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Breitbart's site invents more facts. Or, so much for conservative "journalism"

October 01, 2009 8:02 am ET by Eric Boehlert

Here's the Big Government headline [emphasis added]:

Massive Voter Fraud in NY Linked to ACORN

Wow, sounds like a big deal. And Big Government even linked to a legit news org for the details, the Albany Times Union. Here's the newspaper's excerpt that Big Government posted:

Dozens of forged and fraudulent absentee ballots from people registered to vote on the Working Families Party line were filed in the Sept. 15 primary elections in Troy.

Documents at the county Board of Elections show the fraudulent ballots were handled by or prepared on behalf of various elected officials and leaders and operatives for the Democratic and Working Families parties.

There may be as many as 50 absentee ballots that were forged, according to people close to the case. Countywide, there were 126 absentee ballots applied for on the Working Families Party line.

Okay. A) In the world of Big Government, 50 questionable absentee ballots qualifies as "massive voter fraud." Good to know.

And B) What does any of that have to do with ACORN, which we're told is "linked" to the case? Well, according to the Times Union, the fraud case has nothing to do with ACORN. In fact, ACORN is never mentioned in the article; an article Big Government flagged as proof of a massive ACORN fraud case.

The "link" only came when Big Government rolled out its right-wing attempt at guilt-by-association. It only worked when Big Government linked to partisan GOP dirty trickster Roger Stone, that paragon of good taste, to spell out the supposed link.

Andrew Breitbart seems to be upset that Media Matters keeps picking apart his online reporting. Apparently Breitbart wants to be a player in conservative "journalism," he just doesn't want anyone else to point out the gaping holes in the stuff that gets posted on his sites.

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    • Author by fawltylogic (October 01, 2009 10:22 am ET)
         
      Well, WFP IS "linked" to ACORN, if we're supposed to believe what they say, so technically they are correct.

      ACORN as an organization isn't involved though, but without that link, Breitbart wouldn't be interested.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by historygeek001 (October 01, 2009 11:27 am ET)
      2 1
      Andrew Breitbart -- delusional, incompetent, lying, or some combination of all three?
      Report Abuse
      • Author by NiceguyEddie (October 01, 2009 12:09 pm ET)
        1  
        "Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by stupidty."

        So take your pick. Personally, I think he satisfies the burden of proof for malice (lying) however.

        ------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Just my take
        Report Abuse
    • Author by rottenacorn (October 01, 2009 2:07 pm ET)
      1 1
      Actually, the WFP has been easily and substantially linked to ACORN, including the Karen Scharff mentioned in the Times Union article. There was a second article linked off the BigGovernment site which referenced several sources that demonstrated connections between the WFP and ACORN. That would include one reference to a 'legit news org' as you say, the Times Union.

      I don't think Breitbart is upset with you're picking apart his reporting. I think he's more upset at your inability to pick apart his reporting, and then pretending you've done so.

      Media hasn't Mattered for quite some time, and that includes this column.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by mattcable250650 (October 01, 2009 5:07 pm ET)
           
        If Breitbart really cared about making a solid case that ACORN was connected in any substantive way to the piece he links to, it's up to him to not make readers do the detective work that you did.
        MMFA has said the same in regards to disclosing conflicts of interest. It's not enough to say in some column three weeks ago that you're married to some guy who's now connected to a case that you're now writing on, you need to say that up front in the piece where it's directly relevant.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by mattcable250650 (October 01, 2009 5:01 pm ET)
      1  
      Google says that the population of Troy is almost 50,000. Perhaps half of the population are eligible voters and maybe a quarter of that number voted in a local election. 50 bad ballots out of 7,500? Really? Is that what's getting these people all excitable?
      Report Abuse

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