It must be a rule with the Fox haters: if you want to run with the big dogs, you have to concoct smears as dishonest and sloppy as they do. That seems to be the case at the newshounds, where even ‘guest blogger’ probies embarrass themselves with nonsensical stupidities.

The ‘guest blogger’ who goes by the name ‘Brian’ is no exception:

Eric Bolling And Senator Mike Lee Wrongly Claim No Tea Partiers Have Been Arrested

Now it might be that Bolling is incorrect, but ‘Brian’ is either too lazy or too ignorant to make that case. He writes:

Not one arrest ever? Not quite. At least nine Tea Party protesters were arrested in one protest at Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. If Lee didn’t know, Bolling should have and should have corrected the record, rather than deliberately trying to make the OWS people out as criminals, and the Tea Partiers as solid citizens.

Brian’s ‘proof’ is a link to Huffington Post. Now there’s an unbiased first-source. Here’s what HuffPo writes:

Capitol Police arrested nine protesters Thursday morning in the Hart Senate office building as thousands of Tea Party activists descended on the Capitol building to protest the trillion dollar health care bill and government spending. The gathering was organized by local Tea Party groups around the country, who are arriving in Washington this morning by the busload. Conservative leaders in Congress, led by Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), have taken to the airwaves to encourage the activists to show up on the Capitol steps and demand meetings with members of Congress... Read the whole story: POLITICO

Note that a careful reading of the above does not state that the people arrested were tea partiers. It merely describes nine arrests that happened at the same time as the tea party protests. Normally any half-way competent writer would continue on to the Politico article to get first-hand reporting of the story, particularly when the comments to HuffPo’s blurb include:

• Funny how THP pulled this headline after they found out the 9 arrested were pro health care protesters
• You all have it wrong. Those arrested were from CODE PINK. Far from being a Tea Party group. Dumbasses!
• The arrested people were not teabaggers or from Code Pink. They were from Mobilization for Healthcare for All and arrested for doing a sit-in in Joe Leiberman's office.

None of this impelled ‘Brian’ to check the Politico article HuffPo was allegedly quoting from, so we did his research for him. Surprise! It says nothing whatsoever about any tea party protesters being arrested. Oh there were nine protesters arrested the morning of Thursday, Nov 5, 2009, as HuffPo claimed. But they were not tea partiers. Here’s the truth from ABC News about the only nine protesters arrested that morning in the Hart Senate Office Building:

9 Protesters backing a universal health care system briefly occupied Sen. Joe Lieberman's office this morning. Protesters were arrested, one by one, and dragged out of his office amid chants of "Everyone in and noone out, universal healthcare now!" and "Represent Connecticut, not AETNA!”

Um, ‘Brian’, were they tea partiers? No. In fact, they were as far opposite from tea partiers as it’s possible for any protester to be. Brian isn’t just wrong; he’s spectacularly wrong!

Even HuffPo finally wrote the truth about this incident:

Nine protesters were arrested Thursday in a demonstration at the office of Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) to demand that he pledge to stop accepting from the health insurance industry....The demonstration was organized by the Mobilization for Health Care for All, which has been staging rallies and sit-ins in front of insurance companies since September.

How ironic that one comment on Brian’s utterly false and untrue post states the following:

• That's Fux Nuze fact-checked proof nothing happened..

Yeah, fact-checking is not exactly Brian’s strong suit, is it? What was it he wrote again?

Bolling should have and should have corrected the record, rather than deliberately trying to make the OWS people out as criminals, and the Tea Partiers as solid citizens.

To put it another way, Brain...err, Brian should have and should have told the truth, instead of deliberately trying to make out Eric Bolling as a liar. As usual, the lies are being told by the newshounds.

UPDATE: It appears Ellen Brodsky had to swoop in to rescue Brian...after throwing him under the bus by admitting he was wrong. In a lengthy ‘editor’s note’ appended to Brian’s false article, Brodsky sets out to prove that yes, there were tea party protesters arrested. She does so by first citing a report of a protester’s arrest--unfortunately the report she cites nowhere says he was a tea partier. Hey, that’s the same stupid mistake Brian made. Good work so far, Brodsky.

She then goes on about signs (which are not arrests) and finally whips out her hole card. After citing a protester that wasn’t a tea partier, she then cites a bunch of tea partiers who weren’t protesting! You know, like some clown arrested for software piracy. What in the wide world of sports does this have to do with tea partiers arrested at tea party rallies? Need we remind Brodsky of what was actually said?

Bolling asked, "The gatherings that you attended, how many people were arrested?”
“Not one to my knowledge, ever." Sen. Lee said.
“Nor mine,” Bolling agreed.

Ellen Brodsky has not produced one instance of a tea party protester arrested at a tea party gathering. Not one. Her lengthy ‘editor’s note’ is in fact even more of a lie than the Guess Blogger’s original post. But that’s only fitting, because Ellen Brodsky is the Queen Bee of liars.

Tags: newshounds, huffpo