Big Government Will Not Be Scooped By Buzzfeed

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Update: Big Government has posted the full video arguing that it was "spliced and diced by the media to avoid showing just how close Obama was to Bell." In their version -- but not in the WGBH film Buzzfeed's Andrew Kaczynski beat them to posting -- Obama ... hugs Bell, which, Big Government asserts, shows a "close relationship" that Obama and his supporters don't want us to see. As Buzzfeed's Andrew Kaczynski, who posted the video first, rather succinctly sums up: "Breitbart.com's big scoop on Fox News: BuzzFed left out a hug." Translation: Buzzfeed did indeed get the "scoop", such as it was. 

Original: This morning when Buzzfeed announced it had found the "mysterious" video from Obama's early years that the late Andrew Breitbart's site Big Government, known for its explosive videos, had been teasing for weeks, it seemed they'd taken the wind out of Big Government's sails, not that there was much wind to be taken. 

The video, from Boston's public station WGBH, shows Barack Obama as a Harvard Law student speaking at a rally in favor of giving more minority professors tenure. Upon watching it, some wondered whether Buzzfeed had even found the right video because it just wasn't very scandalous. As New York magazine's Jon Chait noted, "either Breitbart was engaging in massive hyperbole ... or else Buzzfeed has a completely different video." See for yourself:

Well, Big Government announced Wednesday that in fact Buzzfeed has the right video, they just left out the explosive parts. In a statement on the site, editor Joel Pollak says, "the video has been selectively edited--either by the Boston television station or by Buzzfeed itself. Over the course of the day, Breitbart.com will be releasing additional footage that has been hidden by Obama's allies in the mainstream media and academia."

Big Government's claim that Buzzfeed missed something is just as puzzling and doubtful as Buzzfeed's claim that they'd found the bombshell in the first place, so we're not sure what to expect anymore. Our best guess is the scandal will center around the politics of Professor Derrick Bell, of whom Obama speaks glowingly in the video, and whom Big Government describes as "a radical academic tied to Jeremiah Wright." At any rate, look out for more maybe-explosive-maybe-not footage in the near future. 

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.