The problem with Drudge, is that he has that one link that is not permanent, so, in an hour you can see whatever else. So, here's the story -
XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX MON SEPT 18, 2000 20:04 ET XXXXX

BALDWIN FURY: BLASTS REPORT; SAYS WILL NOT LEAVE USA OVER BUSH

Actoractivist Alec Baldwin, who once claimed he wanted to be "the Matt Drudge of St Bart’s island", blasted the DRUDGE REPORT late Monday for linking to an ASSOCIATED PRESS wire story that stated he was prepared to leave America if George W. Bush was elected president.

"First, always consider the source of anything reported as ‘news‘ ... in my opinion, Matt Drudge is a poor source of any reliable news information," Baldwin declared on his website.

"Drudge forces me to set the record straight... typically, his reports should be reviewed with great skepticism," Baldwin claimed.

Over the weekend the DRUDGE REPORT linked to an ASSOCIATED PRESS report that moved several times on the service’s "A-Wire" with the headline "Baldwins Will Leave if Bush Wins."

The AP report also appeared on the websites of the WASHINGTON POST, LOS ANGELES TIMES, NEWSDAY and dozens of others.

The wire reported: "Kim Basinger said her husband, actor Alec Baldwin, was serious when he said he would leave the United States if the Republican wins."

The DRUDGE REPORT did no original material on Baldwin, yet Baldwin [who starred in the movie MALICE, among others] singled out DRUDGE over all the other Legacy Media outlets: "Matt Drudge has reported that my wife stated in FOCUS magazine that my family would leave the country if George W. Bush were elected president....My wife and I will not ‘leave the country‘, regardless of the outcome of the coming election."

It is not clear if Baldwin still fantasizes about being Drudge, as he recently revealed to COSMOPOLITAN magazine:

"If I had to say honestly what I think each of my brothers would have ended up doing [if they hadn't become actors]: bank robbery for Daniel; running a strip club or being a male stripper for Stephen; Billy would be a Catholic priest, of course, just to further drive women insane; and I would be living on a Caribbean island, with an Internet newsletter, the Matt Drudge of Saint Bart's."

posted by tiaka at 7:55 AM on September 19, 2000

sounds like Alec changes his tune as much as politicans.
posted by john at 11:14 AM on September 19, 2000

Sounds like Alec doesn't understand the difference between writing a story and linking to it.
posted by mikewas at 6:00 PM on September 19, 2000

Who cares?
posted by daveadams at 7:48 AM on September 20, 2000

Looks like he not only said it, but he said the same thing in 1992. From today's Page Six:

TAPE TRIPS UP BLUSTERING BALDWIN


ALEC ("Bloviator") Baldwin is lying when he denies saying he'd leave the country if George W. Bush is elected president. He's said it more than once, and his long-suffering wife, Kim Basinger, evidently heard him.

Basinger was asked by a correspondent for the prestigious German news magazine Focus: "Your husband once said that he might leave the country if the Republicans win the upcoming presidential election. Would you go with him?"

Focus, in its Sept. 18 issue, quoted her as replying: "I can imagine that Alex would follow through with this. And then, I guess, I might go with him."

As negative reaction mounted, Baldwin frantically tried to back off his bombastic promise with a statement planted yesterday in Mitchell Fink's gullible column.

"I never said I'd leave the country, and my wife never heard of Focus magazine and never talked to them," Baldwin was quoted.

In fact, Columbia Tristar set up the meeting between Basinger and Focus U.S. Correspondent Annette Schipprack on April 17 at an international junket promoting the movie "I Dreamed of Africa."

And Schipprack has the entire interview on tape, in case Baldwin and Fink would like to hear Basinger's answer in her own voice. Schipprack says Baldwin can't change Basinger's quote after the fact: "You have to live with what you say."

Focus is the Time and Newsweek of Germany with a weekly circulation of 5.7 million. The magazine's publicist, Ronnie Chasen, told PAGE SIX's Jacquelynn D. Powers: "This is a very serious publication, and they are very scrupulous."

Our spies tell us that big-mouth Baldwin has threatened to flee the U.S. before. Back in 1992, while house-hunting in the Hamptons, he said he'd become an expatriate if the elder Bush triumphed over Bill Clinton. "At first I hoped he was joking, but when I realized he was serious I let the subject drop," recalls our source.

On Monday at a Screen Actors Guild rally, Baldwin told Fox News that if The Dubya wins, it "might be a good time to take a long vacation." He also promised that he is getting out of politics for the duration of the election. Fat chance.

Calls to Baldwin's and Basinger's publicists were not returned. Focus magazine says it expects star-struck columnist Fink to run a retraction.
posted by aaron at 2:16 PM on September 20, 2000