Pandagon

Thanks to you, Ezra, I'm ordering cheesesteak from Penn Station for lunch. Mmm, cheesesteak...

I think the real thing here is that Kerry had some food and then BushCo made the decision to make it political marble (too small for a football) and in doing so, BushCo screwed it up by not even being able to tell the smallest bit of truth.

Personally, I was shocked to think Cheese Whiz was used on a Cheese steak, having never heard of such a thing, "with Wiz" seemded very odd - I was a Chef for 12 years - never would it have occured to me to use Whiz on any food item, let alone feeding it to an adult. I always figured that it was a Cheezzy fake Cheese made for the little kids who have a hard time with "exotic" foods like real cheese... go figure...

Stop with the cheese steak stories!! I am an ex-Jerseyite and have no way to satisfy my cheese steak needs now. RRRRRR!
By the way, I never had Cheese Whiz on my cheese steak. Provolone or American (white American cheese only).
And what kind of amazingly stupid story is this? Next up, President Bush prefers his nachos without jalepenos. Or more importantly, he didn't put mustard on his soft pretzel (of course Laura and Karl probably keep him away from all pretzels these days).

The bad news is that, to a significant number of American voters, Swiss cheese -- the kind you get sliced in packages in a supermarket -- is hoity-toity.

The media? Ignoring actual 'investigamation' and using no-meaning human interest crap as news? You mean, they're lazy?

GASP!

</sarcasm>

Call me cynical, but this shit doesn't surprise me anymore. Not after the last four years. Strike that: not after the last eight years.

Angers me? Oh, hell yeah. Surprises me? Uh, no.

Why is this stupid cheesteak thing being discussed at all?

Chris,

http://www.tasteofphiladelphia.com/taste.html

The Fixer:

The greatest food known to mankind. Includes all of the food groups if done right: vegetables, meat, cheese, bread--and LOTS OF GREASE.

Oops; sorry, Chris: a slightly deeper link makes it easier:

http://www.tasteofphiladelphia.com/menu.html

(They've changed the website severely since the last time I used them...)

Obviously if Kerry doesn't like cheese from a can then he knows nothing about our economy or protecting America and our interests. Geez

And now we're still discussing the intricacies of how Kerry won his medals in Viet Nam. Gotta admit, Bush co. is leading the agenda but boy do they look foolish doing it. The snarky crap won't stick come Oct. Nov.

The whole thing really shouldn't dignify comment.

But I wrote Candy Crowley, and asked her if she could picture Eric Sevaried or Lowell Thomas delivering a report about whether John Kerry's bites were too "dainty."

This really is a new low for media triviality, superciliousness, and clowning.

The bad news is that, to a significant number of American voters, Swiss cheese -- the kind you get sliced in packages in a supermarket -- is hoity-toity.

A) This is hilarious.
B) This is true.
C) The whole thing is retarded, we can all agree...but here is the kicker.
Am I the only person in the whole country who has heard of, nay, eaten a sandwich called a "Philly Steak and Swiss"? http://beef.allrecipes.com/az/phillystksndwich.asp
Type "philly steak and swiss" into Google, and just look at the results. Except for the Wapo story, the rest are recipes for the Philly "cheese steak" with SWISS CHEESE!

For Christ sake, it's so popular it spawned a pizza! The "Philly Steak and Swizz Pizza"! In my book, that makes the sandwich that Kerry ordered in the same realm as:
Tacos
Cheeseburgers
Buffalo Chicken
(all of these once singular items have been made into pizzas.)

JESUS TITS! HAS THE WHOLE WORLD GONE CRAZY!

To extend the stupidity, one could also plausibly take away from this story the 'fact' that that neither Bush nor Kerry cares about the religious Jewish vote because they blatantly ignoring one of their key dietary rules (mixing milk with meat).

Jews Beware! Nobody Likes You!!

(all of the above is sarcastic, just in case that somehow got missed)

'they blatantly' should be 'they're blatantly' in the above. Sorry for the typo.

I blame everyone. Now I will be fat, because I had to go get a Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich...which just "happened" to be the daily special at Brothers. Coincidence? I think not.

Cowboy -
"Philly Steak and Swiss" Yup, heard of it, and made them too. Note however, as it states "philly steak" and Swiss. So what we have is that the steak is philly.

As a former Chef my experience shows me that the standard Cheese Steak (philly - non philly, or whatever ) is made of the following.

Thinly sliced slow roasted beef - cut against the grain for tenderness - salt pepper - regrilled with the following:
Onions and Peppers ( type of peppers differ depending upon region - sweet sport type peppers more so in the East and Green Bells more so in the West)
and finished with Cheese - Provolone is the most Standard Cheese to use. It's mild taste lets the flavor of the beef, onion and peppers to come through and not get lost under the heavy taste of say, Cheddar cheese. The cheese can really can be described best as binding agent for the items in the sandwich.
The only other cheese I've ever made a traditional cheese steak with is with Swiss. As is in "Philly steak and Swiss", like you said.

Oh and the Bread - French roll - hard crust - soft inside.

Cheez Whiz , yuk, gag, why ruin a good sandwich.

I'd like to comment about how outraged, outraged I am about a presidential campaign making an issue of something so shallow. However, I distinctly remember having great fun watching a video of Howard Dean campaign staff digging into philly cheesesteaks after this flap during the primary season.

The only difference, as far as I can tell, is that Bush takes this all just a little too seriously.

I think the way to combat this and all other stupid things of this nature is by using one word:

SO?

Really. Try it.

Kerry likes Swiss cheese on his Philly!

SO?

Kerry used the word "sensitive!"

SO?

Paris Hilton lost her widdle doggy?

SO?

Easy.

I'm fairly sure that the only people who order Whiz on their cheesesteaks are tourists who think that that's the way the locals eat it, and who like the faux-authenticity of the wit/widdout lingo. I don't know any locals who eat it that way.

I'm ex-Philadelphian and many locals do eat'em with Whiz. But they also eat them with swiss. That's why it's on the menu. God, it's not like Kerry special-ordered it with brie or something.

I think it was Jay Leno who once said he tries to avoid eating any food with the word whiz in it's name.

Jonathan, do the Whiz-favorers order them that way whenever they get a chance, or just at Pat's? I don't think my corner pizza/steak place (on the border between South Philly and Center City) even has Whiz, and believe me, it's not because their standards are too high.

If eating 'wiz with' somehow means Bush has more in common with Philadelphians or something, well, it doesn't. I've lived in Philadelphia for 14 years -- I'm a 'provolone with' girl.

God, it's not like Kerry special-ordered it with brie or something.

Brie is very good on a burger.

SO?

So basically (a) Kerry has apparently had enough cheese steaks to know how he likes 'em--and orders what he wants like a Real Man™, whereas (b) Bush can't even order junk food without his handlers telling him what to get.

But you're right about it being an insanely stupid issue.

Funny, this was originally promoted as Edwards faux pas during the Iowa primaries. The great thing about made-up stories is that they can be just shifted from one person to the other.

In other news, I hear that Syria has WMD.

It depends on what your definition of whiz is.