GayPatriot

The Internet home for American gay conservatives.

Statement of James O’Keefe

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As you may know, Bruce and I have had different reactions to the James O’Keefe situation.  Bruce has quickly rallied to his defense, while I have been more skeptical, choosing pretty much to steer clear of the fracas in the blogsophere.

All that said, as the facts drip out, O’Keefe is looking less and less guilty and may well be completely exonerated before this even gets to trial.  Newspapers have had to retract “many glaring errors in their gleeful coverage of the O’Keefe story.”  So, in this one case where Bruce and I differ, the more we learn, the more justified Bruce becomes in his initial defense of this investigative journalist for the age of youtube.

So, let’s get some more facts out there.  And at Bruce’s request, I post O’Keefe’s statement in its entirety:

The government has now confirmed what has always been clear:  No one tried to wiretap or bug Senator Landrieu’s office.  Nor did we try to cut or shut down her phone lines.  Reports to this effect over the past 48 hours are inaccurate and false.

As an investigative journalist, my goal is to expose corruption and lack of concern for citizens by government and other institutions, as I did last year when our investigations revealed the massive corruption and fraud perpetrated by ACORN.  For decades, investigative journalists have used a variety of tactics to try to dig out and reveal the truth.

I learned from a number of sources that many of Senator Landrieu’s constituents were having trouble getting through to her office to tell her that they didn’t want her taking millions of federal dollars in exchange for her vote on the healthcare bill.  When asked about this, Senator Landrieu’s explanation was that, “Our lines have been jammed for weeks.”  I decided to investigate why a representative of the people would be out of touch with her constituents for “weeks” because her phones were broken.  In investigating this matter, we decided to visit Senator Landrieu’s district office – the people’s office – to ask the staff if their phones were working.

On reflection, I could have used a different approach to this investigation, particularly given the sensitivities that people understandably have about security in a federal building.  The sole intent of our investigation was to determine whether or not Senator Landrieu was purposely trying to avoid constituents who were calling to register their views to her as their Senator.  We video taped the entire visit, the government has those tapes, and I’m eager for them to be released because they refute the false claims being repeated by much of the mainstream media.

It has been amazing to witness the journalistic malpractice committed by many of the organizations covering this story.  MSNBC falsely claimed that I violated a non-existent “gag order.”  The Associated Press incorrectly reported that I “broke in” to an office which is open to the public.  The Washington Post has now had to print corrections in two stories on me.  And these are just a few examples of inaccurate and false reporting.  The public will judge whether reporters who can’t get their facts straight have the credibility to question my integrity as a journalist.

Comments

  3. Shepard Smith called O’Keefe a CONSERVETIVE FILM MAKER.
    O’Keefe describes himself as a Progressive Radical and follower of Alynski.
    Are we to assume that anyone who catches a CORRUPT LIBERAL CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE is a CONSERVATIVE?

  4. well posted Mr. Blatt.

    i also hope many a conservative blogger who wished to distance themselves from this reporter, issue their own retractions for even….EVEN HINTING THAT OKEEFE could be guilty.

    You know i realize conservatives are trying to appear/prove they are holier than the “other side” but really can some form of “innocent until proven guilty” be applied to fellow conservatives and/or republicans until some kind of actual investigative facts come out.

    Its the conservative blogosphere that says ad nauseam to NOT TRUST THE MSM yet one of our own is arrested or accused in the SAME MSM, and we tend to eat our young in the court of conservative public opinion. STOP IT NOW BEFORE ITS TOO LATE.

    I think Gay Patriot has been one of the only conservative bloggers to handle this with class and update his posts on the subject in a comprehensive manner and even admit when misjudged. I just hope other sites who link to here do their own soul-searching to see how they handled this incident.

    as much as the internet has given conservatives alot of power to build up a movement it also has the danger of tearing down the innocent and to ruin lives. its equivalent to the ease in which collecting data on the computer can be perfomed and yet its just as easy to delete years worth of work with one stroke of the key board by a un-though-out movement.

    …lets all be careful what we can become. If i am wrong or over-reaching then i withdraw my post and/or please ignore.

  7. O’Keefe describes himself as a Progressive Radical and follower of Alynski.
    Are we to assume that anyone who catches a CORRUPT LIBERAL CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE is a CONSERVATIVE?

    [Citation Needed]

    He never said that he was a follower of Alinski. Further, he’s started several Conservative papers and publications including The Centurion at Rutgers.

    BTW, changing your name from russ to gus doesn’t make your comments more accurate.

  10. Yes, look at how the MSM lied about the bug/wiretap. Like this irresponsible leftist. Or this one. Or this one.

    Oh, those liberals!

    But you know something? I don’t blame any of them. It was based on the quote of one of the officers involved that referenced a “listening device.” This appears to have been an error, and there are always errors made in first reports, and most of the media, liberal and conservative, have admitted this was an error.

    What is not an error, however, is the fact that O’Keefe could face prison for the intention to commit a felony. If all you can counter with is that there are examples of leftists doing worse things, then you are ignoring the current story, that O’Keefe has been arrested for intent to commit a felony due to his gob-smackingly stupid stunt.

    Did you all give the benefit of the doubt to Acorn when you saw O’Keefe’s videos? Since now we are all righteous about innocent before proven guilty, now that the tables are turned. And in the end, Acorn was found guilty of nothing except having a couple of incompetent temporary part-time workers who said dumb things.

