ABC Draws Possible Tea Party Connection with Alleged Aurora Shooter

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Is it possible for mainstream media to get any lower or more irresponsible

ABC Draws Possible Tea Party Connection with Alleged Aurora Shooter

By DYLAN BYERS | 7/20/12 9:39 AM EDT

ABC News has suggested that James Holmes -- the suspect in today's shooting in Aurora, Colorado -- may have a connection to the Tea Party.

ABC's Brian Ross reported this morning that there is "a Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado, page on the Colorado Tea party site... talking about him joining the Tea Party last year."

(See also: Full coverage of the Colorado theater shooting)

"Now, we don't know if this is the same Jim Holmes," Ross cautioned "but it's Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado."

(PHOTOS: Colorado theater shooting)

ABC News is the only network or cable news channel to suggest a possible Tea Party connection, according to a survey of the TV Eyes database at 9:30 a.m. ET, though they did not verify that the two individuals were one and the same. (This is the Tea Party Patriots page on which Ross based his report.)

The report has already set off alarm bells on the right. At Brietbart.com, the conservative news site, Joel Pollak has accused ABC News of "scapegoating."

"How interesting that Ross and ABC News should think to look to the Tea Party website first--and to broadcast politically volatile information without verifying if that 'Jim Holmes' is the same as the suspect," Pollak writes. "Look for more scapegoating from the mainstream media and the Democrats in the hours and days to follow."

(Also on POLITICO: Campaigns pause after shootings)

I have reached out to ABC News for comment on its report, and will update here if and when I hear back.

UPDATE: 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 that a Jim Holmes of a Colorado Tea Party organization might be the suspect, but that report was incorrect," ABC News said in a statement. "ABC News and Brian Ross apologize for the mistake, and for disseminating that information before it was properly vetted."

In a similar statement released minutes earlier, ABC News said the report was "incorrect" but did not include the apology. "Several other local residents with similar names were also contacted via social media by members of the public who mistook them for the suspect," the initial statement read.