memeorandum: America's Wrongest Reporter, ABC News' Brian Ross, Demonstrates Yet Again How He Earned the Title [UPDATED] (John Cook/Gawker)

5:55 PM ET, July 20, 2012

Top Items:

Pierre Thomas / ABCNEWS:

Aurora ‘Dark Knight’ Shooting Suspect Identified: James Holmes — The young man who is in custody after allegedly gunning down 12 people in a mass shooting spree overnight in Aurora, Colorado has been identified as local resident James Holmes, according to federal authorities.

Joel B. Pollak / BREITBART.COM:

THE USUAL SUSPECTS: ABC'S ROSS, STEPHANOLPOULOS POINT TO TEA PARTY IN DARK KNIGHT SHOOTING — On Good Morning America, ABC News' Brian Ross and George Stephanolpoulos suggested that the Tea Party might be connected to the mass shootings early this morning in an Aurora, CO theater during …

Jennifer Bendery / The Huffington Post:

Louie Gohmert: Aurora Shootings Result Of ‘Ongoing Attacks On Judeo-Christian Beliefs’ … FOLLOW: — Denver News, Aurora Shooting, Colorado Shooting, Dark Knight Shooting, James Holmes, Louie Gohmert, Aurora, Aurora News, Aurora Shooting 2012, Aurora Shootings, Aurora Theater Shooting …

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Slate, ThinkProgress, Little Green Footballs, Advocate, Business Insider, Unqualified Offerings, Mediaite, The Raw Story, Wonkette, Taking Note, Washington Monthly, Influence Alley, Truth Wins Out, Joe. My. God. and Hullabaloo

Dylan Byers / Politico:

ABC News apologizes for ‘incorrect’ Tea party report — ABC News and Brian Ross are apologizing for an “incorrect” report that James Holmes, the suspect in the Colorado theater shooting, may have had connections to the Tea Party. — “An earlier ABC News broadcast report suggested …

Discussion: Hot Air, Cagle Post and americanthinker.com, more at Mediagazer »

Skschust / CBS New York:

Kelly: Suspected Shooter In Colorado Theater Massacre Claimed To Be ‘The Joker’ — NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) - New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the gunman suspected of attacking a crowded movie theater in Aurora, Colorado resembled Batman's arch-villain “The Joker” at the time of the shocking attack.

Discussion: CNN, Jordan Ghawi, Air Force Times HOME, The Wrap, Guardian, Law Blog, msnbc.com, CBS Dallas, The Daily Caller, Crooks and Liars, Mediaite and The PJ Tatler

Dennis de Groot / Twitchy:

Left blames Aurora shooting on Rush Limbaugh … Some Twitter users are speculating that the Aurora, Colo., shooter was inspired by comments made by Rush Limbaugh. The shooting occurred at a midnight premiere of the movie, “The Dark Knight Rises.” On Tuesday July 17, Limbaugh …

Discussion: National Review, Politico, The PJ Tatler, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, The Daily Caller, Rush Limbaugh and News Desk

Denver Post:

AURORA — A gunman burst through the emergency exit door of a movie theater early Friday and shot 71 people, killing at least 12 of them, during a midnight premiere of the new Batman movie, “The Dark Knight Rises.” — Bloodied moviegoers dragged each other from the chaotic smoke-filled Theater 9 …

Joel B. Pollak / BREITBART.COM:

EXCLUSIVE: CONTRA ABC NEWS, DARK KNIGHT AURORA, CO SHOOTING SUSPECT JAMES HOLMES COULD BE REGISTERED DEMOCRAT — James Holmes, the suspect arrested in connection with the mass shootings at a screening of the new Batman movie early this morning in Aurora, CO, could be a registered Democrat …

Discussion: The Agitator, Little Green Footballs, ABCNEWS, Washington Post, Hit & Run, Poynter, I'm a Man!, Mediaite, ABCNEWS, JustOneMinute, protein wisdom, The Gateway Pundit, Business Insider and TMZ.com

Michael Grunwald / Swampland:

The Aurora Shooting: Sometimes There's Nothing Wrong With Politicizing a Tragedy — The telegenic schoolmarms we call pundits are all denouncing the politicization of the tragedy in Aurora, calling out the crass opportunists who would dare to use human suffering to advance their preferred public policy choices.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Right Wing News, No More Mister Nice Blog, The New Republic, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite and The Lede

John Cook / Gawker:

America's Wrongest Reporter, ABC News' Brian Ross, Demonstrates Yet Again How He Earned the Title [UPDATED] — When there's breaking news, especially about terrorism and national security, ABC News' Brian Ross is there. And under no circumstances should you listen to anything he says.

Discussion: RedState, Jammie Wearing Fools, Cagle Post, Wonkette, Weasel Zippers, Moonbattery, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Instapundit

Adam Gopnik / News Desk:

One More Massacre — The murders—it dignifies them to call them a “tragedy”—in Aurora, Colorado, have hit us all hard, though the grief of the friends and families of the victims is unimaginable. Still, it hits home, or someplace worse than home, for any parent who (as I did, as so many did) …

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Kevin Robillard / Politico:

Bloomberg: What will Obama, Mitt do? — New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has emerged as one of the nation's highest-profile supporters of gun control, demanded on Friday that the presidential candidates “stand up and tell us what they're going to do about” mass shootings.

