Right-Wing Scam Artist James O’Keefe Sneaks Across Border Dressed As Bin Laden — Or Did He?
There’s an old saying in Texas: Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again. Drudge and the far-right media have been suckered into promoting another James O’Keefe prank, taking the fraudster at face-value despite his lengthy track-record of selectively edited videos. This time, O’Keefe tackled the immigration issue, but before we jump into it, let’s review O’Keefe’s greatest hits.
–ACORN – His original claim to fame was a 2009 video in which he dressed up as a pimp and attempted get advice from low-level ACORN workers about evading taxes. The news media widely debunked the videos proving they were selectively edited to make it seem as if the workers were guilty. The fraudulent nature of the videos hasn’t stopped the House Republicans from voting to de-fund ACORN dozens of times, even after ACORN shut-down its operations amid the non-scandal. O’Keefe’s financier, Andrew Breitbart admitted the hoax: “So I’m going to have to stage a series of tricks to get the mainstream media to have to pay attention to it. So that’s what I did. I admit it, I tricked you.”
–NPR – O’Keefe released another video in which he claimed that NPR executives agreed to meet with representatives from the infamous Muslim Brotherhood about donating money to the organization. The video appeared to show an NPR executive, Ron Schiller, observing that the tea party is driven by xenophobia and race, and its leaders employ race as a wedge. Two of NPR’s top executives including Schiller were fired. But amazingly, Glenn Beck’s The Blaze outed the video as having been selectively edited. And yet, once again, the House Republicans ignored the debunking and voted to de-fund NPR, based on O’Keefe’s scam.
–Planned Parenthood – An O’Keefe co-conspirator, Lila Rose, carried out another pimp-style prank video, this time against Planned Parenthood. What happened? Take a guess. The video was heavily edited, but that didn’t stop the House Republicans from voting dozens of times to de-fund Planned Parenthood.
See the pattern here? To be clear: the congressional votes were in direct response to O’Keefe’s videos in spite of being debunked by both the right and the left. See our previous post on President Obama’s observation about the GOP’s difficulties with “fact-based, reason-based” positions.
This leads us to O’Keefe’s latest… CONTINUE READING
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By: Bob Cesca
Bob Cesca is the managing editor at The Daily Banter (www.thedailybanter.com) and a Huffington Post contributor since 2005. He's worked in journalism since 1988 as a print writer/editor, a radio news anchor, a digital media columnist/editor, a book author and blogger. He's the co-host of the Bubble Genius Bob & Chez Show podcast and a Thursday regular on the syndicated Stephanie Miller Show. He's appeared on numerous other radio shows including the John Phillips Show and Geraldo Rivera Show in Los Angeles. Bob has been a commentator/analyst on the BBC (TV and radio), MSNBC, Current TV, CNN and Sky News. Following him on Twitter: @bobcesca_go
2 responses to Right-Wing Scam Artist James O’Keefe Sneaks Across Border Dressed As Bin Laden — Or Did He?
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arc99 August 12th, 2014 at 12:05
ACORN did a lot of good things in poor and minority communities. Right here in northern California in Oakland, they were instrumental in getting a law passed which if not for the efforts of lending industry lobbyists and cowardly politicians on both sides of the aisle in getting it stuck down, would have been useful in preventing the junk loans which led to our recent financial problems.
So chalk up Breitbart’s boast about destroying ACORN with a pack of lies as yet one more reason why the majority of the black community says to conservatives in general, and Republicans in particular, f*ck you and the horse you rode in on.
It is truly a shame that the only knowledge most people have of ACORN comes from a pack of lying right wing sob’s. Here is a glimpse of the real ACORN from a community I lived in, not too long ago.
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/acorn-foresaw-the-foreclosure-crisis-in-2001/Content?oid=1371384
ACORN Foresaw the Foreclosure Crisis in 2001
The grassroots group helped Oakland pass a tough anti-predatory lending law that would have halted the housing crisis before it started. Then subprime lenders started making campaign contributions in Sacramento.
arc99 August 12th, 2014 at 12:05
ACORN did a lot of good things in poor and minority communities. Right here in northern California in Oakland, they were instrumental in getting a law passed which if not for the efforts of lending industry lobbyists and cowardly politicians on both sides of the aisle in getting it stuck down, would have been useful in preventing the junk loans which led to our recent financial problems.
So chalk up Breitbart’s boast about destroying ACORN with a pack of lies as yet one more reason why the majority of the black community says to conservatives in general, and Republicans in particular, f*ck you and the horse you rode in on.
It is truly a shame that the only knowledge most people have of ACORN comes from a pack of lying right wing sob’s. Here is a glimpse of the real ACORN from a community I lived in, not too long ago.
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/acorn-foresaw-the-foreclosure-crisis-in-2001/Content?oid=1371384
ACORN Foresaw the Foreclosure Crisis in 2001
The grassroots group helped Oakland pass a tough anti-predatory lending law that would have halted the housing crisis before it started. Then subprime lenders started making campaign contributions in Sacramento.