Daily Beast: With Those Goo-Goo-Googly-Ties

Daily Beast ‘contributing editor’ Justin Baragona stepped back as daintily as a ballerina from a firestorm when caught in the act of accusing Fox News host Tucker Carlson of adding “googly eyes” by “doctoring” an image of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. When it backfired on him with surfacing proof the image used by Carlson was real—dating back to real pictures since May 2018, Baragona made his mea culpas to Twitter—not to Carlson and his Fox News producers. Call the Daily Beast contributing editor ‘Boomerang Baragona!

“Justin Baragona, a frequent critic of conservatives, accused Carlson's producers Wednesday of doctoring an image of Ocasio-Cortez to make the Democratic congresswoman's eyes looking abnormally large. (The Blaze, Feb. 18, 2021)

“Without fact-checking — or thinking through what the ramifications would be if he were wrong — Baragona posted a screenshot of the show to Twitter, saying, "So it appears Tucker's producers added googly eyes to AOC in this image.” “He was obviously hoping to catch Carlson in the act, but the problem was, he was wrong and the image was real.”

Uh-oh!

“Consequently, all he ended up doing was insulting Ocasio-Cortez's appearance. After that was pointed out to him, he owned up to the embarrassing gaffe on Twitter. (The Blaze) "Taking down this tweet as the image of AOC has been out there since at least May 2018," he wrote. "Anyway, I'll take the [loss] and the addition to the list [Siraj Hashmi].”

“Taking down this tweet as the image of AOC has been out there since at least May 2018. "Anyway, I'll take the "Anyway, I'll take the [loss] and the addition to the list [Siraj Hashmi]." “Hashmi is a journalist who works for the Washington Examiner and is known for creating "The List," a daily power ranking of people who need to have their phones taken away. “In a follow-up tweet, Baragona employed some more apologetic self-loathing, saying, "Every day you log onto Twitter, you hope to get through it without being it. Tonight, I was it. And I absolutely deserved to be.” "Word of advice — if you don't want to be IT, make sure you don't send out factually inaccurate tweets that can be easily verified and debunked," he added. “As was to be expected, Baragona was raked on the social media platform over his mistake. "Its cool how when you're a journalist you can just say s**t," one commenter wrote.

“Others pushed back on those defending his gaffe as an honest mistake. "It's not really an honest mistake. He just naturally assumed the worst about Tucker, and from that assumption, assumed they added the eyes. There's nothing 'honest' about that," one person wrote. “Another added: "He only took it down because he got called out for it. It would probably still be up had no one called him on it. There is nothing honest here."

So it appears that Tucker's producers added googly eyes to AOC in this image pic.twitter.com/sSxGZZpht5

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) February 18, 2021

.@justinbaragona I think it’s best if we all just take a breath and calm down. There’s no need to get angry. pic.twitter.com/IVLy4HXBwX

— Prison Mitch (@MidnightMitch) February 18, 2021

No need to get angry when someone on Twitter gets to post bold lies? This is a story not about big-eyed AOC’s “googly eyes, but about a Daily Beast contributing editor’s Goo-Goo-Googly-TIES!

Barney Google -- With the Goo Goo Googly Eyes

Judi McLeod——Bio and Archives -- Judi McLeod, Founder, Owner and Editor of Canada Free Press, is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years’ experience in the print and online media. A former Toronto Sun columnist, she also worked for the Kingston Whig Standard. Her work has appeared throughout the ‘Net, including on Rush Limbaugh and Fox News.