Breitbart grossly distorts White House official's reported comments to Senate Democrats

Breitbart falsehood: “Jim Messina from the White House said to punch back -- if they punch you, punch back twice as hard.” From the April 19 edition of Fox News' Glenn Beck:

BREITBART: [A]round August 5, the AFL-CIO wrote a letter -- John Sweeney wrote a letter that was picked up in the Huffington Post that said you need to get in these people's faces. They described the tea parties and they described the people going to town halls as an angry mob. So there was coordination at the organized labor to become the muscle of the Obama administration. On that same exact day that that memo came out, Jim Messina from the White House said to punch back -- if they punch you, punch back twice as hard.

That was the night that two incidents happened: one in Tampa and one in St. Louis at the Russ Carnahan [D-MO] town hall. The one in Tampa was the one that happened, I believe, first where you saw a guy who was one of the protesters with his shirt ripped off by union thugs. It was at another event that Kenneth Gladney was called the N-word by two SEIU goons. The same day that the White House said punch back twice as hard, the same day that labor said to get in to this fight on behalf of the administration, because organized labor were the -- going to be the biggest beneficiaries if this bill were to pass.

Politico: “WH to Dems: Punch back twice as hard.” Contrary to Breitbart's claim, White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina's reported quote did not direct unions to do anything at all. In fact, Messina was reportedly speaking to Senate Democrats when he said, “If you get hit, we will punch back twice as hard” -- an apparent indication of how the White House would respond politically to attacks. In an August 6, 2009, article headlined, “WH to Dems: Punch back twice as hard,” Politico reported:

Top White House aides gave Senate Democrats a recess battle plan on Thursday, arming the lawmakers with tips for avoiding disastrous town hall meetings while showing them polling on popular aspects of the reform effort.

Senior White House adviser David Axelrod and deputy chief of staff Jim Messina told senators to focus on the insured and how they would benefit from “consumer protections” in the overhaul, such as ending the practice of denying insurance based on preexisting conditions and ensuring the continuity of coverage between jobs.

They showed video clips of the confrontational town halls that have dominated the media coverage, and told senators to do more prep work than usual for their public meetings by making sure their own supporters turn out, senators and aides said.

And they screened TV ads and reviewed the various campaigns by critics of the Democratic plan.

“If you get hit, we will punch back twice as hard,” Messina said, according to an official who attended the meeting.

Nowhere in the article is the SEIU -- or any other union -- even mentioned.

Breitbart previously claimed this quote was “directed” at “union thugs”

Breitbart previously falsely claimed quote was directed at unions. Breitbart wrote in an August 10 Washington Times column:

Last week, a black gentleman named Kenneth Gladney went to a town-hall meeting hosted by Rep. Russ Carnahan, Missouri Democrat. While passing out “Don't Tread on Me” flags, he was viciously attacked by Service Employees International Union (SEIU) members. One called him a “nigger.”

These union thugs were directed by the White House to go to the protests and “punch back twice as hard.” And they did.