Yesterday's testimony by Attorney General Eric Holder before a House Appropriations subcommittee concluded without the theatrical fireworks that many of his recent appearances before Congress have included. The hearing was so comparably calm that Holder even mentioned that he appreciated the more even-keeled tone of the questions even though some were critical of his tenure at the Department of Justice.

So naturally the right-wing media cherry-picked a brief moment where Holder showed somewhat heightened emotions and made that moment the focus of their hearing coverage, saying Holder was “not able to hold back his emotions,” and describing Holder “losing his cool” as he “slammed the table” in response to congressional questioning.

Fox News America Live host Megyn Kelly teased a segment on Holder's testimony by saying “wait until you hear what's ticking off Eric Holder today,” later describing an exchange between Holder and Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-KS) by saying that Holder was “not able to hold back his emotions.”

The Daily Caller's Matthew Boyle apparently found this angle so compelling that he wrote a highly derivative article adding little more than misleading hyperbole and bit of background information. Boyle has previously pushed a narrative of Holder of being unable to control his temper, claiming that he "lashe[d] out" during an exchange with a Daily Caller employee. In a separate article solely about complaints from conservative critics about this purported "loss of control," Boyle even paraphrased an activist suggesting Holder may be "dangerously unstable."

Boyle continued that depiction today, writing about the exchange with Rep. Yoder in an article headlined “Holder loses cool during House hearing when asked about the ATF's failed operation Fast and Furious.” Boyle:

A visibly frustrated Attorney General Eric Holder slammed the table when responding to a question about Operation Fast and Furious during a Tuesday budget hearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies.

This is a highly exaggerated description of Holder's testimony, in which Holder forcefully said that he ordered use of the controversial gun-walking tactics associated with Operation Fast and Furious to be stopped as soon as he became aware of them. Watch the exchange highlighted by Boyle and Kelly:

That's all it took for Fox and the Daily Caller to declare that Holder had lost it. This is no surprise; those two oulets have been trumping up calls for Holder's resignation for months.

From America Live: