HuffPo Reveals Coordination On Right

Actually they're just reprinting your typical Media Matters drivel.

1:18 a.m.*: Breitbart posts Sherrod video, calls her "racist," claims "Context is everything."

Fox News amplifies Breitbart's deceptively edited video

12:13 p.m.: Hoft runs with Breitbart video.

12:55 p.m.: HotAir's Morrissey: "Breitbart hits NAACP with promised video of racism."

1:40 p.m. (approximately): Fox Nation accuses Sherrod of "discrimination caught on tape" before she resigned.

1:49 p.m.: Ace of Spades picks up Sherrod story, calls it an example of "your government, working for you."

3:31 p.m.: Elizabeth Scalia of the blog The Anchoress raises questions about the editing of Breitbart's video.

4:01 p.m. Ace of Spades reports that CBS' NYC affiliate picked up Sherrod story, declares, "Breitbart gets results."

4:28 p.m. (approximately): Sherrod story hits Drudge.

4:50 p.m.: Breitbart tweets to Media Matters: "Tomorrow's gonna be a long day."

7:51 p.m.*: Big Government links to a FoxNews.com article reporting that Sherrod had resigned and USDA repudiated her remarks.

8:21 p.m.: Allahpundit questions the video's editing, but says he will "assume Breitbart's edit is fair to the spirit of her remarks."

8:50 p.m.: O'Reilly airs Breitbart's Sherrod video

9:04 p.m.: "Fox News Alert": Hannity reports that Sherrod has resigned and discusses the incident with Gingrich.

Number of emails to/from Allah, Ed, The Anchoress, Jim Hoft, any representatives at Fox, or Andrew Breitbart to/fom Myself: Zero, until today, an hour ago, when The Anchoress emailed me this link about how we "coordinated."

Last time I emailed anyone on that list was two days ago, when I emailed Ed to tell him his Gallup story was wrong (and he didn't email back).

Before that? I wrote Andrew Breitbart on Sunday about getting me in touch with someone he might or might not know (it was a total flier) about non-political business (he didn't email back).

Before that? Some point in the last month I emailed Allah some one-line observation, I think about a person, rather than politics (he didn't email back).

Before that? I am pretty sure I have not contacted any of these people, nor been contacted by them, it at least three months. I have almost never emailed The Anchoress or Jim Hoft, ever, and nor they me; I used to email Allah every so often, but we sort of stopped doing that (or he stopped, then I did); and I have traded like two or three emails, all short tip-type things, with Ed Morrissey, in, like, my entire life.

I spoke with one guy at Fox, one day, like a year and a half ago ago, about some blog sort of thing, I don't even remember the details. Something like, I don't know, a cross-fire blog thing or something. I forget.

This was my last contact with anyone from FoxNews; indeed, I don't believe I know the email of a single person at FoxNews. I was on there one time; that email may or may not work. Haven't used it since -- what? -- three or four years ago now?

By the way, since Media Matters is discussing "smearing" people with innuendos without fact-checking:

Number of calls or emails I received from anyone at Media Matters asking me if I had "coordinated" with anyone, or asking me for comment on their upcoming smear: Zero

But thanks for looking into the facts, Media Matters!

Do what I say, not what I do!

Oh: There was some coordination -- between myself and my cobloggers.

"TRScoop" bravely, I think, confessed strong doubts about the story on Twitter, and linked the Glenn Beck piece casting doubts on it. I retweeted him, not sure if he was right, but respecting his guts in offering a counter-to-the-crowd opinion, and then posted the video on my site.

Then I talked in emails to cobloggers Drew, Dave, Slublog, and Laura, and Gabe I think, and we were all having the same doubts, it turned out: Since that morning there had first come the new information that the story related was 24 years old, and then came the revelation that the farmers in question were vouching for the woman.

Then came the full video from the NAACP, which I saw on Hot Air, not because Allah tipped me, but just because I check there ten times a day.

And in that tape, at 16:20-16:40, Sherrod says she thought she was taking a vow to help only black people, but the following tale opened her eyes, which was a clear statement that her views had changed, and that was of course excised from the first video, and anyway, then after we'd watched Beck, we all sort of realized: Shit, this story is wrong, way wrong.

So there was, I guess, coordination there. That "coordination" consisted of me tossing out the Beck video and asking for reassurance that the facts seemed as poor for us as I was starting to suspect, and getting that reassurance.

Gabe also tipped me that the Anchoress had always had suspicions (which I'd seen Allah note on Twitter the night before, and really wondered about).

This "coordination" with the cobloggers took about 15 minutes, and in the course of that 15 minutes, I updated the post several times and also changed the headline to indicate my increasing skepticism in the story, and then in the comments it came out more and more.

So that was the coordination going on here -- me asking the other bloggers here if I was crazy, or if this story was a stone-cold piece of shit, and they offering the opinion "Yeah, looks pretty damn weak now."

Again, I would have told this to Media Matters had they bothered to check their innunedos against the fact, or at least contact the subjects of a story for comment or denial, but they didn't bother.

And damn that Andrew Breitbart, and FoxNews, and right-wing bloggers, rushing stories out there without any fact-checking for fair request for comment....

By the way, since Media Matters posted this, it has been picked up by the Huffington Post.

Gee, how did that happen so quickly, guys?!!

Important Update: Andy Levy just coordinated with me to tell me I do in fact know his email.

True. I didn't think of him "at Fox" (and I'm sure Fox barely does either).

Still -- okay, my coordination with Andy Levy consists of one sentence about once every sixty days.

I'm tellin' ya, we just don't talk. We don't. I don't know if these other bastards talk. They probably do. They're probably all coordinating with each other, daily.

Me? I'm ostracized, baby.

posted by Ace at 07:58 PM

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