Lewis, Carson, Cleaver and the phantom n-word

Yesterday the New York Times ran an ambiguous correction of Times reporter Matt Bai’s assertion that Tea Party protesters had abused Rep. John Lewis with “epithets” during the Obamacare protest on Capitol Hill on March 20. What was Mr. Times saying? I’d like to take a look at that in the next day.
In the meantime, here is an altogether more straightforward message from the gentleman who calls himself Marooned in Marin. His message seems to have been prompted by my “Waiting for Lefty” post. In any event, MiM writes:

In looking at and writing on the latest on the whole Andre Carson phanton “n-word” allegation, I came across your “Don’t Leave It To Cleaver” series and read the words of one of the eyewitnesses [i.e., Greg Farrell] who contacted you.
I’ve been really interested in this story since it happened, because I was there as well and filmed a video which you posted at your blog on March 21 (the 48-second one at the bottom). I also have a nine second video showing when the CBC walked through the crowd to go to the Capitol an hour before. I never posted it on YouTube, but gave it to Andrew Breitbart after contacting him when an AP reporter sent me an e-mail one day after writing this story. My nine-second video is the third video in this YouTube clip.
I even called Andre Carson’s office and talked to his press aide the other day and the guy just kept insisting the alleged slurs happened, never mind I told him I was there and saw both instances the congressmen walked by.
My story is this. I heard nothing out of the ordinary, and didn’t see anyone around me react in a negative way towards anyone there. I’d have known too, because I’ve been to rallies long ago when someone would bring a sign or shout something and they were told to knock it off or leave, so, contrary to the claims of the media, NAACP, etc., I know that people on our side don’t have any tolerance for that kind of garbage.
Second, I had no idea what had happened until after I wrote up my report on the March 20 rally and included the longer video (the 48 second one). Only after I started sharing my post did I start to see the allegations that were made.
In the days following, I wrote McClatchy Newspapers, Dana Milbank of the Washington ComPost, and even the writer at the Kansas City Star who wrote the story about the NAACP resolution, saying this allegation was a lie, and never happened. None of them have written me back (surprise!). I find this such a contrast as to how the same media have gone out of their way to make Shirley Sherrod a saint and demonize Andrew Breitbart.

It is a contrast that provides the appropriate “context” for the Breitbart hysteria of the past week.

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