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WASHINGTON--First Lady Michelle Obama shopped at a suburban Target on Thursday and some right wing perma critics--Glenn Beck for one--jumped all over her after pictures of her pushing a shopping cart wearing sunglasses and a Nike cap were published. Beck said he did not believe Mrs. Obama shopped at Target before she was First Lady. Fact Check: Beck is wrong. He is unaware for Mrs. Obama's fondness for the chain--especially the Target on Roosevelt Road in Chicago.
Mrs. Obama has some very high-end elite, expensive shopping tastes--but fair is fair. She also likes to shop at Target and has talked about the loss of her ability just to roam the aisles of a Target.
Beck, of course, is entitled to his opinion, but should frame his arguments without making up stuff. Beck went on a rant against Mrs. Obama over the Target outing and said, "I don't believe you were shopping at Target when you were not First Lady."
Mrs. Obama herself has talked about shopping at Target, as has her former Chief of Staff. Her purchases on her Thursday Target visit, I confirmed with a White House source, included treats for Bo, the family dog--dog food and dog toys.
*In a January, 2010 interview with a group print reporters--I was one--Mrs. Obama was asked about what she missed about her Chicago life. Said Mrs. Obama, "going to the Target on Roosevelt Road and going to the Dominick's. I mean, small things."
*In a March, 2011 symposium on First Ladies sponsored by American University, former First Lady Chief of Staff Susan Sher reflected on Mrs. Obama's wishing she could go out and shop.
Mrs. Obama has talked about missing being able to shop at the Roosevelt Road Target in Chicago, a place Sher said the first lady can visualize "up and down every aisle." A while back, Sher asked her to go "on an outing" with her to see an exhibit at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. "She got so excited" about the "field trip" because "the Secret Service told her that we can walk ....she didn't know it was literally across the street." Even these kinds of outings are rare, Sher said.
President Obama commented Friday on Mrs. Obama's shopping trip to the Alexandria Target. "I'm glad she can sneak off," Obama told Michael Smerconish, the radio talk show host. Obama said if there is one thing she loves to do, it is to "go shopping at Target."
Kristina Schake, Mrs. Obama's communications chief said in a statement Friday, "It is not uncommon for the First Lady to slip out to run an errand, eat at a local restaurant or otherwise enjoy the city outside the White House gates."
Lynn Sweet is a columnist and the Washington Bureau Chief for the 
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