An apology to Andrew Breitbart

Well, in case you have not been paying attention to the news, it would appear that the Weiner jokes were all highly justified.

Provided he's telling the truth now -- oh please, Goddess, please be telling the truth -- the entire Weinergate kerfluffle was the fault of one Rep. Weiner. It turns out that, in spite of it being proven that it is possible to hack into someone's Yfrog account and send out a photo "on their behalf," the original photo sending was done by Weiner, himself.

Rather than laugh it off, or try and explain it, he chose to lie. We all know where that path eventually leads -- bigger and bigger lies, until the house of cards comes falling down in a big way.

So Weiner finally did the right thing, called a press conference, and told the truth. (Again, we hope)

However, before the conference began, Andrew Breitbart showed up. Apparently he was nearby on unrelated business, but that didn't stop him from being talked into taking to the podium and getting a few soundbites in. Nice to know he thinks Weiner is in "very good shape"!

Breitbart asked Weiner and members of the liberal blogosphere to apologize "for a blame the messenger strategy" in the wake of the release of the initial photo. ... Breitbart also complained that the mainstream media has repeatedly questioned his credibility over his role in edited video controversies involving Shirley Sherrod and the ACORN undercover stings.

"I'm here for some vindication," he said. Appearing exasperated, Breitbart denied he was out for any sort of revenge and seemed incredulous that his motives were being questioned.

Well, never let it be said we here at the rANT Farm aren't willing to admit when we were wrong.

Andrew Breitbart, based on the evidence I had in front of me at the time I wrote on Weiner's electronic woes, I intimated that you may have been involved in a hoax, or at least known (or should have suspected) that it was going on. If what Rep. Weiner is saying now is true, and not just some sop thrown out in hopes of stopping any further indiscretions from coming to light, then obviously I was wrong in my judgment, and I apologize for jumping to that conclusion.

I am also sorry that you are such a scandal-mongering, lying bully that I would have cause to suspect you to be capable of such a thing.

I'm really sorry that you surround yourself with liars with James O'Keefe and go to bat for them when they get found out. If you actually had the integrity you expect out of others, you'd have kicked that sorry little twerp out of your circle ages ago, and not given him a platform for their mealy-mouthed prevarications. That you have not yet done this makes it so much easier to suspect you were just embracing another non-story for your own purposes.

I'm very sorry you felt the need to take Shirley Sherrod's words out of context, and use those mangled words to make her look like a racist, causing her to lose her job. I'm sorry that, as of this writing, I have yet to see anything from you in the way of a significant, proportional act of apology or contrition from you for having done this.

I'm also sorry that you've felt the need to attach yourself to a video that makes liberals on the street sound like a bunch of un-democratic thugs, but then that hasn't cost anyone their job or reputation, yet, so that's just par for the course from you.

I'm sorry that the person who alerted you to this tweet had a story that was so fishy, and a background that was so questionable, that it almost did look like he'd set Weiner up. So hopefully you can understand that, when we found out the two of you had been in communication, his fishiness plus your fish marketness could understandably equal shenanigans to the informed observer.

I'm sorry that the alterter's friend, who'd been joining him in harassing girls on Weiner's twitter list, is apparently a real scumbag. I'm sure you can understand how that couldn't help matters, either.

And I'm really, really, really sorry that you apparently had this information (and the same photo) a week before the scandalous photo was tweeted, but sat on it until now for... what reason, exactly?

I could go on. I really could. But you wanted "vindication," so here it is.

This time, you were right.

This time, you actually had the truth in hand, and not just your, well, weiner.

This time, there was some truth to be told, and you actually told it, in your own, glory-hogging, self-aggrandizing way.

So yes, I am sorry I suspected otherwise. But when the class clown, after months of falsely telling the teacher that Tommy Dingersniffer is pulling down his pants and mooning people, actually does turn out to be telling the truth on one occasion, that does not make him any less of a clown, or what he lied about before any less false.

You, sir, are a hack and a liar. If you ever want to be anything more than that, you need to start bringing us more Weiners and less Sherrods and O'Keefes.

Because we all know where lies lead, don't we?