Iran news agency reprints 'Onion' story

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TEHRAN, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- Iran's Fars News Agency, citing The Onion, said 77 percent of rural white U.S. voters would rather have a beer with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than President Obama.

The news agency reprinted the story word for word, apparently unaware The Onion is a satirical publication, The Washington Post reported Friday.

A number of U.S. newspapers have made a similar mistake, and Onion stories used to show up occasionally as the top story on a subject on Google news. But most U.S. readers would probably have laughed at a report saying "77 percent of rural Caucasian voters ... would much rather go to a baseball game or have a beer with Ahmadinejad, a man who has repeatedly denied the Holocaust and has had numerous political prisoners executed, than spend time with Obama."

The Onion attributed the poll to the Gallup Organization.

"According to the same Gallup poll, 60 percent of rural whites said they at least respected that Ahmadinejad doesn't try to hide the fact that he's Muslim," the Onion story said.

Ahmadinejad, president of Iran and a devout Muslim, does not drink -- at least not in public.