Nicole Sandler and Patrick Murphy
My highest priority in Nov 2012 is making sure Allen West is sent home. That guy should be in a military brig, and certainly nowhere near a congressional office. Thankfully, we have two Democrats vying to unseat him. Last week, at Netroots Nation, I had the opportunity to speak with them both.
This morning on the show, I played my interview with Patrick Murphy, a first time candidate for public office. Tomorrow morning, we’ll hear my interview with former West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel.
I’ll save my comments for after tomorrow’s show, and after you’ve had a chance to hear both of them. You know I never shy away from giving my opinions.
Yesterday, I shared with you the video and my commentary about my run-in with fraud merchant James O’Keefe. The only other person who rivals him in the slime factor is his mentor, Andrew Breitbart. Since the people behind Right Online (apparently Dick Armey’s also slimy Americans for Prosperity) shadow Netroots Nation every year (just to try to outdo themselves on the sleazeometer), both of the RWNJ wanna-be-journalists-who-only-traffic-lies were in attendance.
At least O’Keefe had the sense (or fear) to stay away from the convention center, but Breitbart threw himself right into the belly of the beast. Unfortunately, he got just what he wanted, which was to create a commotion. I wish my fellow NN attendees had just ignored him, but they gave him the attention and scene he craved.
The night before this video was shot, a Breitbart protege named John Hugh Gilmore harassed some Muslim women (who happened to be attending Netroots Nation) outside of a club where the big SEIU party was going on. Sue Wilson posted this account:
Breitbart Ambushed at Netroots Nation
June 17, 2011Would be journalist and provocateur Andrew Breitbart met his match today when he tried to crash the liberal NetRoots Nation convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 100 Proof Politics editor Ryan Clayton was ready – and his camera and hard questions forced right wing Breitbart into a hasty retreat.
The story started the night before when two women ventured into the streets of Minneapolis wearing the traditional Hijab (headscarf.) They were approached by John Hugh Gilmore, a 52 year attorney and self described Conservative who blogs for “Minnesota Conservatives.” According to police, he asked the women what they thought of Ayaan Hersi Ali, a Somali who is a fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute who decries Muslims. The women told him they weren’t exactly fans. The inebriated Gilmore then became upset and started harassing the pair, asking what right they had to be in this country, until 60 onlookers intervened. Police were called and arrested Gilmore, but not until Gilmore tried to reach Andrew Breitbart on his phone.
Fast forward to today. Breitbart entered the Minneapolis Convention Center just minutes after Clayton had interviewed Sana Saleem, a blogger of Pakistani heritage and co-founder of Gawaahi.com, who had witnessed the confrontation. Breitbart claimed he knew nothing about the event, and a Breitbart colleague accused Clayton of lying about the whole affair, (but Minneapolis Police Department has confirmed Gilmore’s arrest.)
Clayton moved beyond the Minneapolis incident into questions to confirm or deny rumors of Breitbart’s alleged drug use and sexual habits. While Breitbart denied having a cocaine habit, he would not answer whether he had personally ever used cocaine. Given Hugh Hewitt’s recent interview with Breitbart where Breitbart references the gay magazine “Blue Boy,” Clayton also asked about Breitbart’s penchant for gay magazines. At that point, without answering directly, the flustered Breitbart left the Netroots Nation convention, hounded by dozens of attendees shouting, “Coward! Coward!”
Here’s the video in question from the Breitbart commotion
And now, I wish the two of them would just go away.
My dear friend GottaLaff from The Political Carnival joined me in hour two, as she does every Tuesday morning on my show. We talked about those two encounters, and the return of Keith Olberman to our televisions, and some of these other stories too…
VIDEO- BLUNT: Welcome Back, Keith Olbermann
Liveblog: Conference call with Keith Olbermann
Christian conservative group: “Vitter as a sleazy, hypocritical Christian” who should resign
NRSC tweets fake RTs from President Obama & other Dems, gets called out by Fox commentator
VIDEO: Booted Obama impersonator defends his performance
plus: GOP Doug Heye: “Wonder why minorities have problems with GOP?… Our own fault.”VIDEO: Chris Christie is a brash hole
Anti-union Target video actor has quite a union resume!
Next manufactured controversy: NBC omits “under God” from Pledge of Allegiance during U.S. Open