This is what it has come to.  In this “news” column from the AP on the Tea Party rally in Harry Reid’s hometown of Searchlight, Nev., yesterday, the AP puts the burden of proof on Andrew Breitbart to prove that no one yelled the N-word at the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington last Sunday:

“Conservative columnist Andrew Breitbart disputed accounts that tea party activists in Washington shouted racial epithets at black members of Congress amid the health care debate, although he didn’t provide any evidence.” – AP, 12/27/10

Let’s first put aside the absence of basic logic dwelling within the idea that one can prove that something did not get said.

And, let’s also set aside, for a moment, the assault on Americans’ basic sense of fairness that is inherent in the “guilty until proven innocent” stance the AP is taking.

Let’s start with the AP’s clear surrender of any kind of impartiality when reporting about Breitbart and the Tea Party movement.  Political writer Michael R. Blood, who filed this report, needs to be taken off the Tea Party beat immediately.  If he can’t report a simple, straightforward fact like Breitbart disputing the accounts of racial epithets without the nonsensical caveat of “although he didn’t provide any evidence,” then how can he be trusted to fairly report on other activities from the increasingly influential political movement he is covering?

Rea the rest here.