On some level you have to admire the spunk of crocumentary maker James O’Keefe. It seems that no matter how many times he releases a video project that is quickly debunked, making him the object of ridicule, he bounces back and releases another unphased.
In the latest episode, O’Keefe sought to portray a couple of union reps as willing to support a fraudulent effort to create useless make-work jobs. The video was posted on Breitbart News, where O’Keefe is the official videographer. As usual, O’Keefe grossly misedited the video to make it appear that something untoward was occurring. Instead, he made himself appear to be a stammering dolt. The union reps, John Hutchings and Ronald Tocci, were openly skeptical of what O’Keefe was proposing. They wondered whether O’Keefe’s operation was remediating toxic soil or otherwise serving a useful purpose. O’Keefe responded…
O’Keefee I: There are people who have seen merit in what we’re doing, actually from the more green circles.
Tocci: But why would they see that, besides the jobs that they can create, what are you doing for the environment?
O’Keefee I: Well, Basically what we want to talk to you guys about…
Tocci: I’m not knocking it. It’s just I gotta understand it.
O’Keefee I: You know…I mean…basically there’s not…alright, people do see merit in what we’re doing somehow. Especially from…and they’re having people that have been wanting to provide their resources in terms of providing federal and local funds for us. And getting…you know…
O’Keefee II: (Interrupting) We’re putting people to work. We’re keeping people employed. You know.
Did any of that make any sense at all? It was clear that the union guys weren’t buying it. They offered to help get O’Keefe get into the legitimate business of retrofitting homes to meet environmental standards. They also suggested the project be directed at digging on construction sites to identify obstacles or artifacts. They were trying to steer the O’Keefees into some sort of legitimate enterprise. Media Matters put together a helpful video demonstrating O’Keefe’s deliberate deceit.
O’Keefe tried repeatedly to get the union reps to say that they have politicians in their pockets, but they were consistent in saying that they would only be able to get support based on the merits of the project. Everything that O’Keefe attempted to allege was shot down in the nearly hour long raw video that he’s confidant no one will watch. And his efforts to smear the union reps were pitifully unsuccessful. They were interviewed about the hoax later and said…
“We figured they were shysters. We tried to be courteous. They were young kids; first thing that comes to mind is that its young idealists, like Occupy Wall Street. We sized it up even half-way through the meeting when they couldn’t explain what they did with the dirt.”
The Union reps made no promises to O’Keefe, but sent them away insisting that their superior get in touch. So once again O’Keefe has proven nothing but how lame he is. And yet he soldiers on in his pursuit of ever more ridiculous scams.
God I hate this. What could O’Keefe actually prove with any one of these videos? He might show that one or two individuals within an organization are shady (providing he’s ever successful) but what would that show? The real problem is that there are those out there who believe in the narrative that one or two individuals represent an entire group. This same narrative is used to support voter registration drives based on a very few registration signatures (by jokers who will never vote under those names). By O’Keefe’s standard ALL Christian Conservatives who support “family values” are secretly gay.
O’Keefe will be successful in demonizing the Union reps and the project solely as a result of his video vision being broadcast on Breitbart News and Fox News. His work is not for general consumption but a specific target audience that appears more than willing to believe without question what they are being spoon fed. We have all seen what happens when O’Keefe gets national airplay, rabid Teapublicans calling for all sorts of sanctions, firings, and decimation as well as a contingency of Democrats too afraid to raise their voice against them. It really makes no difference that he eventually gets exposed as the partisan lying hack he is for the damage has already been done as we’ve seen with Shirley Sherrod and Acorn. Will this latest venture go National? I doubt it. It will get some credence in the TeaPublican Echo Chamber but I seriously doubt it will amount to much. Besides, what Democrat/Progressive/Liberal has the guts to take a stand against. There’s re-election to consider.
When is someone going to take these frauds to court over this spurious nonsense?