New Right Wing Defense: Being Quoted Accurately = “Smear,” “Hit job”

We really are approaching laugh-or-cry territory when it comes to the increasingly unhinged members of Andrew Breitbart's farm system of wayward bloggers. I don't know if it's the lawsuit Breitbart and his colleague were recently hit with regarding the Shirley Sherrod smear campaign, or the realization that the beloved Pigford crusade is heading to the trash heap of history, but something has gone seriously wrong over there and the results are at times hysterically funny, and at times just creepy.

Basically, the new defense among Breitbart bloggers such as Jim Hoft and Dana Loesch is that if you accurately quote or characterize things they say and write, then you're guilty of smearing them and unleashing hit jobs. That's right, if you accurately quote them.

For instance, former Salon editor Joan Walsh appeared on Hardball this week and called out Breitbart blogger Hoft for his shocking blog post in which he clearly blamed CBS reporter Lara Logan for being sexually assaulted by an Egyptian mob.

Here was Walsh [emphasis added]:

There's a whole wave of people on the blogosphere, Gateway Pundit and Debbie Schlussel who are basically blaming Lara Logan for her — for what happened to her because she dared to go report on Islam, rather than treating it as this sexist, brutal religion.

Hoft's hysterical reaction? Note his whiny headline:

Outrageous. CNN's Anderson Cooper and Salon Editor Joan Walsh Smear Gateway Pundit & Common Sense

Forget that Cooper never even mentioned Hoft, so that part of the headline is a complete fabrication. (Surprise!) But how had Walsh smeared Hoft? She smeared him by accurately describing what he wrote on his website.

I cannot make this up.

Nor can I make up the fact that Hoft's colleague from Breitbart World, Dana Loesch, lashed out wildly at Media Matters on Twitter yesterday, accusing us of unleashing a “hitjob” on her.

What exactly did Media Matters do to formulate the dastardly “hitjob”? We published a research item quoting all the unkind things Loesch has said over the years about CNN (“biggest bunch of idiot blockheads”), while noting that CNN recently hired her to be a contributor. That's right, Media Matters accurately quoted Loesch's own words (she hasn't disputed any of it), therefore according to full-time victim Loesch, we authored a “hitjob.”

Um, okay.

When you take a step back from this intellectual pileup, the truth is these`wingers aren't even trying any more. I mean, they just make stuff up around the clock, Media Matters and others debunk their lame efforts within minutes, and instead of copping to the fabrications, or at least playing dumb, they've now adopted the insanely annoying shtick of playing victim: Not fair! You quoted our own words and published them for people to read. Bullies!

Really? I mean it. Really?