Howard Kurtz has a pretty good wrap up of the entire situation.
I've seen lots of comparisons of this stunt to the phony call made to Governor Walker in Wisconsin, and there are certainly valid comparisons to be made there.
I will make one distinction here--and that's the fact that this prankster has been proven to be dishonest in his editing, and we need to see the unedited video. (Howard Kurtz is the only one I've seen mention this)
However, with that said, the parallels are obvious.
The reason this is so damaging is that it fits perfectly into a pre-conceived narrative. The liberals knew Governor Walker wasn't really interested in balancing the budget, but when we heard him actually admit his real reasons, it confirmed our worst thoughts. The same is true here. Tea partiers thought that NPR bosses considered them to be racist rubes, but when we heard the Senior Vice President, the chief fundraiser of NPR actually say that, it confirmed our worst thoughts.
In both cases it only inflames one side of the political divide. Conservatives weren't upset about the dishonest union busting. They agreed with it. Liberals weren't upset about calling tea partiers racists. They agreed with it.
The fact that both sides are not being honest--saying one thing to the public at large and another thing to people on their own side--doesn't seem to bother anyone.
It bothers me.