    O’Keefe is indeed innocent until proven guilty. But just like OJ and Michael Jackson and countless other cases of high-profile crimes, this is getting a lot of coverage and a lot of speculation. It’s the American way, I’m afraid. He brought it on himself.

  11. I am very sorry Richard but you are very wrong. No one brings upon himself false accusations & witness of others. It is the job of the MSM, just like it is the job of the conservative blogosphere ( who i both complained about who “charged” okeefe with a crime without substantiating THE FACTS, much like you have done thru innuendo in your post). ACORN knew they were ACTUALLY WRONG BY FIRING THOSE BAD PERFORMING ACORN EMPLOYEES. What okeefe has UNERCOVERED WAS THE TRUTH. The point is when it is so many ACORN offices it then shows that ACORN as a whole, tolerated employees who supported prostitution (until okeefe blew the whistle on them).

    If Focus on the Family were in the role of ACORN we would have 24/7 news asking for all of the heads of each & every Focus on the Family leaders.

    Hence the charge of hypocrisy at the left-wing MSM who RARELY EXPOSE THE CRIMES OF THEIR OWN.

  12. to almost everyone in the comments thread here:

    USING CAPITALS ON THE INTERNET MAKES YOU EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO TAKE SERIOUSLY BECAUSE TO 99% OF INTERNET USERS YOU SOUND LIKE A YELLING, ANGRY, HALF-DEAF OLD MAN GRIPING AT CLOUDS. Use italics with a basic HTML tag, or indicate using bold text or underlining when you have an important point to make. Heck, even using _underscores_ to offset a line of text makes it clear that you are emphasizing a particular phrase, without making you “sound” like a douchebag.

    /that is all

  15. okee dokee TGC tis a little early for JACK

    from O’Keefe’s early days with his buddy Rose during his PP infiltration. . .

    http://articles.latimes.com/2009/apr/26/nation/na-abortion26?pg=4

    Between 2006 and 2008, Rose attended four workshops at the Leadership Institute, a Virginia-based educational foundation that teaches conservatives how to polish their communication skills.

    In fall 2006, when she was a UCLA freshman, she and fellow conservative activist James O’Keefe came up with the idea to infiltrate clinics.

    Rose, by e-mail, and O’Keefe, in a phone interview, said they were inspired by the work of Mark Crutcher, a Texas antiabortion activist who in 2002 taped fake calls to hundreds of Planned Parenthood clinics around the country featuring women posing as pregnant minors.

    They also found an unlikely source of inspiration: “Rules for Radicals,” a handbook on grass-roots organizing by Saul Alinsky, a legendary left-wing activist who was an inspiration to President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Among Alinsky’s most famous admonitions is one that O’Keefe said he and Rose took to heart: “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.”

    O’Keefe, 24, said he and Rose have received criticism from some of their associates for using deception.

  16. I am very sorry Richard but you are very wrong. No one brings upon himself false accusations & witness of others. It is the job of the MSM, just like it is the job of the conservative blogosphere ( who i both complained about who “charged” okeefe with a crime without substantiating THE FACTS, much like you have done thru innuendo in your post)

    I ask you to show the innuendo. There is none.

    Nearly every report of breaking news, be it from bloggers or seasoned reporters, has errors that are later fixed. Remember Columbine and the “trench-coat mafia”? There’s an entire book out about all the mistakes the media made that have since become myth. This wasn’t due to bad reporting, but due to sources the media found who gave them inaccurate information. Some of the worst inaccuracies came from the local police in that famous case. Think of all the wrong things that we at first heard about 911; I was watching CNBC that morning when an anchor said there had been a third plane hitting the WTC, an error that was quickly corrected. And I don’t speak as a dilettante; I worked as a journalist for 7 years and have my MA from NYU journo school.

    So with all respect, your statement on the media is false. There is no such thing as mistake-free journalism and never will be. Fox corrects errors, as does The NY Times, on a daily basis. It’s simply a fact of life when it comes to breaking news. Here’s how good journalists handle it. Let’s grow up and realize there is no liberal conspiracy to distort the truth. Yes, David Shuster is an ass and Keith Olberman is a clown, as much as Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly, and I condemn them for spewing nonsense. But this example of the wiretapping mistake is a classic example of an authority giving bad information that was then picked up and corrected as the actual facts emerged. If reporters had to wait for everything to be verified we wouldn’t hear about most news until it was days old.

  17. It’s looking more and more like a stupid stunt that with the zeal of youth ignored the potential of serious legal consequences. That does not “justisfy” Bruce’s own overzelaous defense of O’Keefe & Company to the point that gave the appearance at least of excusing even more serious criminal actions because of their political usefulness or ideological purity. Still, unless something more damaging comes out, I’d say give them a stern lecture to instill the proverbial “fear of God” in them, a slap on the wrist and some community service for public penance.

  18. He’s half a decade into adulthood. If it were four young Muslims would you be so magnanimous?

    I don’t think he should go to jail for 10 years, if at all, and agree he will probably get a slap on the wrist. But his reputation and whatever work he does in the future will be indelibly stained, as it should be.

  21. okee dokee TGC tis a little early for JACK

    You’re an IDIOT, rusty, and it’s time for you to crawl out of the bottle and dry out.

    as does The NY Times, on a daily basis.

    Remind me again which page the corrections are printed and how many people, do you suppose, read them?