by Kate Conway
The latest Andrew-Breitbart-manufactured phony scandal is just one more nail in the coffin of Breitbart's already dismal credibility.
Breitbart was the first to post video falsely suggesting that Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod had discriminated against a white farmer -- allegations that are rapidly unraveling as they churn through the media.
The fact that Breitbart's poorly researched accusations are falling apart should be no surprise to those familiar with his handiwork. He's the one who coordinated and promoted the release of heavily edited videos purporting to show a pattern of illegal activity among ACORN employees -- but multiple investigations found no such pattern, and Breitbart, along with videographers James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, was repeatedly caught in lies and distortions about the videos. Undaunted by his initial failure to catch ACORN breaking the law, Breitbart later announced that "deeply sensitive and highly political" ACORN documents had been discovered in a dumpster and suggested that "obstruction of justice" might have occurred, yet he never offered evidence that the documents were anything other than trash.
Breitbart again hosted O'Keefe's fact-fuzzy work in June, posting a lackluster effort to "expose" Census workers allegedly being encouraged to falsify their time sheets. Unsurprisingly, even this less-than-shocking video turned out to be edited to exclude footage that inconveniently showed a Census leader telling workers that they must carefully and accurately report on their time sheets the number of miles they drive.
The litany continues: Breitbart also latched on to blogger Jim Hoft's blatantly false and homophobic attacks on Department of Education staffer Kevin Jennings, cross-posting Hoft's tirades on BigGovernment.com. He spearheaded wild distortions of the Kenneth Gladney case, accusing the White House of "directing" town hall violence. Breitbart's websites forwarded the unfounded claim that the National Endowment for the Arts broke the law, and the sites also published an "exclusive" purporting to expose a White House visit by ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis, which turned out to be false.
In September 2009, Breitbart embedded a "shocking" video, which he claimed showed the Gamaliel Foundation praying to President Obama with phrases like "Deliver us Obama" and "Hear our cry Obama." According to the organization, the video actually shows organizers saying "Deliver us, oh God" and "Hear our cry, oh God." When Christmas rolled around, Breitbart invented an absurd scandal in three ornaments on the White House Christmas tree.
So it's not surprising that Breitbart -- who has said that his strategy is to deprive people of information they would need to evaluate his allegations -- has peddled utterly false information once again.
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