http://twitter.com/#!/DavidShuster/status/240608617877876736

All it took was a single unsubstantiated tweet from shady David Shuster to trigger a torrent of mainstream and social media coverage:

GOP Convention Attendees Ejected For Throwing Nuts At Black CNN Employee http://t.co/EToh3fon

— Speakeasy (@WSJspeakeasy) August 29, 2012

Update: @WSJSpeakeasy says 2 people were removed for throwing nuts at a black journalist at the RNC http://t.co/85t6NNPf

— Liz Heron (@lheron) August 29, 2012

From last night — An ugly incident in Tampa involving a convention attendee and a black camerawoman working for CNN: http://t.co/HMy4XTIQ

— POLITICO (@politico) August 29, 2012

From @HuffingtonPost, Republican Attendees Threw Nuts At Black CNN Camerawoman, Called Her An 'Animal' – http://t.co/MAEp1JAc

— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) August 29, 2012

RNC attendee allegedly thrown out of convention after racist attack on CNN camerawoman http://t.co/kf7j9sMZ

— Huffington Post (@HuffingtonPost) August 29, 2012

RNC 2012: two GOP delegates racist toward CNN black camerawoman http://t.co/OjOw7em7

— Zennie Abraham (@zennie62) August 29, 2012

It appears that David Shuster didn’t actually witness the nut-throwing event. It’s also worth mentioning that Shuster, who was indefinitely suspended from MSNBC in 2010, has been a frequent topic here at Twitchy, known more for his deplorable behavior than for his veracity.

,@CNN would not comment to me about RNCC attendee removed for incident with black camera woman. But, confirmation also now to @TPM_dk

— David Shuster (@DavidShuster) August 29, 2012

So David Shuster heard about this incident from … someone. CNN wouldn’t talk to Shuster, who is trying desperately to be relevant, but instead, spoke to Talking Points Memo:

CNN can confirm there was an incident directed at an employee inside the Tampa Bay Times Forum earlier this afternoon. CNN worked with convention officials to address this matter and will have no further comment.

Shuster took to Twitter to whine to his circle of leftist followers:

Confirmation from CNN/RNC on something I couldn't nail down lastn ight. 2 people, not one, ejected for racist taunts. http://t.co/L9aAf48N

— David Shuster (@DavidShuster) August 29, 2012

Poor Dave, out of the loop. Even spell-check isn’t speaking to him. Sad face. And were there two racists at the RNC convention, or one, Dave? Oopsies!

GOP convention spokesman, Kyle Downey, did not give any details about the incident, but told Politico:

Two attendees tonight exhibited deplorable behavior. Their conduct was inexcusable and unacceptable. This kind of behavior will not be tolerated.

RNC calls incident "deplorable," now confirms 2 people ejected last night for racist taunts of black CNN camera op. http://t.co/L9aAf48N

— David Shuster (@DavidShuster) August 29, 2012

Alas, the Twittersphere toothpaste was already out of the tube. “CNN can confirm there was an incident” morphed into “CNN has confirmed that Shuster’s partially correct, second-hand-account tweet is 100% accurate.”

Yeesh. MT @TPM_dk: CNN confirms @DavidShuster tweet. RNCC attendee removed after throwing nuts at black CNN camerawoman http://t.co/bEUEH36O

— mkung (@mkung) August 29, 2012

Most of all, camera operators are just people trying to do a job, and they deserve way better treatment that the CNN camerawoman did today.

— Will McAvoy (@WillMcAvoyACN) August 29, 2012

@sammusmusic way too many folks were tweeting that mess…then CNN confirmed like an hour later

— Boobie (@BoobieMerit) August 29, 2012

And the race to paint the RNC as the KKK incarnate was off:

ay, out of all the black people to be racist to, this idiot choose to do it to a CNN camera person. It's the news. They made to snitch, yep

— Ceddy Ced (@thahustlasdj) August 29, 2012

2 ppl thrown out of Convo after throwing peanuts, saying disparaging words at black CNN staffer. It pains me. Stupid, racist has no party.

