DOES THIS MEAN THE PRESS ACTED STUPIDLY? Black friend defends shooter of Florida teen. “George Zimmerman is not a racist and cried for days after shooting dead a black Florida teenager, a black, longtime friend of Zimmerman said on Sunday in a sympathetic portrayal of a man maligned by critics as a trigger-happy bigot. Zimmerman, 28, a white Hispanic, shot Trayvon Martin, 17, in what he said was self defense during an altercation in the gated community Zimmerman was watching on February 26 in Sanford, Florida. After attracting little notice initially, the case gained widespread attention, sparking protests and renewing a national debate about race.”

Actually, it’s a national debate about press irresponsibility and political dishonesty. And the more information that comes out, the less there seems to be to debate.

Plus this:

“All these people who are threatening George, what makes them any better than the person they think he is?” Oliver said. “You’ve got all these people wanting to lynch the man and they don’t know the whole story. There are huge gaps that are being filled in and interpreted without evidence.”

Yep. The “have you no decency” crowd is once again demonstrating its utter lack of decency.

UPDATE: Blog comment of the day: “Remember Obama saying about Major Hasan [how] we shouldn’t jump to judgement?”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Ouch.

MORE: Reader John Oglesby writes: “Zimmerman is a ‘White Hispanic’? t seems they’ll use whatever fits their narrative. If a Caucasian man had shot a hooded Zimmerman, there’s no way they’d be calling him a White Hispanic.” No, then he’d be a Latino, full-stop.