Alternative explanation than bias or incompetence

@Karl Uppiano: "Even if they retract it (which they haven't really), the damage is done."

Always. Like, for an astonishing number of people, the Florida shooting will always be about that poor precious little boy who just went out for candy.

ABC's retraction was as lame as it gets for having smeared an individual, the Tea Party, and being not just wrong but evilly wrong. The apologized "for disseminating that information before it was properly vetted.” What? They'd vet it and then release it? (See cartoon above!)

"...bias or sheer incompetence..."

There is an alternative explanation.
"When asked what may have motivated Ross to report a connection between the alleged shooting suspect and the tea party, based off nothing more than a matching name and location, sources at ABC News attributed it to Ross’s desire to create news, and dismissed any suspicion of partisanship." Politico

Now, denial of leftie bias aside, this makes sense. Not so much an idealogue as just a self-aggrandizing sociopath who would wear any political skin to advance himself, happy to ring the "violent Tea Partiers" bell, not from any real basis of belief, but just to be out there fast and loud.

The Mail has a good article on the victims, and the heroism.