In true Orwellian fashion, our pals at Media Matters demonstrate today that not only are some hate crimes more equal than others, but so too, some police reports are more equal than others.
After waiting a full 24-hours to react to yesterday’s release of the 24-page police report of the Kenneth Gladney incident of August 6th (24-hours? I thought you guys were supposed to “post(s) rapid-response items as well as longer research and analytic reports documenting conservative misinformation throughout the media”) they give us this beautiful example of leftist equivocation:
The funny part is that the crew at BigGovernment has such a shaky grasp of how journalism works that they act like posting an everyday police report proves that all crazy their [sic] allegations are true.
OK… but over here behind THIS curtain at Media Matters, they say:
The filing of the police report by ACORN — Russell can be seen holding a copy of it in O’Keefe’s video — indicates the Philadelphia ACORN office had no intention of helping O’Keefe and Giles conduct any illegal activities, and ACORN said the police report “proves our clear understanding of this scam that was being portrayed.”
So, in the case of a single page, six line police report filed by a third party who did not witness any occurrence at the ACORN offices, just the fact that the report was filed “indicates the Philadelphia ACORN office had no intention of helping O’Keefe and Giles conduct any illegal activities” even though the video proves otherwise (more questions on that police report here, which, by the way, is NOT a “Police Report” it is a “Complaint or Incident Report” that any citizen can ask the police to write up).
Meanwhile, in the case of a 24-page report full of eye-witness testimony with accompanying arrests… that’s just Big Government practicing lousy journalism!
Media Matters then goes on further to dismiss the arrests made because they were “merely” booked for “3rd Degree Assault”:
That’s right, third degree assault. But how could Gladney have been savagely beaten, as many right-wing bloggers originally claim, if the men responsible that night were only tagged with third degree assault, arguably the lightest possible charge for the offense?
Let me guess: Some assaults are more equal than others.