Politico seduced by Andrew Breitbart's “mystique”

Oh, Politico, why do you do this? We've noted time and again Politico's tireless devotion to the elevation of absolute nonsense into the national discourse, but even they aren't usually as blatant with their cluelessness. Politico has a list of what they term “50 Politicos To Watch,” and among this crowd is - seriously - Andrew Breitbart.

No, this isn't an unfortunate coincidence where some poor congressional aide or K Street lawyer shares a name with serial fabricator and smear artist Andrew Breitbart. This is the Andrew Breitbart, in the same week where his dishonesty was exposed (yet again) in the attack on Shirley Sherrod. This is who Politico holds up as someone with “a certain mystique.” That's not mystique, Politico, those are pants on fire.

Even worse, Greg Sargent of the Washington Post asked Politico editor John Harris why would they write a glossy ode to a charlatan like Breitbart? His answer: “The Breitbart piece for the 50 Politicos feature was assigned and reported weeks ago.” But we've known for months now that Breitbart's stock in trade is blatant dishonesty. The episode with Sherrod is just the latest fabrication to come from Team Breitbart, but most notable was the undercover ACORN videos the California Attorney General described as “severely” edited. This information about Breitbart was well known and yet Politico still assigned a writer to tell us about Breitbart's “mystique.”

What Politico is telling us with this selection of Breitbart is that what they choose to elevate and celebrate in Washington is a figure consistently associated with dishonesty and farce. So be it.