The TV Zone

Yes, this story was way to good to be true - another joyously ridiculous example of our over-entertained age - but now the question is: What this just another one of those web hoaxes (that are too good to be true?)

I'm speaking of that Hillary Clinton invite to "Dancing with the Stars" that made the rounds everywhere yesterday. The genesis of it was a little difficult to track - TMZ claims it had the story first, though TVGuide.com lays authorship off on "ET."

What am I talking about? Simply this - and I quote fully from the TVGuide.com story:

"ET reports that [Dancing with the Stars] invited the presidential hopeful to appear on the tour after she expressed an interest in the show during an interview with Tyra Banks. (Clinton said that if she had to choose between appearing on America's Next Top Model or Dancing, she'd go with the latter.)"

That's it; yuk yuk. We were all left to ponder Hillary doing the Mambo with Derek Hough or maybe Jonathan Roberts. And also wonder: Why would "DWTS" send her a letter to join the tour when they know full well that she'd have no intention of joining? Ever.

Yuk yuk.

But what if this was all one of those dumb stunts, cooked up to fool the press (and maybe embarass a candidate too)?

TMZ claims it got a copy of a letter/invite from the show, and has posted it on its site. (It takes a little while to download; be patient.) But something like this, of course, would be very easy to fake.

I tried to get a comment from ABC, and they sent me to "DWTS'" uber-PR agency, Solters.

Here was their one-line response, received last night: "We weren't able to confirm the letter's authenticity."

I'll leave it to you to figure out the meaning of this. It seems obvious to me.