Gullible dumbass of the day: Brian Lemon.

[TAIL WAGGING UPDATE: Not half an hour ago, as I was linking to Mr. Lemon's blog post, I noticed that an anonymous commenter had left a comment on that post referring to the same DailyKos post I link to. That comment is now gone. Apparently, some people just can't handle criticism. However, just to play it safe, I took a screenshot of that blog post, in case it mysteriously changes or disappears.]

Yes, it's a followup of a post from earlier this morning but, golly gee, this is just too entertaining not to pounce on.

As we reported earlier, Blogging Tory Brian Lemon was just plain peeved about CNN's Michael Ware allegedly giving Sen. John McCain a hard time, as Brian quotes from reliable news source Kate McMillan:

During a live press conference in Bagdad, Senators McCain and Graham were heckled by CNN reporter Michael Ware. An official at the press conference called Ware’s conduct “outrageous,” saying, “here you have two United States Senators in Bagdad giving first-hand reports while Ware is laughing and mocking their comments. I’ve never witnessed such disrespect. This guy is an activist not a reporter.”
“I don't know what part of Neverland Senator McCain is talking about when he says we can go strolling in Baghdad.”
Michael Ware has also publicly expressed his views on the war last year in an interview with Bill Maher, saying, “I've been given a front-row ticket to watch this slow-motion train wreck … I try to stay as drunk for as long as possible while I'm here … In fact, I'm drinking now.”

Let's disembowel Brian's dumbassitude one piece at a time, as first we learn that the source of that accusation is (brace yourself) Matt Drudge:

During a live press conference in Baghdad, Senators McCain and Graham were heckled by CNN reporter Michael Ware. An official at the press conference called Ware’s conduct “outrageous,” saying, “here you have two United States Senators in Bagdad giving first-hand reports while Ware is laughing and mocking their comments. I’ve never witnessed such disrespect. This guy is an activist not a reporter.”

And you'd think that being Matt Drudge's stenographer is embarrassing enough. But, no, Brian's dumbassery continues. Again, quoting verbatim from Brian's piece, note how he seems to be suggesting that the following text is somehow continuous in the original article:

During a live press conference in Bagdad, Senators McCain and Graham were heckled by CNN reporter Michael Ware. An official at the press conference called Ware’s conduct “outrageous,” saying, “here you have two United States Senators in Bagdad giving first-hand reports while Ware is laughing and mocking their comments. I’ve never witnessed such disrespect. This guy is an activist not a reporter.”
“I don't know what part of Neverland Senator McCain is talking about when he says we can go strolling in Baghdad.”

But, oh look ... let's read the actual text from Drudge, shall we, with the carefully-excised verbiage highlighted:

... Senators McCain and Graham flew into Iraq and drove into Baghdad, making stops at an open market and a joint Iraq/American military security outpost before appearing at the press conference.

This is not the first time Michael Ware has taken issue with Senator McCain’s comments about early progress in Iraq. Last week, after Senator McCain told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that he needed to catch up on the news coming out of Iraq, Michael Ware responded, saying:

“I don't know what part of Neverland Senator McCain is talking about when he says we can go strolling in Baghdad.”

Well, how about that? Despite what Brian is suggesting, Ware's quote about "Neverland" could not possibly have constituted "heckling" at a "live press conference" since it was uttered last week. To Wolf Blitzer. During a TV interview.

And the capper? How about asking if any of the above actually happened (emphasis in quoted article)?

Soledad: Let me ask you a question. There was a report that said you were heckling and you were laughing during the Senator's press conference. Was that true?

Ware: Well, let's bear in mind that this was a report that was linked by an unnamed official of some kind to a blog, somewhere on the internet. No one is going to put their name forward. We certainly haven't heard Senator McCain say anything about it, or has any of his staff come forward to say anything about it.

I did not heckle the Senator, indeed I did not say a word. I didn't even ask a question. In fact, when I raised my hand to ask a question, the press conference abruptly ended. So what I would suggest is that everyone that has any queries about whether I heckled, watch the video tape of the press conference.

Let's follow this story for a while, shall we? I don't think we're done with Brian just yet.

BONUS TRACK: Poor Brian can't even claim that he was led astray by pathological screech harpy Kate McMillan, as here's a screenshot from SDA, in which you can clearly read the text that Brian so carefully removed:

And if I were feeling particularly cruel, I could point out how that accusation from Drudge is totally unsourced and unattributed. But that would be cruel. And I'm not cruel.