Fox News Coffee Spray Alert: Ann Coulter Says Breitbart Was Set Up
Reported by Alex - July 22, 2010 -
She didn't really say that, did she? Yes she did! Last night on Hannity, Ann Coulter actually had the balls (ahem) to claim that Andrew Breitbart was set up by the person who sent him the out-of-context video of Shirley Sherrod making what appeared to be racist remarks. She also tried, in passing, to exonerate Sean Hannity for hyping the scam. You couldn't make it up - but she did! With video
Annie, trying to do her bit for damage control, told Sean: "The whole key to this story is that Andrew Breitbart was set up. He was sent a tape which we now know was massively out of context...Of course the White House reacted that way - of course you reacted the way you did - anyone would have....The person who sent the tape has to know what the full speech said, and whoever sent only that segment to Andrew Breitbart is the one who should apologize to Shirley Sherrod."
Nice try, Annie. And now for the facts:
Andrew Breitbart was not "sent the tapes" in the manner Coulter implied, as though they had been sent out of the blue, in a plain brown wrapper, by some stranger. As Breitbart told Sean Hannity on Tuesday night, he requested the tape - which he had first learned of in April - when he realized he could use the contents against the NAACP. He was duly sent two excerpts - "two excerpts" implying that he knew there was more and that these had been, by definition, taken out of context.
Breitbart has admitted that he, deliberately and with malice aforethought, had used one of these excerpts for propaganda purposes. It was all over the news yesterday, and - as News Hounds reported first thing Wednesday morning - he had stated it clearly to Hannity the night before. Yet as Coulter sat there making her delusional claim that Breitbart had been victimized, Hannity concurred with everything she said, acting as if he had no idea that that she was either woefully uninformed, or lying through her Adam's apple.
Sean Hannity, of course, is one of the many members of the rightwing echo chamber who pimped the scam for Breitbart - no surprises here, given Hannity's propensity for disingenuous race-baiting. He and his Fox buddies may have catapulted the propaganda after Sherrod was forced to resign - a fact that Fox News apologists are falling over themselves to point out - but the fact remains that none of them exercised due diligence in investigating the story, and Hannity is doing his "who, me?"schtick while aiding and abetting Andrew Breitbart in his new role as victim and Hanctimoniously pointing his pudgy finger at the White House - who, it must be said, are far from blameless in this whole sorry mess.
Coulter did praise Shirley Sherrod for her speech, calling it "stunning," lovely," and "amazing". But, incredibly, at the end of the show, after a rambling discussion with Hannity and Pat Caddell (notice the "fair and balanced" guest lineup?! ) about the dangers of taking things out of context and playing the race card, Coulter came up with:
"It shows you that we don't have racism in America any more. So just knock it off with the charges of racism."
She didn't really say that, did she? Yes, she did!
