Mother Jones Lays Out History Of Deception Behind Right Wing's "Sting Videos"
March 31, 2011 8:36 am ET by Media Matters staff
A March 31 post on Mother Jones magazine laid out the right wing's history of deceptive and misleading "sting videos." The post summarized what was included in the videos, what was edited out, Andrew Breitbart's involvement, and the lasting effects of each project. From Mother Jones:
I think of it like I think of the names of local Chinese food spots. In general, it's [Positive-sounding English Phrase] + [Asian Region or Country Name] + [Mythical Beast]. For example, No. 1 Chinese Phoenix, or Good Fortune Hunan Dragon.
For Fox it's ([Minority Group] or [Political Opposition Member]) + [Inflated Action] + "..." + "Is this the end of [Jingoistic Phrase] as we know it?"
The [Inflated Action] can be anything, as long as the actual action is blown out of proportion (for example, "questions cashier over the correct amount of change" becomes "hassles store clerk, commits extortion").
This is how you get headlines like:
"Black woman hassles store clerk, commits extortion....Is this the end of the Free Market as we know it?"
You know, maybe something like: "Homeless people actually nation-destroying communists who refuse to work"
Or maybe: "Impoverished school children: Why do THEY get a free breakfast?"
Real heart-warming, patriotastic stuff.
I'd love to see one of them actual pony up, and go on welfare for 2 months to see how "easy" it is to live on welfare. Give them the same amount of money/food stamps that a typical welfare receiver gets, then see if they can take care of rent, food, clothes, and other essential items.
Something tells me, they wouldn't be up for the challenge.
Not going to happen.
First they would have to sell their house and car and then spend all their liquid assets, including 401k, etc before they could even qualify.
Second they would have to actually be starving enough to put up with the hassle of all the paperwork, etc before you ever get approved and get a check.
The idea that it's easy to survive on government assistance is nonsense. It's even tougher when one is on "welfare".
The ultimate irony is that you wouldn't have to doctor inflammatory off the cuff remarks by leading conservative figures to get an outrageous legacy of embarrassment and corruption revealed. Just a cursory glance of the archives of media matters exposes far worse deeds and expressed views than O'Keefe's fabricated smear stunts.
It's like the old talking point about Obama attending a "radical" church, while the same folks attend churches that talk about homosexuals as something less than human, and compare them with child molesters and bestiality.