Jorge Ramos is the most famous and respected Spanish-Language television journalist.  He is often invited to participate in the political roundtable on ABC’s “This Week” program and last election cycle he was given the honor of moderating debates between the Presidential field.  When candidates Obama and McCain made their last appeals for the Latino vote, it was Jorge Ramos who had the honor of interviewing them on Univision.

There is no denying that Mr. Ramos is the most influential television journalist in the Latino-American community and this Sunday he interviewed Andrew Breitbart for Univision’s version of “Meet the Press”, “Al Punto”.  The following exchange was not only an example of typical “gotcha” journalism but unfortunately for Mr. Ramos, it also shows that he or his staff might be getting their talking points from the sad clowns at Media Matters for America.

RAMOS: In one of your websites, in “Big Peace,” there was an article written by Jason Bradley titled “Terror Babies: A Growing National Security Threat.” Do you share Mr. Bradley’s point of view?

BREITBART: I didn’t even read that article but I can tell you this, I created the Huffington Post in the United States of America which is a left of center blog. I created my blogs which are mostly right of center and I believe in open debate in our society. That’s why I believe so strongly in the first amendment, so I don’t know the specifics of that article, had I known going into this interview, I would’ve read it and we could have talked about the specifics.

RAMOS: Well the specifics is that Mr. Bradley’s view is that children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants are terror babies.

BREITBART: I’ve never read that, I’ve never heard that and I’d have to see the context of that to give you an opinion. I would never call people that are born in this country who are from Mexico terror babies.

There have been 3,607 posts at Big Peace,  3,659 posts at Big Journalism, 8,039 posts at Big Hollywood, 7,329 posts at Big Government and 35,422 posts at Breitbart.tv.  For Ramos to ask Breitbart about one post from March of this year, that didn’t exactly make headlines from coast-to-coast is unfair on its face.  But then for Ramos to characterize the post as saying “children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants are terror babies” is the kind of mis-representation that could only have been made if his staff only read the Media Matters lies about the post instead of the post itself.  Ramos not only slandered the post and its author with that statement, he also misinformed his audience about an article that most of them probably did not read.

Breitbart’s answer to Ramos’ fabricated mis-characterization of the post was “I would never call people that are born in this country who are from Mexico terror babies” and of course, neither did Mr. Bradley or anybody else in the Big Peace post in question.

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Over at Big Peace, the Center for Security Policy’s Christine Brim reveals that Politico — an organization wanting to be known for unbiased reporting– has begun harassing the Center and other individuals, demanding details of their involvement with opposition to the Ground Zero Mosque.

Even the relentless push to tar Tea Party participants as “racists” takes a backseat to the breathtaking contempt in the mainstream media’s campaign to demonize the 70% of Americans opposed to the Ground Zero Mosque. And the “professional left” has now jumped into the fray.

According to Brim:

Best-selling author Robert Spencer captured the Politico style perfectly at Jihadwatch on August 19:

Cost of New York bus ads: $10,000

Cost of press release: $1,500

Cost of watching the lapdog media track the sources of these sums while ignoring the questionable funding of a $100 million dollar mosque: Priceless.

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This is a cautionary tale about reporters eagerly attacking other reporters working a developing story.  Because it’s not possible to provide evidence as quickly as some might demand it doesn’t mean the story is false.

On July 24, Kimberly Dvorak, of the Examiner, and Don Amato, of the blog Digger’s Realm, broke the story about two Texas ranches outside of Laredo, Texas, being seized by members of Los Zetas drug cartel. Today, Ms. Dvorak posted a copy of the police blotter which provides a good deal of the information necessary to confirm her initial story’s claims:

After 16 days of denials by Laredo law enforcement and local officials regarding a Mexican drug cartel takeover of a Laredo area ranch, a Texas police blotter proves the alleged incident did in fact happen and that multiple agencies responded to the scene of a seized U.S. ranch…

