Back during the Wisconsin protests, Governor Scott Walker lamented the extensive damage protesters caused to the state capitol and grounds, and in a transparent bid for manufactured outrage, “estimated” the damage at a whopping $7.5 million. The figure was widely reported, but outside of Fox News, was just as widely disbelieved, and for good reason. The actual cost? About $200,000.

Leaders of SPLC-designated hate groups rushed to defend leading presidential contender Michele Bachmann’s business, her husband Marcus’s clinic, from widespread publicity about their ex-gay “ministry and counseling.”