Yet Another “Classic Breitbarting”

Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/99525316@N00/3499576944">shalf/Flickr</a>

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On Monday, Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government site posted “exclusive, explosive” video of what it described as “Thuggery 101″—a professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and a union official advocating “violence and industrial sabotage” to a classroom of college students. This led to instant hyperventilation about “taxpayer-funded courses in union violence”. Now, like many a sensational video linked to Breitbart, this latest scoop has disintegrated in the bright light of day. Crooks and Liars has the definitive takedown, which shows how the supposedly inflammatory soundbites posted on Big Government were intentionally edited to strip them of their context and twist their intended meanings. In other words, yet another “classic Breitbarting.”

On the positive side, the original video did not get much traction beyond right-wing sites, which may suggest that the rest of the media has wised up to the Breitbart/James O’Keefe M.O. Or maybe it was just too distracted by the birthers to be bothered.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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