Friday, January 29, 2010

James "the Pimp" O'Keefe

I have one question for conservative fans (or other admirers) of James O'Keefe, the man who stands accused of engineering an attempt to interfere with the lawful conduct of business at Senator Landrieux's office in Baton Rouge, LA.

If you revile liberal bias in the media, if you thought Dan Rather was grossly unprofessional for failing to second source a document which appeared genuine but was in fact was forged (but not by Rather) ...

how do you admire O'Keefe?

How do you reconcile admiration for the fake news he created by doctoring videos, by using distortion and entrapment to put people in the worst possible light, deliberately editing out to exclude allof the exculpatory details, with your anger and antagonism towards Rather?

Rather put his life in harm's way in Vietnam and Afghanistan, in the latter dramatically aiding the Mujahadeen's cause to expect the Soviets. He served as a journalist for 50 years, adhering (generally) to this standard of second sourcing for almost all of it.

O'Keefe, conversely, is the epitome' of bias, is the epitome' of creating a fiction and calling it news, is the epitome of dishonesty and cowardice.

I get that some in the right-wing world of crazies (a very large world indeed), and even a few in the left-wing world of crazies (a sizable enough chunk too), think that bias is unavoidable. But if you think that, then what was your issue with Rather? And if you resent Rather, who didn't CREATE anything fake, simply because he's from the left, rather than the right, i.e. the left version of Fox News, then isn't your issue simply that Rather used what you perceived as dirty tricks. It wasn't the tricks that bothered you, it was simply that it wasn't YOUR dirty trick!

The rest of us look at O'Keefe and see a punk and a thug, perpetrating ugly, fictionalized video.

He apparently intended to disrupt Sen. Landrieux's staff from being able to take calls, so that HE COULD SHOW THEY WERE IGNORING CALLS. That is a setup, it is dishonest. It is what has turned off the rest of the country to your particular brand of screed. It is utterly craven, in this case, criminally so. Bluntly, this little boy fancies himself some sort of savior - journalistic -vigalante. The truth doesn't matter, to him or to the righties who think like him, who reward and employ him, and who celebrate him - so long as his side 'wins' in some way. The intent is to harm others for their benefit; nothing else, nothing less.

The bottom line here is that 31 Republican Representatives backed a House Resolution applauding O'Keefe's craven dishonesty when he produced a doctored up distortion about ACORN. He intentionally failed to report on the OTHER, well intended, professional people he encountered; those who told him to 'get lost' when he asked stupid questions about prostitution in a state where prostitution is legal. He FAILED to report the OTHER comments from those he filmed, video which would have painted their comments in a more meaningful and truthful light.

O'Keefe ommitted that footage, and has refused to allow anyone else to see his original recordings, because he never had any interest in the truth.

O'Keefe is scum, but the Republican representatives and their staffers ALSO didn't care. THAT makes them complicit in propping up this pompous would be pimp.

Now as they run for the hills distancing themselves from their pet scumbag's latest work, I have several questions for them.

WHERE was YOUR outrage when he reported about ACORN?
WHERE was YOUR fact checking?
WHERE was YOUR zeal for journalistic professionalism?

You know, like the professionalism you cried foul over, as you chased Dan Rather out of his job?

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