Well, of course. When your other attacks aren’t working, race is where you go:
[O’Keefe’s] 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.
. . . .
According to One People’s 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.
Over at Big Journalism, Larry O’Connor does most of the heavy lifting, showing how a photo of O’Keefe:
was Photoshopped in a shameless and obvious fashion to make O’Keefe look like a racist:
O’Connor says he is “surprised it wasn’t a hood and robe.”
O’Connor also notes how witnesses (like Dave Weigel) can’t confirm the “manning the table” allegations.
I’d just like to add my two cents. First, author Max Blumenthal (fittingly, the son of character assassin Sid Blumenthal) manages to suggest racism based on this:
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.”
Blumenthal fails to note the context, which made it clear that O’Keefe was posing as a racist to see if Planned Parenthood would accept money from a white supremacist who was donating as a way to exterminate blacks. And they were perfectly happy to. O’Keefe is the “donor” in this exchange, which makes clear that he was engaged in his usual Borat-style mocking of the person he was dealing with:
Donor: When I underwrite abortions, does that apply to minorities too?
Planned Parenthood: If you specifically wanted to underwrite an abortion for a minority person, you can target it that way. You can specify that is how you wanted it spent.
Donor: Ok, yeah, because there’s definitely way too many Black people in Ohio, so I’m just trying to do my part.
Planned Parenthood: Ok, whatever.
Donor: Well Blacks especially need abortions too, so that’s what I’m trying to do.
Planned Parenthood: Well, for whatever reason, we’ll accept the money.
Donor: Ok great, thank you.
Finally, this Blumenthal-penned paragraph is also shameless in its dishonesty:
O’Keefe’s termination by the Leadership Institute hardly ended his career as a conservative activist. Right-wing online publicist Andrew Breitbart, hearing of the merry prankster’s exploits, hired him to carry out the ACORN operation that would make him famous. Since his arrest, however, some of O’Keefe’s former associates are scrambling to save face. “I am shocked by the reports of this behavior,” declared O’Keefe’s collaborator on the ACORN operation, Hannah Giles. (Giles had tarted up as a prostitute for the stunt.)
Breitbart didn’t hire O’Keefe to do the ACORN investigation. That’s just one of the many things that Blumenthal made up. Breitbart has been clear: “James O’Keefe came to me with the ACORN story with a bow.”
Also, by the time Blumenthal wrote his screed, Hannah Giles had written in full-throated support of O’Keefe at Big Journalism. Hannah explained that, like many of us, she was initially fooled by sloppy Big Media reports into thinking O’Keefe was accused of trying to wiretap Landrieu.
For 48 hours, rampant rumors of phone taps, possible felonies, rash behavior and the phrase “Watergate Jr.” spread like wildfire. No one knew the reality of the situation. Even I was very concerned by the initial reports. I had no inkling of this project and once again found myself a victim of the MSM’s filthy, desperate and fact-free drive-by reporting.
Blumenthal’s piece is too chock-full of baseless innuendo to address every dishonest point. These are just some of the highlights. If you want to take on more of it, feel free to do so in the comments.
Anyone who trumpets Blumenthal’s screed is acting as a shameless partisan or a dupe.