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, Weasel Zippers, I'm a Man!, Above the Law, The Lonely Conservative, theGrio, Taylor Marsh and Jammie Wearing Fools

Matt Welch / Hit & Run:

Half-Assed Media Speculation About the Batman Shooter — Undeterred by how wrong they got the Columbine shootings 13 years ago, or how disgustingly politicized they turned Jared Loughner's 2011 rampage, the humans who work for and talk with journalistic outlets are again rushing …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Mediaite

Jessica Fender / Denver Post:
Aurora shooting suspect left apartment “booby trapped,” music blaring

Discussion: msnbc.com, newsfeed.time.com and Towleroad News #gay

Michael Pearson / CNN:
12 killed, 38 hurt in Colorado theater

Joel B. Pollak / BREITBART.COM:
EXCLUSIVE: INTERVIEW WITH JAMES MICHAEL HOLMES, HISPANIC TEA PARTY MEMBER FALSELY ACCUSED BY ABC

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Power Line, Instapundit, American Spectator, The Daily Caller, BuzzFeed, Washington Free Beacon, Joe. My. God., Mediaite and NewsBusters.org

Garance Franke-Ruta / The Atlantic Online:
The Template of Our Grief — The way mass casualty stories unfold …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, CNN, Prairie Weather and News Desk

The White House:
Remarks by the President on the Shootings in Aurora, Colorado

Discussion: White House.gov Blog, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit and Firedoglake

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg rips Obama and Romney on gun control

Discussion: Algemeiner.com

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:
Why the Aurora shootings won't likely change the gun control debate

Discussion: Hit & Run, Outside the Beltway, The Daily Dish, Washington Monthly and theGrio

Noah Rothman / Mediaite:
ABC Corrects Report: ABC News' Brian Ross Links Colorado Shooter To Local Tea Party

Discussion: TVNewser

CBS News:
James Holmes, 24, identified as suspect in deadly mass shooting at Aurora, Colorado, movie theater

Discussion: Daily Mail, Twitchy, CBS Denver, Associated Press, protein wisdom, iOwnTheWorld.com, The PJ Tatler and Clayton Cramer's Blog

Rebecca Leffler / Hollywood Reporter:
‘Dark Knight Rises’ Paris Premiere Cancelled Due to Colorado Shootings

Discussion: entertainment.time.com, ABCNEWS, Guardian, Towleroad News #gay, newsfeed.time.com, Mediaite, Mashable! and Gawker, more at Mediagazer »

Colin Campbell / Politicker:
In Wake of Colorado Shooting, Bloomberg Bashes Both Presidential Candidates

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Firedoglake and The Huffington Post

CNN: Obama, after shooting, tells supporters ‘Such evil is senseless’

Jim Davis / Boston Globe:

Romney kept reins, bargained hard on severance — Shortly after Mitt Romney took a leave of absence from Bain Capital to run the Olympics in February 1999, he made a trip to Palm Beach, Fla. The firm Romney founded was meeting to celebrate its 15th anniversary as well as the men he had helped make extraordinarily wealthy.

Discussion: msnbc.com, The Raw Story, Daily Kos and The Mahablog

Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Pathos of the Plutocrat

Discussion: The Right Coast, Daily Kos and Los Angeles Times

Aurora Shooting / The Huffington Post:
Mitt Romney Avoided Major Tax Hit By Shifting Stock Of Offshoring Firm

Discussion: Start Making Sense

Jonathan Martin / Politico:

George W. Bush skipping Republican National Convention — Former President George W. Bush will not attend the Republican convention next month in Tampa, POLITICO has learned. — “President Bush was grateful for the invitation to the Republican National Convention,” Bush spokesman Freddy Ford wrote in an e-mail.

Discussion: CNN, The Caucus and Indecision Forever

Daily Mail:

Teenager shouts ‘Allah is great’ in Arabic as he tries to grab the Olympic flame from hands of terrified torch bearer — Boy runs from crowd and attempts to wrestle flame from torch bearer shouting Arabic for ‘God is Great’ — Kent police say the relay continued ‘without disruption’ as Ms Skora passes torch on to next bearer

Discussion: Mediaite, The Jawa Report, Atlas Shrugs and Weasel Zippers

Paul Krugman:

Al Green, Threat to the American Way of Life — Gary Silverman makes a remarkable catch. He asks why the Romney counter-attack on the “America the Beautiful” ad featured Obama singing Al Green, and pretty well too. Well, it turns out that this is how the other .01% think: … How “other” is Al Green?

Gary Silverman / Financial Times:
America, I'm so in love with you — I think it's fair …

Discussion: alicublog

Washington Post:

Michele Bachmann's baseless attack on Huma Abedin — TO CONSPIRACY theorists like Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), the Obama administration's approach to the Arab world is the product not of considered diplomacy but of wicked “influence operations,” traceable to the Muslim Brotherhood and its agents.

Discussion: Politico, rightwingwatch.org, NewsBusters.org and Outside the Beltway