Obama draws scorn -- over broccoli

David Jackson | USA TODAY

President Obama told a student reporter this week that his favorite food is broccoli -- news that has drawn its fair share of skepticism, at least on Twitter.

"Obama tells kid journalist his favorite food is broccoli. And his favorite activity is lying to children," scoffed Comedy Central's Indecision blog in a tweet.

Some observers pointed out Obama's fondness for pizza, hamburgers, ribs, and various sweets on the campaign trail.

Others tried to turn it into a political statement, citing President George H.W. Bush's famous distaste for the leafy vegetable.

"What kind of POTUS says his fav food is Broccoli?" tweeted Ari Fleischer, former press secretary for President George W. Bush. "Same one who in 2008 complained about the price of arugula at Whole Foods."

Perhaps Obama was just trying to say the right thing -- he was attending a healthy eating event, after all, a "Kids' State Dinner" for the winners of a contest for healthy food recipes.

Some Obama partisans sought to turn the broccoli issue back on their critics. Long-time political adviser David Plouffe tweeted: "All GOP 2016ers will now have to pledge to never eat broccoli again."

Yahoo News collected these and other broccoli-related tweets, including one from LOLGOP that referred to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden: "BREAKING: Venezuela offers asylum to America's broccoli."

Others said the broccoli story said more about the state of modern media.

Said Slate's Dave Weigel: "This broccoli discussion is more proof that you could fire half the press corps at random and America would be fine."