. You're mentioned in Reagan's diaries." The diaries were published recently by HarperCollins and were generally well-received. Edited by America's historian-on-steroids, Douglas Brinkley, The Reagan Diaries apparently reveal Reagan to be more thoughtful than he is normally given credit for. Of course, our standards in the area of presidential thoughtfulness have plummeted in recent years. Still, the fact that Reagan was writing it all down was news, and an interesting departure from presidential tradition. Traditionally, presidents use a hidden tape recorder.

But I was more interested in the me angle, frankly. And it was a puzzle. What on earth could Reagan have written? I indulged my imagination, and my ego: "January 22, 1983. Mommie [Nancy] says that Kinsley's column this week in The New Republic undermines the entire philosophical basis of my administration. O dear O dear, I had better not read it."

Or: "October 6, 1987. Why does Kinsley keep picking on me? He is the only thing standing between me and the total destruction of the welfare state. But, ha: I will destroy him--destroy him utterly-- or my name's not … not … not … . Say, they had 'State Fair' on TV last night. What a wholesome, clean-cut young man that Pat Boone is."

Or: "May 17, 1986. A moment I've been dreading. George brought his ne'er-do-well son around this morning and asked me to find the kid a job. Not the political one who lives in Florida. The one who hangs around here all the time looking shiftless. This so-called kid is already almost 40 and has never had a real job. Maybe I'll call Kinsley over at The New Republic and see if they'll hire him as a contributing editor or something. That looks like easy work."

Well, it's certainly true in spirit, though not in literal fact.

I Trust that GWB is a sack-O-shite, and it's not hard to verify. There I go again

No big loss...Dubya gives his critic so much ammo, one "cooked" example won't be missed.

"W" was good enough to keep TWO dims out of the office. Hope Fred is half as good and I think he is.

Hey, Daryl - if Fred Thompson is half as good as I know he is, he won't make a decent doorstop.

Then again, most jokes start with a kernel of truth.

To quote Homer 'It's funny cos it's true!'

Nona's quoting Homer from London. I wonder which of the cartoons clowns the Brits like better, Homer or GDubya?

Fabrication never stopped B#%h-Rove-Cheney from telling it as gospel... The only contribution they've ever made is to the lexicon: the word "swiftboating"

Posting about George Bush seems to have triggered google ads for Ann Coulter to appear on the front page. Good grief!

I am on the edge of my seat to see what Fred Thompson's shirt is stuffed with. I hope he brings his rented red pickup truck to our town.
Fred, the lazysackofshit, couldn't even rise to the level of incompetence shown by the Bush Crime Family without getting winded.
Fred is half as good as Reagan, and Reagan's DEAD!

Dubya gives his critic so much ammo, one "cooked" example won't be missed.
yaa thanks

So how does this prove that the quote is a fake?

I am a smart liberal. You can tell how smart I am by my ability to call people names. See how smart I am!

Bush bad. Me good.

Oregonryan -

Kinsey states "What on earth could Reagan have written? I indulged my imagination, and my ego", thereby alterting readers that it is fiction.

You are one smart liberal! Kudos to you on your intellectual superiority!

Mike,

Perhaps it takes a "smart liberal" to miss one line, but a real brain dead horse's behind to support Bush. As far as I am concerned, the blood of our "War on Terror" is on the hands of POS's like yourself.

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truth+pain=comedy

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