(Note: Not the original photo - just a snarky photoshopped version)
Via Max Blumenthal at Salon (h/t Democratic Underground)
His right-wing admirers don't seem to mind that O’Keefe's short but storied career has been defined by a series of political stunts shot through with racial resentment. Now an activist organization that monitors hate groups has produced a photo of O'Keefe at a 2006 conference on "Race and Conservatism" that featured leading white nationalists. The photo, first published Jan. 30 on the website of the anti-racism group One Peoples Project shows O’Keefe at the gathering, which was so controversial even the ultra-right Leadership Institute, which employed O'Keefe at the time, withdrew its backing. But O'Keefe and fellow young conservative provocateur Marcus Epstein soldiered on to give anti-Semites, professional racists and proponents of Aryanism an opportunity to share their grievances and plans to make inroads in the GOP.
But here's the thing O'Keefe didn't just attend the Conference as a bystander who may have simply been curious but didn't necessarily agree with the most radical of the attendees there - O'Keefe was manning one of the tables and pushing Racist Literature to the other participants.
According to One Peoples Project founder Daryle Jenkins, O'Keefe was manning the literature table at the gathering that brought together anti-Semites, professional racists and proponents of Aryanism. OPP covered the event at the time, sending a freelance photographer to document the gathering. Jenkins told me the table was filled with tracts from the white supremacist right, including two pseudo-academic publications that have called blacks and Latinos genetically inferior to whites: American Renaissance and The Occidental Quarterly. The leading speaker was Jared Taylor, founder of the white nationalist group American Renaissance. "We can say for certain that James O'Keefe was at the 2006 meeting with Jared Taylor. He has absolutely no way of denying that," Jenkins said. O'Keefe's attorney did not respond to a request for comment on his client's role in the conference.
If you might still think this is merely a fluke, and not really a true representation of O'Keefe's heart and motives when he decided to attack ACORN, an organization than helps Black and poor people to vote and find affordable Housing, or go after Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu for using her leverage to bring more relief funds for Lousiana - a state that to this day continues to struggle under the burden of reconstruction after Hurricane katrina, then you have to look no further than some of the pranks that O'Keefe pulled prior to his Pimp and Ho Show.
O'Keefe's racial issues can be seen in many of his prior stunts, of course. The notorious ACORN videos highlighted images of himself dressed as a pimp, deceptively edited through hidden camera footage as he baited African-American office workers into making statements that could be perceived as incriminating. There were also lesser-known but equally inflammatory spectacles like the “affirmative action bake sale” O’Keefe and his conservative comrades held when they were students at Rutgers University. During the event, O’Keefe stood at a table in the center of campus offering baked goods at reduced prices to Latinos and African-Americans while whites were forced to pay exorbitant amounts. (Native Americans, he announced, would eat free.)
................
Meanwhile, O’Keefe lost his job at the Leadership Institute in 2008 for a prank call he made to an Ohio-based Planned Parenthood clinic. During the call, O’Keefe offered a donation to the clinic on the condition that it would be earmarked to pay for aborting African-American fetuses. “Because there's definitely way too many black people in Ohio,” O’Keefe remarked to the receptionist. “So, I'm just trying to do my part.”
Shades of Bill Bennett there I think.
Another example (provided via Comments) of O'Keefe pulling his "Tax Payers Clearing House" Scam on a Black Family, claming they've one a prize only to present them with a BILL for the Bailout (Which by the way- has mostly been Paid Back already)
(Note: After watching this video - I actually think it's pretty funny in a Michael Moore kind of way. If they did more of this they'd be onto something, but I would also point out - it's not journalism either)
Look one clearly Racial Stunt could simply be a slip - ala Bennet - two is a trend, but three and four in a row is a clear and obvious pattern of bigotry.
But it shouldn't be a surprise O'Keefe just might be one of the Insane 23% of Republicans and Conservatives who probably think the President is a Kenyan, Socialist, Muslim who was only elected because ACORN (who've only registered 2 Million Voters in thier entire history) somehow managed to give him a 10 Million Vote Victory.
O'Keefe is far from alone on the Wingnut fringe. They think they've been greivously wronged somehow. They want "Their America Back" - and their willing to do almost anything to get it back.
Even commit multiple Felonies, then Lie About it on National TV.
Here's a question Hannity should ask: How Long Have You been a racist Mr. O'Keefe? Has it been since birth, or did you only gradually begin to Hate non-Whites?
This may explain why "Jammed" suddenly equals "Broken" in his twisted little mind of douchebaggery.
Hannity: Did you have any electronic equipment that could be used to tap into the Senator's phones?
O'Keefe: We never even thought about interfere with phones, it never even occured to me. They slandered me, and jumped the gone on the story. It's journalism malpractice what they've done.
O'Keefe: I was trying to get to the truth of what these people think about their constituents.
"These People"? Hmm...
"Never thought about it" is an artful dodge. The Criminal Complaint against them, as I describe in a previous diary addresses the fact that they perpetrated a charade intended to give the impression that Landrieu's phones were inoperative and gain access to their phone closet - where certainly the charade would have continued. Those actions alone disrupted the operation of the phones Violating (18 USC 1362) and is itself the underlying Felony, not "Wiretaping". Nitwit.
Also Is he going to sue Fox News for "Slander" when their very first reaction to his arrest was this?
GAUGHAN: [It's a] very weird story that probably needs a lot of context and a lot of looking into, which is what we’re going to do here. I just wanted to get it on the record with it right now.
SHEP SMITH: So, they’re saying basically, they’re in there — It sounds as if what they’re saying is, they’re looking for some ACORN hanky panky and they try to tap into Mary Landrieu’s telephone to get it.
GAUGHAN: That could be one way of looking at it, yes
Somehow I doubt it. Besides since the AP and New York Post did it in print - it would be Libel, not Slander - Dipwad.
Vyan
No comments:
Post a Comment