We’re all familiar with efforts by The News & Observer‘s Mark Schultz and Katelyn Ferrall to make us believe that the group that illegally took over the old Yates Motor Co. building was a “different group,” not really part of the Occupy Chapel Hill group.

It seems the effort to try to separate Occupy radicals from members who finally do something illegal that is the natural consequence of their ideology and their rhetoric is not limited to Chapel Hill. The mayor of Oakland had this to say in reaction to Occupy Oakland’s illegal takeover of the convention center there yesterday (emphasis added):

“Occupy Oakland has got to stop using Oakland as its playground,” Mayor Jean Quan, who has come under criticism for the city’s handling of the Occupy movement, said at a late evening press conference.

“Once again, a violent splinter group of the Occupy movement is engaging in violent actions against Oakland,” she said, speaking as officers in riot gear were still lined up against demonstrators in downtown intersections.

“Splinter group”? Nice try, mayor. Sadly, in Chapel Hill it was the local media making this excuse for the Occupy protesters, not the mayor.