ABC's own - personal - Breitbartpocalypse

I'm ashamed of myself for taking quite so much pleasure in this dust-up between Andy Brietbart and ABC News:

But now, in an utterly predictable twist, the brawling has become internal, as it were, with Breitbart battling ABC reps over what exactly his role will be and what he claims it was supposed to be. (He's published private emails to state his case.)

That's right, ABC is now publicly feuding with one of its soon-to-be guests, with Breitbart claiming ABC execs lied about what their plans were for him on Election Night, and ABC responding that it's Breitbart who's confused about what the emails said and what his participation was supposed to be. So yes, the obvious question arises: If ABC doesn't think Breitbart can read emails, why do they want him to comment on Tuesday night's election results?

If you missed the back story on this one, Breitbart made a big announcement on his BigEgo site that he would have a starring role in ABC's election night coverage and would appear on-air as an analyst. Apparently a lot of people contacted ABC to let them know what they thought about giving a microphone to a proven fabulist and irredeemable con man like Andy.

This led to a disclaimer by ABC:

The following is attributable to Andrew Morse, Executive Producer, ABC News Digital:

Since conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart announced on his website that he was going to be a participant in ABC’s Town Hall meeting at Arizona State University, there has been considerable consternation and misinformation regarding my decision to ask him to participate in an election night Town Hall event for ABC News Digital. I want to explain what Mr. Breitbart's role has always been as one of our guests at our digital town hall event:

Mr. Breitbart is not an ABC News analyst.

He is not an ABC News consultant.

He is not, in any way, affiliated with ABC News.

He is not being paid by ABC News.

He has not been asked to analyze the results of the election for ABC News.
Mr. Breitbart will not be a part of the ABC News broadcast coverage, anchored by Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos. For the broadcast coverage, David Muir and Facebook's Randi Zuckerberg will contribute reaction and response gathered from the students and faculty of Arizona State University at an ABC News/Facebook town hall.

He has been invited as one of several guests, from a variety of different political persuasions, to engage with a live, studio audience that will be closely following the election results and participating in an online-only discussion and debate.

Breitbart was, of course, furious at being made to look like a fool and thus engaged ABC in a smear contest.

I have to say, I wouldn't be surprised if, this one time, Andy was telling the truth. I suspect he was going to be an on-air analyst and ABC reneged in the face of the huge public outcry against such a dunderheaded decision. But leaving him as even an on-line only guest is still too much for me. I'm still boycotting the ABC coverage in protest.

Meanwhile, I'm off to work and won't be home till after 6:00 tonight. So see my other election blogging at DetNews. [More posts daily at the Detroit News.]