The last Andrew Breitbart strip.

“It’s not that it’s not hilarious. It’s, again — nothing. Nothing at all.”

My first reaction when I heard about it, saw the videotape, and witnessed the insanely passionate outrage surrounding it coming from the usual suspects on the right was, to be honest, pity. It’s almost sad that this is the best they can do when it comes to uncovering — or even manufacturing — a scandal against this president.

This is all they’ve got. (Emphasis mine)

The word we’re all grasping for is “nontroversy.” Though I cannot claim to have invented it, this blog actually began popularizing the word with Breitbart’s first appearances on FOX Noise in 2009. It is the word that fits. However, anyone can be ignited by nontroversy; for example, even three years later, it’s difficult for many observers to see just how nothing-and-nowhere the ACORN nontroversy was. Breitbart depended on sexual suggestion to color reactions and create an impression of criminal conduct where none existed, and it worked. Told that James O’Keefe III had been dressed like a pimp (which he never was), viewers’ minds did the rest on their own.

It didn’t matter than the subjects of O’Keefe’s camera had been housing advisers trying to give advice on housing, or that even prostitutes and undocumented El Salvadoran immigrants need a place to live. These were issues guaranteed to light the minds of Sarah Palin voters on fire. The ACORN nontroversy took on a life of its own, becoming a congressional defunding campaign with the help of a compliant and lazy media.

It was a pattern that was to repeat itself many times over the next three years. Indeed, the most disturbing thing about Breitbart’s career is how long it took Americans to figure him out. The ACORN nontroversy was followed by the Yosi Sergeant nontroversy, the Sesame Street nontroversy, the spamgate nontroversy, and the White House Christmas tree ornament nontroversy. All of this came before the Shirley Sherrod nontroversy, and you will remember how even the White House fell for that one by firing Sherrod.

Indeed, the only Breitbart story that wasn’t a nontroversy was his successful exposure of a very stupid congressman, Anthony Wiener, as a sex text freak. In summation, Andrew Breitbart’s career as a “journalist” was entirely spent at the Weekly World News level except for the one time he rose to National Enquirer level.

He had nothing, and made something out of it — over and over and over again. He didn’t just fool us once, but over and over and over again; shame on us.

We here at Political Gunpowder are proud to bring you the exclusive image of Barack Obama’s time commanding the element-zero powered stealth drive SSV Normandy, backed by the shadowy Cerberus Super PAC – and the romance he had with A WHITE WOMAN Miranda Lawson, Cerberus lieutenant:

Shocking. This image is, of course, one hundred percent real and is not in any way based on a screenshot of a video game using this custom face code.

How does this tie in to rumors that Obama was a spacer and not Earth-born? And what is his secret agenda to wean the galaxy off of using mass relay technology out of “fear that the giant sentient starships who built those relays will use them against us?”

More on this as it develops. Breitbart Über Allies!

“Hose, this is the most tasteless thing you’ve ever made, and that includes all 136 previous strips.”

EDIT: Realized that I’d inadvertently pinched a joke from Twitter. Sorry about that!

Sure, his family deserves to mourn without answering for his actions in life, but media eulogies will likely gloss over his libelous treatment of Shirley Sherrod or his selective editing of ACORN videos. In a strange cultural inversion of Shakespeare’s take on Julius Caesar, American media tends to minimize the crimes of the recently-living and tell only the good about the dead. This will encourage the martyr cult among his fans, for whom Breitbart will become a greater hero in death than life.

Years from now, right wing pseudo-journalists will claim his mantle and tradition — but they won’t have his bizarre rape accusations against Occupy in mind when they do it.  Most of what he did at Big Government and the rest of his websites was the political equivalent of the Weekly World News, with Occupy rape as a kind of disgusting Batboy fabrication that enjoys unquestioning belief from his fans, and always will. Belief in the bullshit will become a necessary part of his cult of remembrance. And expect more of the same committed in his name: call it Zombie Breitbart, still making up crap from the grave.

Furthermore, the same fans beatifying him now were making fun of Ted Kennedy when he died. Liberals are conciliatory at times like this, but it is never returned in kind.

UPDATE: Zandar put it best on Twitter: “The rehabilitation of Breitbart will happen at the speed of ‘net.” Breitbart fans are already spawning tinfoil hattery over this, and Gawker has the deets.

“An image without context is less than half a truth.” – Concrete: Fragile Creatures, by Paul Chadwick.

Andrew Breitbart, serial fabricator, had an anonymous source post some suggestive pics that had been tweeted out of New York Representative Anthony Weiner’s account while it was hacked. You can read more at Gawker, where the myth of Andrew Breitbart’s savvy self-marketing continues. He’s slick, but he’s not smart — and his noise is not news. It’s propaganda, and it only makes sense as desperate attention-grabbing. My question is whether the hack was related to the disclosure, in which case he may have graduated from fabrication much as a serial killer moves up from torturing animals. He’s developed a taste for this sort of thing.

During the March 18 airing of his television program, for example, Beck ran a portion of video created by a Chicago-based blogger who calls himself Rebel Pundit. The blogger, who does not publicly reveal his name, says he was initially pleased to see Beck running his video, which featured left-wing protesters demanding amnesty for illegal immigrants. He was soon shocked, however, to see that Beck’s staff had obscured the watermark logo of his website, RebelPundit.com, from the tape.

