Ben Dimiero asks: Is Jim Hoft (“Gateway Pundit”) the Dumbest Human on the Internet?

I would answer “yes,” but there’s some pretty stiff competition with people like Pamela Geller and Dan Riehl.

In spite of the fact that Hoft embarrasses himself on a near-daily basis and has shown time and again that he is either willfully dishonest or staggeringly inept, he has managed to carve out a role as one of the most-read, most respected writers in the conservative blogosphere. And his influence extends beyond the blogs. Hoft’s stories are regularly featured on Fox News’ Fox Nation website, and he has been cited as a source on-air by Fox News on multiple occasions.

Hoft’s ongoing position of influence in the conservative media is evidence that the entire movement is intellectually bankrupt.

It’s bad, all right.

Dimiero does a pretty good job of recounting Hoft’s inane mistakes, deliberate lies, and general illiteracy, and includes several screenshots of Hoft’s more ridiculous headlines.

Here’s another screenshot; this was Jim Hoft’s response to me when I pointed out that his source for a false claim about Obama education czar Kevin Jennings was an extremist anti-gay hate group:

UPDATE at 9/22/10 1:34:42 pm:

Dan Riehl defends Jim Hoft: Taking Up Erick Boehlert’s Challenge, Or Why I Love Jim Hoft.

Erick Boehlert Tweets:

Can’t someone/anyone from RW blogosphere defend Jim Hoft

Hoft doesn’t need defending from the likes of you, Boehlert. But I’ll always have his back because he fights the Left the same way and every bit as hard as they routinely fight us everyday. But that doesn’t seem to bother you, now does it, ass hat?

Now, crawl back under your twitter-rock. Evey time you peak your head out you get pimp slammed like some silly biatch, because no one over here gives a damn what you think, moron.

So, do you want a follow up? Or, are we done now, punk?

I rest my case.