— Ana Navarro (@ananavarro) August 29, 2012

Is this racist idiot the REAL face of the RNC?-> RNC attendee given boot 4 racially taunting black CNN camerawoman – http://t.co/teimB6cI

— Jay Dow (@JayDowTV) August 29, 2012

Black CNN camera person harassed and taunted by racist RNC convention goer(s). Not reported n CNN. Who is the MSM really in the tank for?

— thefieldnegro (@fieldnegro) August 29, 2012

https://twitter.com/REALBROTHER0003/status/240848180831469568

2 people from RNC removed for taunting a black CNN cameraman. Throwing nuts at him saying "This is how we feed animals" http://t.co/CvWlxX2E

— Bryan Weaver (@BryanWeaverDC) August 29, 2012

RNC attendee ejected for throwing nuts at black CNN camerwoman, yelling "this is how we feed the animals". GOP = KKK http://t.co/xMsjk3fq

— Danceswithdevils (@DisastrousFlirt) August 29, 2012

Ima retweet this all day! Republicans = KKK RT @GlobalGrind: JUST IN: Republicans throw nuts at (cont) http://t.co/kwpPrsHq

— Shaun L. Martin (@SDOTALLDAYYO) August 29, 2012

GOP or KKK? 'Republican Attendee Allegedly Threw Nuts At Black CNN Camerawoman, Called Her An 'Animal' http://t.co/K4OQPs9Q

— C.White (@CNWhitePC) August 29, 2012

@BrotherMob: Any person of color in that room will be jumped and kicked.They already threw nuts at the black camera people….KKK

— Dame (@dame__5) August 29, 2012

GOP Convention attendee throws nuts at Black woman & tells her "This is how we feed animals" but dont be surprised GOP IS CONTROLLED BY KKK

— TeaPartyIsTheKKK (@SaberGato) August 29, 2012

Go ahead @Hardball_Chris call Clint Eastwood a RACIST after his GOP Convention speech…MAKE HIS DAY @PatDollard #LNYHBT #TCOT #GOP2012 #gop

— Nurse Patriot (@LANURSE1) August 29, 2012

As disgusting as it was, reporting on racist fucks at the GOP convention is as novel as finding drunks at a bar.

— Adam Sessler (@AdamSessler) August 29, 2012

Sick minds RT @AliAbunimah Racist RNC Attendees Throw Nuts at Black CNN Camerawoman,Call Her an 'Animal' http://t.co/6aEHmT2t via @deetskies

— Rosemary (@hindatu87) August 29, 2012

Dear #gopconvention #rnc organizers: r u inviting the 2 folks that threw nuts @ the @CNN camerawoman welcome back 2nite? I want 2 know! #p2

— & then there's Maude (@proudliberalmom) August 29, 2012

It’s clear that there was an “incident” at the convention and that Republican officials acted swiftly and properly to eject the offenders.

Throwing nuts at people is idiotic. Doing so in the context of derogatory slurs is despicable.

But it’s also disgusting that the Left is using this incident to smear the entire Republican party and to brand every member as a thuggish racist, before any actual evidence of the nut-hurlers’ motives is known. The GOP-bashers automatically assume that race, rather than the target’s media affiliation, motivated the morons.

These specious character assassinations have been an ongoing narrative this week. Twitchy reported today that MSNBC scrubbed minority speeches from its coverage of the convention, in an obvious attempt to whitewash the RNC. Twitchy also noted leftist attacks on Mia Love at the convention and their insane obsession with #Negrospotting. And then there’s Yahoo! News bureau chief David Chalian, who made the disgusting comment that the “Romneys are happy to have a party while black people drown.”

The problem is that the details of this event are unclear at the present time. Twitchy was unable to find any tweets from eyewitnesses. Is it possible that the nut throwers were expressing anti-CNN sentiment rather than racist setiment? Many conservatives are unhappy with CNN’s unbalanced coverage of the convention and whitewashing of minority speakers:

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley http://t.co/ZA0hLdgV @NBC @CBSNews @ABC @msnbc @CNN NO coverage on minorities at #RNC #MSM?

