Blue State Blues: A Decade of Fake News
December 28, 2019 in News by RBN Staff
source: www.breitbart.com
by JOEL B. POLLAK
The idea of a “decade in review” article at the end of 2019 is a bit of “fake news.” Technically, the current decade does not end until December 31, 2020.
In that spirit, it is worth looking back at the past ten years through the “fake news” lens. These were years in which the mainstream media used false allegations and biased reporting to suppress conservative voices; they were also the first years in which, thanks to Andrew Breitbart, we began to resist them.
2010: Tea Party “N-word.” The media’s claimed, based on false allegations by House Democrats, that Tea Party protesters called civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) the “n-word” at a demonstration on Capitol Hill against Obamacare. Andrew Breitbart offered $10,000, then $100,000 to the United Negro College Fund if anyone could provide video proving the allegation. No one ever did, but the fake news tarnished the Tea Party — permanently.
2011: Sarah Palin and Tucson shooting. The media blamed former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for inciting a mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona because her PAC used crosshairs in an ad identifying “targeted” congressional districts, including that of wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). The shooter turned out to be insane. In other fake news, media blamed Tea Party Republicans for the debt limit showdown, though many ultimately would vote to raise it.
2012: Mitt Romney’s taxes, and Benghazi. The media played up sensational accusations that GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney had killed a former employee’s wife, or failed to pay taxes. These were all untrue — a fact later justified by former Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who noted with satisfaction that Romney had lost. The second presidential debate featured a CNN moderator intervening to defend Obama’s lies about Benghazi.
