The real tragedy in Aurora

The right are pretty exited about a minor detail about the coverage of the Aurora shooting, where ABC News' Brian Ross, in the midst of trying to scoop the other networks, said this: "There's a Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado, page on the Colorado Tea party site, talking about him joining the Tea Party last year. Now, we don't know if this is the same Jim Holmes, but it's Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado."

It wasn't the right Jim Holmes. ABC retracted and apologized.

Freepers are quick to assume that this reflects not the silly competition to get the scoop seconds before the other guys, but an insidious attempt by the media to paint the Tea Party as violent, when really it is the Occupy guys who are the violent ones!

submarinerswife expects people will think this guy's a Tea Party type from now on:

ABC was pretty quick to get the accusation out there, weren’t they? Once it’s out, they can’t take it back. Now it’s another “Tea Party crack pot” to blame for a murder rampage or bomb plot.

Iron Munro agrees - the damage has been done!

"Never let a crisis go to waste"

1 - Get your narative out early. Fill the information vacuum before the true facts are known.

2 - Apologize later - people will still remember your version.

Da Coyote knows this is a good time to unleash a torrent of anal metaphors:

Shove it up your smelly collective Obamas, ABC, and George S-boy.

You’ll meet yourselves there after the shoving.

Oh, apology NOT accepted.

soycd knows nonstop political lawsuits are the best way to get at the truth:

Sue ABC. Expose the networks agenda and sue them again.

mass55th wonders why TV networks don't act like magazines did 20 years ago.

Yeah, they don't even bother to verify anything anymore. I remember when the Lewinsky story broke, and Drudge ran with the story that Newsweek spiked. Newsweek said the reason they didn't publish the story was because they needed two reliable sources to verify it before they'd report it. I guess that only applies when it's a sleaze-ball Democrap who is the perp.

Terry Mross knows it's not hypocrisy if the other side is evil:

If he is a registered democrat this needs to be constantly mentioned. Too bad even Fox won’t mention it.

Twinkie uses this mistake to prove that liberals are the real shooters, usually:

These “journalists” suspect to begin with that these shooters are generally, registered Democrats, Obama voters, Occupy participants, and Al Gore followers; so they are forced to GET THE LIE OUT THERE right off the bat, so the “Tea Party/Sarah Palin” are blamed immediately. They know what they’re doing by getting the lie around the world before the truth has a chance to even get its pants on.

xuberalles laments the media doesn't have more stories about how unabashedly awesome guns are.

The real tragedy in this endless debate is that the media never reports how times firearms save lives, feed families, foil crimes, and guard freedom around the globe. I could not imagine lying awake at night, knowing my family was at the mercy of some deranged intruder while I was powerless to protect them. I’m an American, a patriot, a law abiding citizen, and there’s a reason why I keep a Glock 20/10mm beside my bed at night: I refuse to be a statistic.

Republic Rocker thinks this time will be different:

This will be different... this should go BIG TIME out into the media world..... This is blatant partisan hope to pin a tactical wound against half the nation... that the conservative side during an election season. George should NEVER be allowed to panel or host a debate... NEVER! He is tarred! Put this guy out there a LATINO HISPANIC TEA PARTY member...! This is the DNC’s worst nightmare!

CountryClassSF knows this happens every single time, when the real villains are the Occupy people, everytime!

This stuff has now gone beyond just a liberal media bias. Every single time something like this happens, the left-wing media fish and hunt for any shred of “evidence” that can link conservatives or tea partiers to any crime whatsoever.

Despite the fact that unlike Occupy, Tea party rallies, cleans up and goes home like regular Americans. All these facts don’t matter.

That "Tea Party clean up after themselves" thing sure is strong.

danielmryan also is pissed the media doesn't assume shooters are liberal:

The Left has shown, again and again, that they have a taste for violence - and yet, they're forgiven. The MSM crew has absolutely no fear of them, regardless of how violent they really are.

But the Tea Party? Regardless of how violent it isn't - heck, they even clean up after themselves when protesting - the MSM and liberals show a clear pattern of fear. A calm and rational non-conservative would write off the spirited rhetoric as people just sounding off, given that the strong words do not lead to any violent incidents.