“On Friday 7-23-10 Laredo Webb informed that their county SWAT Team is conducting an operation in the Mines Rd. area. According to LT. Garcia with LSO (Laredo Sheriff Office) received a call from a ranch owner stating that the Zetas had taken over his ranch. As per the 17 (reporting person) he informed them that they stated La Compania (area business) was taking the ranch and no one was permitted on the ranch without permission. SO (Sheriff Office) will have an unmarked green Ford Taurus with two officers stationed at Los Compadres and a white Chevy Tahoe with two officers stationed at Mineral Rd. The LSO (Laredo Sheriff Office) will maintain surveillance in the area and advise if action is taken. Susp (suspect) Veh (vehicle) are described as a gray or silver Audi, a BLK (black) Escalade or Navigator and a van truck with a logo of a car wash spot free on the side. Border Patrol also has their response team on scene. Also known info of BMW’s and Corvettes entering and leaving the area. Auth LT Lichtenberger if assistance is requested LPD (Laredo Police Department) will secure the outer perimeter. (07/24/10 07:42:10 NR1873)”

Dvorak’s latest post confirmed several details that I had been able to ascertain through other sources.  One important detail was different: only one ranch was investigated and under surveillance, not the two originally reported.

The original story quoted multiple anonymous sources in law enforcement and was quickly picked up by Michelle Malkin,  Jawa Report, Big Peace and DBKP among others.  Almost as quickly, the story was branded an Internet  rumor,” “conspiracy theory,” a “hoax” or  outright lies by the usual suspects from the Progressive Left/amnesty crowd. (more…)

Big Peace took less than a day to start driving the Left up the wall and jumping the shark, which is probably exactly what Andrew Breitbart had in mind in the first place.  But if you can get beyond their dreary predictability, these attacks do serve an important purpose – they illustrate exactly why sites like Big Peace are so necessary.

No review of lefty anklebiting would be complete without a hat tip to the nonentity task force otherwise known as Media Matters.  Some guy there named Matt Gertz started things off by chiming in on Day One about how – I’m paraphrasing just a bit – Andrew Breitbart and Big Peace editor Frank Gaffney are the unholy spawn of a three-way between Glenn Beck, Mussolini and Satan himself.

Gertz called Breitbart a “liar,” which must be true because “liar” is documented by a hyperlink to yet another Media Matters piece, which itself boils down to the argument that ACORN’s eager assistance, on multiple occasions in multiple locations, to people representing themselves as trying to traffic in child prostitutes, really wasn’t immoral because the journalist who caught them on tape was not wearing a sufficiently flamboyant pimp hat.

Gertz also asserted that the “Big” sites have some sort of pro-birther agenda; I must have missed Andrew Breitbart’s memo.  But hey, why let facts obstruct a good meme? (more…)

And now there are Four.

Yesterday, Andrew Breitbart’s fourth “Big” website, Big Peace, launched, fittingly born on the Fourth of July. Editor-in Chief Peter Schweizer, a scourge of liberal mendacity and hypocrisy, is joined by the redoubtable Frank Gaffney and Jim Hanson of Blackfive in a blog devoted to foreign policy and military affairs. Already, Peter and his crew have fielded an impressive array of bylines, including several retired military officers, the brave authority on Islam, Nonie Darwish, and the estimable Jed Babbin, among others. It’s an auspicious start to what will quickly become a must-read, indispensable national security blog.

The timing couldn’t be more propitious. With the war in Afghanistan approaching an important turning point — will American troops withdraw, as President Obama promises, or will they fight to win, as General Petraeus wishes? — the role of the Pentagon and the State Department are ripe for examination. As never before, the Pentagon is embroiled in a struggle for its very soul, with the PC, “green” bureaucrats pitted against the professional officer class, while Foggy Bottom, on its continuing, quixotic quest for “stability,” continues to be less an instrument of American foreign policy than a protector of the status quo — especially that of our enemies.

On a personal note, I particularly welcome this blog and hope to contribute to it myself from time to time. I was born on one of the major Marine Corps bases, and was raised in various military duty stations around the country. Having been present both at the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, I’ve seen first-hand the causes and consequences of American foreign policy in action, and know how important it is. Small decisions in Washington today may have immense consequences thirty or forty years down the line, so it’s vital that we try to understand their ramifications early and often. (more…)