$16 muffins — or incomplete invoices?

The $16 muffin: It’s just another piece of evidence that federal spending is out of control, according to pundit Bill O’Reilly and others who have pounced on an inspector general’s report as evidence of a wasteful Washington.

O’Reilly left his usual perch hosting The O’Reilly Factor on Fox News to visit Jon Stewart, host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show. 

“The $16 dollar muffin — do we all know what the $16 muffin is?” O’Reilly said, looking around. Stewart hadn’t heard, which seemed to delight O’Reilly, while the audience guffawed.

“Look, $16 muffin,” O’Reilly explained. “Broke the story last week on ‘The Factor.’ You were otherwise occupied, making your little wise remarks, not reading what’s happening. They had a bunch of conferences for pin heads, the federal government’s, and they ordered 250 muffins at 16 bucks a piece.”

“That’s a lot for muffins,” Stewart said, playing the straight guy.

“Yeah!” said O’Reilly.

The trouble with O’Reilly’s anecdote is that it’s not entirely accurate. Read our complete report to find out why.