Power Line’s Scott Johnson asked James Asher, the “Investigative Editor” of McClatchy’s Washington bureau if he was going to investigate his service’s inaccurate coverage of four Democratic legislators’ unsupported allegations of racial slurs at the Tea Party protest of Obamacare. (No evidence has yet surfaced that supports their allegations, and several videos have surfaced that cast doubt on their allegations.)
Asher responded:
There is no reason to. The criticism is based on a video tape that depicted a different time and not the incident.
One of the many videos of the non-incident that have circulated depicts the wrong time (or so we’ve been told). Those who wish to ignore the evidence have used that video as an excuse to do so. Then he concludes:
And we feel confident that the congress members would not concoct their stories.
They feel confident that Congressmen would not lie. Wow.
UPDATE: The saga continues.
UPDATE: The following videos are really revealing. The first one includes two videos: the Congressmen entering the building (that’s the one that we’re told is the wrong video) and earlier leaving it. Interestingly, only the wrong video seems to fit the Congressmen’s description (i.e., with Rep. Cleaver part of the procession). In any case, neither video supports the allegation of racial slurs.
The second video follows the Congressmen from many angles on their way out the building. (That’s the “right” direction, we’re told.) Three weeks after the incident, Rep. Carson changed his story to say that the racial slurs were loudest when he crossed the street, so it includes video from across the street as well. Again, none of it supports the allegation.
Rep. Carson said the racial slurs came from “hundreds of people”, and Rep. Cleaver said it was a “chorus”, but no hint of it is discernible on any video. Andrew Breitbart has offered a $100k bounty to anyone who could produce evidence that this happened (or if Carson could pass a polygraph). The bounty remainds unclaimed.
Moreover, many people are unaware that there is an underground subway connecting the Congressional office buildings to the Capitol. (I’ve ridden it; it’s sweet. It must have cost a fortune.) There’s no reason why so many Congresspeople would have chosen to walk through hostile, supposedly violent crowds that day unless they were looking for an incident.
All of which leads to a conclusion that is unthinkable (to McClatchy), these Congressmen concocted the entire incident.
Internet Scofflaw 