Uncategorized

Breitbart on Occupy Wall Street: “This Is Woodstock on Violent and Crazy Steroids”

Video clip courtesy of The Tolbert Report

Oh, Andrew Breitbart, you madcap right-wing provocateur! The Americans for Prosperity Arkansas team and KARN Radio welcomed Breitbart, publisher of the Breitbart.com family of news sites and relentless stirrer-up-of-shit, to North Little Rock today for a speech focusing on the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement.

Breitbart kicked off his lunch speech to roughly 100 people with the frank admission that he’s “a biased journalist” and “completely unobjective.” He then wasted no time in laying out his case against the Occupy movement, which in various cities nationwide has included incidents of violence, rape, anti-Semitism and, uh, pubic lice (checks notes…yep, that’s what he said). Breitbart maintains a running “rap sheet” of OWS incidents on his Big Government site.

“This is Woodstock on violent and crazy steroids,” declared Breitbart, who’s also called for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to shut down the Zucotti Park demonstration, the movement’s ground zero, as a public safety threat.

Breitbart presents the OWS movement in operatic and hellish terms, much at odds with the coverage given the movement elsewhere. (By comparison, the Occupy Little Rock encampment has so far been about as edgy and provocative as a convocation of youth pastors.)

But if there’s one thing that gets Breitbart more exercised than “the institutional left,” it’s what he describes as the double standard compared to how the Tea Party has been covered.

“[The Tea Party was] supposed to be violent, according to the Department of Homeland Security,” Breitbart said. “And we were supposed to be racist, but Herman Cain is the Tea Party frontrunner.” His goal: “I want to show the world who these people are, who the institutional left is.”

Jason Tolbert of the esteemed Tolbert Report, who kindly provided the video clip above, was also on hand and talked to Breitbart about the sexual harassment charges against GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain. Go check out his post.

#OccupyWall Street: The Rap Sheet, So Far (Big Government) 

Breitbart to Cain: Put Your Cards on the Table (The Tolbert Report)

Please follow and like us:

7 thoughts on “Breitbart on Occupy Wall Street: “This Is Woodstock on Violent and Crazy Steroids”

  • Breitbart mentioned OWS anti-Semitism but from what I’ve read that has been exaggerated. A large part of it apparently came from the signs of a guy who had picketed the area for a while before the protests even started.

    Also, the oft stated “fact” that the Department of Homeland Security labeled the Tea Party as violent extremists stems from a report DHS issued about the rising potential for violent right wing extremism. Of course the Tea Partiers pointing their finger at this neglect the similar report DHS issued only a few months before about the potential by left wing extremists to attempt cyber attacks.

    Whether either of these reports were worth the paper they were printed on is open to discussion, but I’m so tired of this report being used by Tea Partiers to whine about their being targeted by the government.

    Reply
    • David Kinkade

      Linton,
      Well, “understatement” has never been exactly a hallmark of the Breitbart style, is it? He affects a theatrical style that’s calculated to provoke and offend.

      But his basic approach here is fair enough: there was no shortage of hand-wringing among centrists and the left about how “violent” and “racist” the Tea Party was, typically based on scant evidence. But walk into any crowd of hundreds people and ask around and you’re eventually likely to find someone who will give you a racially insensitive or anti-Semitic quote, right? And the supposed tide of right-wing violence that the Tea Party was supposed to portend never actually materialized, did it?

      Watching him, it’s difficult to know exactly how serious he is. Mostly he just seems to be enjoying turning the tables on his adversaries and applying their standards to OWS.
      D.

      Reply
  • Breitbart has almost become a Michael Moore of the right. Both have muckraker-ish tendencies and both have made claims (Moore in his films, Breitbart on his websites) that are dubious upon closer examination.

    I’ve seen coverage of the violence at various OWS movements in the media, so I fail to see why hand wringing over potential Tea Party violence that never materialized (unless you count the Rand Paul supporter/MoveOn stomping incident, or alleged threats called into offices of various politicians) matters. If there was a lack of coverage of OWS violence, that would be more noteworthy.

    Also several of the incidents on his website from the link in your post don’t necessarily involve violence by protesters. Arrests, indecent behavior, inappropriate signs, or Iran announcing their support for the protesters (?) don’t equal violence. Many of the arrests are the result of civil disobedience.

    And the other items can be attributed to the reality that exists, like you said, when you walk into a large crowd of people who are gathered for extended periods, or even short periods (I have seen numerous fights in my years of attending the Arkansas State Fair, not to mention rock concerts, festivals, etc.)…. except for the Iran thing, that sucks for the OWS people, but I don’t know why Breitbart’s website even included it on a list of OWS violence and incidents.

    Reply
  • To be fair the fellow on Breitbart’s site said that : “There are also less than five examples that don’t involve what I would qualify as outright lawlessness but do help to expose the Occupiers for who and what they really are.”

    I guess the Iran thing would fall in that category, but I wonder if including things like that are more an attempt to add more length and shock to the list than an attempt to expose them for “who and what they really are”. Poll the protesters about how many of them support Iran.

    Reply
  • Spellchecker

    Shouldn’t “Occupy Wall Street” be abbreviated OWS instead of OSW?

    Reply
    • David Kinkade

      SC,
      Typos fixed. Thanks.
      D.

      Reply
  • Pingback: Post-Mortem: The Cash for Clunkers Flop!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The Arkansas Project