— 유N and her dog ⪢ᵟᴥᵟ⪡ (@mattersofmedia) August 29, 2012

@chucktodd Surprised to see very little coverage from CNN about Ron Paul At RNC what was his delegate count

— John L. Kish (@guru_1967) August 29, 2012

CNN MSNBC cuts every speech made by a minority from RNC speech coverage and blacks are falling for (cont) http://t.co/ZDZniYwZ

— Youxia88™ (@Youxia88) August 29, 2012

https://twitter.com/HKirsh1/status/240843792419270657

So @erinburnett perhaps you can shed light on why @msnbc has cut every minority speech from its #RNC coverage? #racism ? #whiteparty ? @cnn

— RoadApple Marty Left (@MartyLeft) August 29, 2012

Many Twitter users are raising their own questions about the media’s coverage of the nut-throwing incident:

@LabelsNLove24 Maybe, but we have one report by David Shuster and the average GOPer has a low opinion of CNN, not of african americans.

— BrightlyWrought (@BrightlyWrought) August 29, 2012

https://twitter.com/vananht/status/240684973496086528

CNN should reveal details of nut-throwing incident – The Plum Line – The Washington Post http://t.co/tlsxt3ro

— Steve BESTE (@stevebeste) August 29, 2012

Why is CNN going silent on its Black camerawoman's assault by racist #RCN2012 Convention attendee? Is CNN protecting #GOP racists?

— Kaiju (@kaijuisme) August 29, 2012

Others are suggesting these may not have been Republican delegates, but a “false flag.”

RNC Attendees Reportedly Ejected After Throwing Food at Black CNN Camerawoman: ‘This Is How We Feed Animals’ http://t.co/SoGgEOmu #FalseFlag

— Elisabeth (@10thAmendment) August 29, 2012

There's a Storm Coming: RNC attendees are racist? http://t.co/Vz9x8xLw

— Tom Allen (@Guitartom47) August 29, 2012

The blog post refers to a report that plans were being made to disrupt the convention.

WH INSIDER ISSUES WARNING – FALSE FLAG PLANNED FOR GOP CONVENTION? – The Ulsterman Report http://t.co/MILkkVhB Read updates/comments!

— Georgia Tauchas (@georgiatauchas) August 24, 2012

Twitchy agrees with the liberal tweeters above, who are calling for CNN to be more transparent and to present more information about the facts of this incident. Twitter is chattering and people are beginning to speculate. Right now the entire story relies on David Shuster’s single tweet, which we now know was factually inaccurate in at least one respect (two attendees were ejected, not one). There were undoubtedly other journalists around at the Tampa Bay Times Forum, where the alleged incident was said to have taken place. We’d like to hear from them and from others who witnessed the event. Speak up and tweet out!

Update: Shuster writes more about the incident here. He now makes it clear that he did not witness the incident firsthand:

Around 8:15pm Tuesday night a television camera man I know here in Tampa at the RNC convention arena said there had been an “ugly” and “despicable incident” involving potential delegates at the Republican convention heckling a camera operator working for CNN on or near the floor.

According to this account, at least one or two GOP delegates or credentialed alternates had taunted the CNN staffer — an African American woman.

And at some point, at least one or both GOP convention attendees apparently tossed peanuts at the black camera op and allegedly said, “this is how we feed the animals.”

The way the story was described to me, the CNN crew summoned security, which quickly identified the perpetrators of this incident and with the help of convention officials, ejected the perpetrators from the arena.

According to Greg Sargent, CNN still won’t say whether it knows the identities of the two individuals who were ejected:

CNN so far not answering questions as to whether they know identity of the two nut throwers

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) August 29, 2012

Read more: http://twitchy.com/2012/08/29/shady-david-shusters-rnc-peanut-story-and-the-knee-jerk-media/