As sick as I am of this topic, and as much as I want to just move on to more important things...we need to also be well aware of where such attacks will continue to come from. Believe me, they will keep coming whether there is any real 'scandal' to out or not.
The NYT reports:
When Meagan Broussard asked one of her friends what she should do about an intimate online relationship she had been having with Representative Anthony D. Weiner, the friend, a Republican, told her to go to Andrew Breitbart.
Mr. Breitbart, a conservative blogger, has established his Web site, BigGovernment.com, as the place to go with tidbits of a scandal in the making. On Monday, he claimed a moral victory after Mr. Weiner admitted that he had indeed sent the suggestive photos posted earlier on his site. "I'm here for some vindication," Mr. Breitbart said as he took to the lectern at Mr. Weiner's own news conference.
But before vindication, he sought legitimacy from the same mainstream media he regularly assails. For the revelations about the congressman, Mr. Breitbart partnered with ABC News, which interviewed Ms. Broussard and published its own account of her relationship with Mr. Weiner, a Brooklyn Democrat.
Mr. Breitbart, whose credibility was damaged by his release of a selectively edited tape of Shirley Sherrod, an Agriculture Department official, said he felt ABC News could help the Weiner story rise to something more than a scandal flamed by the conservative blogosphere.
"One of the reasons I went to ABC, believe it or not, was to take this out of the partisan rancor realm," he said in a phone interview.
"I am as offended when John Ensign acts like an idiot, when Chris Lee acts like an idiot," he added, referring to two Republican politicians who have faced embarrassing disclosures about their private lives.
ABC News acknowledged Mr. Breitbart's role in uncovering the story but declined to comment on their talks with him.
The NYT article continues on to tell of Breitbart's relationship with James O'Keefe, the conservative criminal who was convictedfor his involvement with a break-in at Senator Mary Landrieu’s (D-La.) office.
He (Breitbart)has been a major force behind legitimizing James O'Keefe, the conservative activist and video muckraker who helped bring down Acorn, a community organizing group, and later drew negative attention to NPR and Planned Parenthood.
Mr. O'Keefe came to Mr. Breitbart and BigGovernment after he filmed video of his undercover interaction with Acorn workers as they appeared to advise him on how to avoid prosecution for a variety of unsavory activities, like child prostitution.
No mention of O'Keefe's criminal conviction, nor do they mention that ACORN, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, was vindicated of any wrongdoing by the Congressional Watchdog Office.
ACORN's vindication came too late for the collection of community-based organizations in the United States that advocated for low- and moderate-income families by working on neighborhood safety, voter registration, health care, affordable housing, and other social issues. ACORN had over 400,000 members and more than 1,200 neighborhood chapters in over 100 cities across the U.S., as well as in Argentina, Canada, Mexico, and Peru.
Federal funding for ACORN was cut off, the group filed bankruptcy and disbanded.
The only mention in the Times article on the questions about selective editing of the NPR video tapes -- tapes that were questioned byanother conservative media figure, Glenn Beck, among others -- sounds like a pat on the back for O'Keefe.
O'Keefe's ACORN style attack on Planned Parenthoodsounds as if it's receiving accolades in the Times, as well.
I'm left with a huge, nagging question after all of this mess. Where exactly is this 'lamestream,' 'Liberal' media?!?
Remember, know your friends well, but know your enemies even better.