Doocy, Daily Caller Try And Fail To Manufacture Wall Street Protest Astroturf "Scandal"

Since the media began covering the Occupy Wall Street protests, Fox has launched an all-out campaign to mock, attack, and discredit the movement. Fox personalities have claimed the protesters have "absolutely no purpose ... in life," called them the "sludge" of "every single left-wing cause," and claimed they are deluded. Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy has even complained they got "between me and a steak dinner."

On this morning's Fox & Friends, Doocy again went on the attack, attempting to discredit the protesters by hyping a Daily Caller story which claimed "Organizer admits to paying 'Occupy DC protesters.' "Doocy seized on the story, leading off the show by excitedly proclaiming "scandal":

Doocy teased the story by calling it "the scandal you got to hear to believe." The Daily Caller also heavily promoted the "scandal," making it the top story on their website this morning:

But this is not a "scandal you got to hear to believe." In fact, it's not a scandal at all. Here is what the Daily Caller story considers evidence that "some aspects of the protest ... are more Astroturf than grassroots":

One group of about ten Hispanic protesters marched behind a Caucasian individual from the DC Tenants Advocacy Coalition, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting rent control in Washington, D.C.

Asked why they were there, some Hispanic protesters holding up English protest signs could not articulate what their signs said.

Interviewed in Spanish, the protesters told conflicting stories about how their group was organized. Some said it was organized at their church, and that they were there as volunteers. Others, however, referred to the man from the DC Tenants Advocacy Coalition -- the only Caucasian in the group -- as their "boss."

TheDC asked that organizer whether he was paying the group to attend the protest, and he conceded that some protesters "aren't" volunteers.

To summarize, a few members of a ten person group may or may not be "volunteers." They never said they were being paid, and the so-called "organizer" never said he was paying them. Even if true, it's bad form, to be sure, but by no means a "scandal," and reveals absolutely nothing about the dedication and motives of the thousands of other people currently engaged in nationwide protests. Of course, that won't stop Doocy from gloating over his manufactured "scandal" or the Daily Caller from pretending they've found a story worth promoting.