Benvenuto, amici!
As noted here by Laughing Vergil, after Romney’s claim that Jeep is sending manufacturing to China went up in flames, Romney’s noble internet steed Matt Drudge added a new dimension to the story by linking to the right-wing National Legal and Policy Center's claim that in fact Jeep was moving production to Italy and not to China. The Jeep to Italy story appears to have surfaced on October 19, when two Italian newspapers, Il Messaggero and Il Mattino, reported Jeep was going to begin production of two new Jeep SUVs in Italy for export to the United States.
As of this morning, Drudge has scrubbed his site of any mention of Jeep. And that is probably because Drudge "forgot" to read Jeep’s unambiguous response to the Jeep to Italy rumors on the same day:
In a statement issued this morning, the company said: “Articles published in today’s Il Messaggero and Il Mattino referring to a so-called “Marchionne plan” to be announced on October 30 are pure journalistic speculation and entirely without foundation.”
A spokesman added, “And Dr. Marchionne has even more beard …” implying that even the pictures accompanying the stories were wrong.
Desperate much?
P.S. And how is Chrysler (which owns Jeep) doing these days post-Romney Obama bailout, you ask? Well, Chrysler profits soared 80% in the 3rd quarter this year.