“I put my website name on there for a reason – to bring people from the movement to my website so they can see the other stuff that I’ve done,” the man behind Rebel Pundit told TheDC. “You’ve got pretty much the biggest guy in the movement take your stuff and actually have his editors spend the time to scrub my name off of it.”

Remember that time Beck tried to make a Kansas City Junior High School step-dance troupe into an Obama goon army? Yeah, that YouTube’r didn’t get credited, either — which is no surprise, since Beck’s staff apparently failed to look at the notes on the post that gave the school’s location: “what is this?” Beck intoned with mysterious malice. “We’ve been trying to figure this out for weeks, but they’ve sealed it up as tight as a drum.”

Andrew Brietbart, whose name should be the watchword for nasty fabrications, is also quoted in the Daily Caller piece. Given the way he launched himself to fame by lying his ass off about ACORN on Beck’s show, the irony may rip a small hole in the space-time continuum. While I’m amused as hell to see Beck take fire for this behavior, it’s sort of like having photoshop artists gripe about Weekly World News stealing their pictures of Batboy.

(I)f he was acting in a good faith manner, but the editing that he engaged in turned out to get her into trouble, then that would not be enough to demonstrate actual malice — which is what you have to demonstrate when you are a public official and you bring a libel suit. If, on the other hand, she can show that for his political reasons, his ideological reasons, his desire to make a name for himself, or whatever, that he purposely distorted what she said in a way that damaged her, then she might have a serious claim. (Emphasis mine)

As I keep saying, this is really about who edited the videos. At some point, a deposition will involve Andrew Breitbart answering this question. Because that is the answer to who defamed Shirley Sherrod; she deserves to know it. The editing was clearly intended to defame Sherrod, and the NAACP through her. Brietbart tasted blood early with ACORN, and liked it. He’s been trying to repeat that feeling ever since. He likes it.

Andrew Breitbart (pictured) is a known news fabricator. Any material originating through his websites should be considered suspect at best, and subjected to thorough fact-checking before it can be reported on by anyone in any case.

Legitimate bloggers should avoid linking to his websites. Bloggers and other new media content creators who work for Breitbart, or who post to his sites, should be considered fruit of a poisonous tree.

Breitbart himself should be considered unfit for news. If it is absolutely necessary to report on him, Breitbart should be identified primarily as “known fabricator” — not a ‘journalist,’ ‘entertainer,’ ‘website mogul,’ or any other such title.

HISTORY OF FABRICATION

Breitbart emerged in 2009 with the introduction of prank videos made by James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles in ACORN offices around the country. Said videos were selectively edited to create an appearance of improper conduct by ACORN staff. Breitbart participated in deception efforts, telling the Washington Times that O’Keefe had been dressed in a pimp costume when he visited ACORN offices. In fact, O’Keefe had never been dressed as a pimp in any ACORN office. Confronted at the 2010 CPAC Convention, Breitbart danced around the issue, calling O’Keefe’s costume “minutiae” despite how the entire narrative of the scandal revolved around it. Breitbart later confronted Max Blumenthal in what would prove to be a pattern of behavior under examination: Breitbart responds to exposure by attacking the motives of those who expose him.

This would be born out in his next big scandal. In 2010, Breitbart released a video of US Department of Agriculture employee Shirley Sherrod speaking about an encounter with a white farmer. The video had been closely edited to portray Sherrod as a racist. Sherrod was forced to resign her position. Within days, however, the full video emerged and it was clear to everyone that Brietbart’s video was a fabrication. Once again, Breitbart’s response was to attack the White House, the NAACP, and Shirley Sherrod. He continues to protect the source of the video while claiming the president and the White House are orchestrating a campaign against him.

Just before the midterm elections of 2010, Breitbart claimed with Sarah Palin that CBS affiliate KTVA had conspired to damage Tea Party Senate candidate Joe Miller. In fact, captured audio of a KTVA staff meeting at Breitbart’s website had been significantly edited to change the context. Station personnel had actually been gaming “what-if” scenarios for a Joe Miller rally.

This section may be expanded.

NEGATIVE ACTIONS

After controversy erupted over a decision to involve Breitbart in their 2010 midterm election coverage, Executive producer of ABC News Digital Andrew Morse dismissed him from the broadcast with the following email:

Dear Mr. Breitbart,

We have spent the past several days trying to make clear to you your limited role as a participant in our digital town hall to be streamed on ABCNews.com and Facebook.   The post on your blog last Friday created a widespread impression that you would be analyzing the election on ABC News.   We made it as clear as possible as quickly as possible that you had been invited along with numerous others to participate in our digital town hall.  Instead of clarifying your role, you posted a blog on Sunday evening in which you continued to claim a bigger role in our coverage.  As we are still unable to agree on your role, we feel it best for you not to participate.

To date, Sherrod and one ACORN employee have filed lawsuits over the videos. The Republican National Committee has canceled a fundraiser at which Breitbart was supposed to appear. (The event has since been rescheduled.) Baltimore Sun columnist Dan Rodricks wrote:

Had any producer at a local TV station, network or cable newsroom cobbled together a video like the one Mr. Breitbart posted of Ms. Sherrod, that producer would be among the nation’s unemployed today.

Nicole Sandler has signed.

GottaLaff has signed.

Ben Cohen has signed.

silvermaneman has signed.

Karoli has signed.

lsoderman has signed.

David Horton has signed.

Bob Kincaid has signed.

Michelle Oliver has signed.

Gary Blackmon has signed.

This section will be expanded.