Andrew Breitbart claims that working for Media Matters for America means that we “by default disagree with everything” he says. This isn't necessarily true, but it's clear to us that no matter where you work, you should take everything Breitbart says with an entire lick of salt; he tweaks, twists and flat-out tramples the truth too often to maintain a semblance of reliability.

In an interview at the Conservative Political Action Convention (CPAC), Breitbart told Media Matters for America's Joe Strupp that MSNBC blamed him (Breitbart) for Congress' failure to appropriate settlement funds for black farmers because Breitbart published his phony Shirley Sherrod scandal that same week. He said:

BREITBART: MSNBC twice that week blamed me for the black farmers not getting their settlement because it was supposed to be passed that week. They thought I was setting up a trap...MSNBC blamed me for that.

Breitbart was repeating a claim he published in a BigGovernment.com blog post on December 6, 2010:

Nation editor Chris Hayes was filling in for Rachel Maddow and reported that I was responsible for black farmers not getting their settlement money.

“Conservative con artist, 1; black farmers, 0,” liberal Journolist Hayes said snarkily.

Breitbart's characterization is simply false. As the video Breitbart linked to makes clear, Hayes actually said the exact opposite:

HAYES: It doesn't appear that last week's fake [Sherrod] scandal was what caused the Senate to strip restitution for victims of actual, real-life, documented discrimination from the appropriations bill.

Breitbart's truth-twisting was accentuated by a repeated misquote, In his blog post above, he quotes Hayes saying “Conservative con artist, 1; black farmers, 0.”

In fact, Hayes said in that segment: “It's just that as the dust clears from last week's collective frenzy, take a look at the score: conservative con artists, 1, victims of real-world racial discrimination, 0.”

He repeats the imprecision later in his interview with Media Matters (and removes the “con artist” language while he's at it), saying: “MSNBC thought it was a compelling argument last week when they accused me in a segment that said 'conservative activist, 1; black farmers, 0.'”

But Hayes wasn't, as Breitbart alleges, claiming that Breitbart had defeated the black farmers and kept them from receiving Pigford funds. He was comparing two different stories -- the failure to pass Pigford funds and Breitbart's invitation to appear at a Republican National Committee event -- to point out that despite Breitbart's Sherrod smear, he was still being rewarded at the same time victims of discrimination were being punished.

The fact that Breitbart misquotes Hayes about whether he used the phrase “black farmers” or “victims of real-world racial discrimination” isn't a big deal in itself, but it's part of a larger pattern of lazy mistakes and general disregard for accuracy.

This disregard for the truth (and an accompanying persecution complex) couldn't be more apparent in his complete mischaracterization of MSNBC's reporting. When these little mistakes pepper so much of Breitbart's work, it makes you wonder what other corners he's cut.