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Nixon Has a Burrito
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It all probably started innocently enough. Tuesday, President Obama and Vice President Biden decided to stop into a burger joint in Arlington, Virginia. Unfortunately for all involved, the media coverage of The Obama/Biden Lunch Date was relentless. MSNBC even covered the event live, with poor Andrea Mitchell having to ad-lib about cheeseburgers for about ten minutes. It was rough.

But not so rough that Jon Stewart couldn’t mock it with a special guest – Dan Rather. I have no idea how The Daily Show producers talked Dan Rather into it, but they got him to don a wig and 1970s polyester, and then do a skit that’s being called “Nixon Has A Burrito”. It’s like the producers were getting high, and they said “Wouldn’t it be righteous to spoof the Obama-Biden lunch as if it were circa 1972? That would be awesome.” And it was!

Dan Rather joined Jon Stewart in mocking the media’s coverage of President Obama and Vice President Biden’s trip to Ray’s Hell Burger Tuesday by dressing up as a 1973 newsman and creating a fake report of a Nixon/Kissinger burrito run.

“I’m standing outside Washington, DC’s Cancun Mexican restaurant,” Rather said, dressed in a wig. “Inside, President Nixon and Secretary of State Kissinger are enjoying some traditional Mexican entrees. I’m told the President ordered Mexicana Madness — that’s a spicy chicken burrito — while Dr. Kissinger opted for a fish taco (lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, onions, and copious amounts of a substance known to locals as ‘guacamole’).”

Rather continued, reporting that Nixon and Kissinger got separate checks — “they’re going Dutch on this!” — and joking that Nixon said he doesn’t make his own burritos because, “I am not a cook.”

[From The Huffington Post]

What really sells it is Dan Rather’s commitment to the bit. He seems to actually be taking it seriously, and that’s what’s got me giggling. That, and the wig. And the polyester. Dan Rather was actually part of the White House press corps during the Nixon administration, so I’d imagine he did get some White House press releases about food – but I doubt Nixon was ever a burrito man.