Huffington Post's "Proof" of Rep. Cleaver Being Spat Upon

Huffington Post tonight is offering what they call proof that Congressman Emmanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) was the victim of a deliberate spitting last Sunday during San-Fran-Nan's March to The Capitol.

In the article they attempt to call out Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity:

Cleaver released a statement confirming the incident, but some questioned his claims. Fox News personality Sean Hannity asked if there was any evidence proving that it had actually happened, and Tea Party groups offered a cash reward for proof.

In this article they offer a video that, as Chris W. at my thoughts on freedom points out, has been available via Left Coast Rebel since March 24th. The video clearly shows Rep. Cleaver reacting to something, but as HotAirPundit pointed out last Wednesday, the man was yelling continuously way before Cleaver approached the steps, and it looks like the man yelled directly in Cleaver's ear, startling him for a second while spraying him at the same time.

Today HotAirPundit offers a lot of other information about the incident, all of which clearly discredits HuffPo's attempt to smear an innocent person.

Oops. Looks like HuffPo screwed the pooch.

Here's the video from Left Coast Rebel, which is of the same incident and from the same angle as Huffington Post's offering:



I saw this piece on Huffington Post earlier today. As many of you know, I enjoy rattling the leftists cages once in a while, and this one was an easy target. There was clearly a majority of leftists overreaching and claiming that this spraying guy should have been arrested on counts of terrorism... uh, huh.

Anyway, my favorite moment during my brief stay there today was when I saw a comment from someone named "CalebAbell" that read as follows:

"This is a perfect example of doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. Most of the right wing rage is based on the fact that they have a black president and it drives them crazy. The spitter in the article is likely one of them.

That doesn't take way from the fact that most people in congress, democrat and republican, deserve to be spit on for a variety of good reasons."

I attempted (under my screenname "solopico") to reply to this post as follows:

"You're incorrect on all counts.

Tea Parties are not about Obama's skin color, they're about government being out of control.

And nobody deserves to be spit upon."

What happened next was most fascinating. Huffington Post was in the middle of deleting the comment from "CalebAbell" when I tried to post my reply, which led to the following screen appearing:

(click to enlarge)

Of course, none of this means anything significant, but I always enjoy pointing out how Huffington Post attempts to protect their own. They are a private entity and have every legal right to act disgracefully as they have on many occasion, but considering that their header on their front page is "The Internet Newspaper," you'd think they would have a little bit less of a partisan angle in their approach to the news.

Discussion via Memeorandum.