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Laugh along as Gateway Pundit makes stuff up about the Pentagon shooter

March 08, 2010 12:59 pm ET by Eric Boehlert

Last week, right-wing bloggers were frantically trying to claim that John Patrick Bedell, who was killed after he opened fired on Pentagon security officers, was a loony liberal and that Bedell's attacks had nothing to do with the increasing bouts of anti-government violence spreading on the far-ring end of the political spectrum. 

The supposed proof of Bedell's liberal leanings seemed pretty thin. But this one concocted by Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit was almost comical in the sheer dishonesty of the charge [emphasis added]:

UPDATE: So... Will the state-run media report this?
The Pentagon shooter is linked to several gay rights groups along with PETA, NPR, various drug legalization orgs, Greenpeace and Al Franken. 

Oh my, Bedell was linked to lots of liberal groups and even a lib senator. But when readers clicked on the Gateway Pundit link, they ended up at Left Coast Rebel, which tried to deduce all kinds of information about Bedell from his Facebook page: 

I don't have access or visibility to Bedell's profile or friends. What I do have though is a list of the friends that his profile is linked to. Right off the bat I see several middle eastern sounding names many students. A large number of Bedell's friends seem to be of Indian descent - not surprising considering John Bedell's tech/science background. I even see actress Mary Bradley on here as well.

I found friends of Bedell were linked to several gay rights activist groups along with PETA, NPR, various drug legalization organizations, Greenpeace, Al Franken and a whole bunch of other stuff.

The right-wing blogger didn't have access to Bedell's FB profile, but the blogger did get to poke around Bedell's friends and found out Bedell's FB friends linked to some liberal orgs and pols. So what does Gateway Pundit do? He announces that Bedell was "linked" to the liberals outposts and politicians. Why? Because Bedell's FB friends had associations with them.

That's right, according to Hoft's fool-proof logic, every Facebook user is now "linked to" every group and interest that their hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of FB friends connect to. 

Nifty trick, eh? 

Behold "conservative journalism." 

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    • Author by Ruby (March 08, 2010 1:04 pm ET)
      9  
      Haha. I have at least 20 to 30 facebook friends who regularly link to the drudge report or are fans of Hannity, Limbaugh and co and are members of organizations promoting concealed carry on college campuses (which I am very much opposed to).

      I guess that makes me a rabid right-winger.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by magnolialover (March 08, 2010 2:17 pm ET)
        5  
        Same here, same here....
        Report Abuse
      • Author by Andy Kreiss (March 08, 2010 2:40 pm ET)
        4  
        I had a FB friend who was a fan of Glenn (or Gleen) Beck and Sarah Palin up until a few days ago. Whew, good thing she deleted me.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by jon wisby (March 08, 2010 1:10 pm ET)
      10  
      Where's Kevin Bacon?
      Report Abuse
    • Author by ScienceBuff (March 08, 2010 1:12 pm ET)
      5  
      MMFA -

      Correction: The shooter's name is John Patrick Bodell, not James Patrick Bodell
      Report Abuse
    • Author by MeanMrSpicyMustard (March 08, 2010 1:14 pm ET)
      9  
      Bedell also played Mafia Wars, thus providing irrefutable evidence of his connection to Sicilian crime lords.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by Andy Kreiss (March 08, 2010 2:44 pm ET)
        3  
        I heard he was a fan of Bruce Springsteen. Springsteen's band includes a guitar player who is clearly shown in undercover videos operating a strip club, using and selling drugs and participating in organized crime activities.

        I'm not sure if Breitbart has the unedited videos, but I think there is further investigation needed.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by stringerbell (March 08, 2010 3:12 pm ET)
          3  
          This is all very bad. Not only do we have one of those wacky anti-government leftist types but we also have someone with ties to the mob.
          Report Abuse
    • Author by rwmacdonald2091 (March 08, 2010 1:19 pm ET)
      5  
      Gotta hand it to those crack "reporters" over at Gateway !
      Report Abuse
    • Author by stringerbell (March 08, 2010 1:58 pm ET)
      4  
      Great find, MMFA. Watching these troglodytes try to do investigating journalism is a high form of comedy.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by historygeek001 (March 08, 2010 3:04 pm ET)
      4  
      Wow....does ANYBODY truly think this makes sense?
      Report Abuse
      • Author by mattcable250650 (March 08, 2010 3:31 pm ET)
        3  
        I was concerned that people might try to read some meaning into:
        Right off the bat I see several middle eastern sounding names many students.
        I mean, I hope that's not considered a meaningful bit of data.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by TX (March 08, 2010 4:33 pm ET)
      1  
      ahhh...but the fact that he was a registered Democrat is completely ignored by MMFA...registered in 2005 and 2008 as a Democrat!
      Report Abuse
      • Author by eweston8542983 (March 08, 2010 9:25 pm ET)
           
        A liberal republican maybe a mythological beast, but conservative demoncrats exist in considerable numbers. There's even a term for it, blue dog democrat. What with idiological purity running wild in neocon circles the rejected can go to the Independants, or the Democrats, or?

        Shuffle on over to Gateway Pundit. I'm sure they'll take your unsupported word for it and run with it. MMfa may say nothing about it if its true. I'm sure they'd cover any therefore that GP puts out based on it if that therefore is otherwise unsupported.

        Round here we like some proof, sources, links.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by roverflash (March 08, 2010 6:06 pm ET)
         
      So because I have a Facebook friend that is a "fan" of the "O.B.A.M.A. (One Big Ass Mistake, America)" page (he also "like"d it and commented, "OMG I LOVE THIS"), then I'm linked to the right-wing fringe? I guess I should delete him.
      Report Abuse

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