Lott Mission Accomplished: Right wing runs with his Jennings smear

Yesterday, we pointed out that Fox News' unofficial gay-baiter Maxim Lott had followed up on his false allegations against Department of Education official Kevin Jennings - which resulted in a humiliating retraction - with a new smear piece.

In an article headlined “Obama's Safe Schools Czar Tied to Lewd Readings for 7th Graders,” Lott reported that Jennings “is under fresh attack after it was revealed that the pro-gay group he formerly headed recommends books his critics say are pornographic.” Lott buried the group's disclaimer that those books recommended for grades 7-12 “contain mature themes” and the recommendation that “adults selecting books for youth review content for suitability,” grossly distorted the contents of those books, and at least two of the “critics” he cited are anti-gay bigots.

In short, he did an atrocious job. But hey, if there's anything we've learned over the past months, it's that there's a market for smears of Jennings; no matter how dubious, the right-wing fever swamp will run with it.

And so, Gateway Pundit - who's been channeling Jennings smears from the anti-gay “hate group” MassResistance for the past few weeks -- quickly picked it up:

Gateway Pundit site

And, of course, it's currently the top story on Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment.com:

Big Government site

Oh, by the way, neither Hoft nor BigGovernment are acknowledging that Lott actually debunks one of the false smears they pushed - that “fisting kits” were distributed at a 2001 GLSEN event. According to Lott, “The kit was actually for making a ”dental dam" -- designed to prevent STD transmission during oral sex." Which, of course, was pretty obvious, given that the kit reportedly consisted of “a single plastic glove, a package of K-Y lubricant,” and instructions titled “How to Make a Dental Dam From a Latex Glove.”