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This is a blog of liberal stance and independent mind

Friday 29 January 2010

The Republican Wrong – You’re Nicked (2)

Events have moved on from the arrest of “ACORN Gotcha Man” James O’Keefe and his pals on Monday, an event I mentioned the other day. It appears that only three of the four arrested were inside the office of Democrat Senator Mary Landrieu: the fourth man was detained two blocks away, this being the person with what is alleged to be a listening device.

Meanwhile, although the arrest has been aired by O’Keefe’s champions Fox News Channel (fair and balanced my arse), they are downplaying the incident and claiming that it was merely “a prank”. Moreover, the channel’s “stars” Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity, who were so eager to showcase O’Keefe and promote his “sting” videos, have remained schtum on TV (although Beck has mentioned the arrest on his radio programme).

And another player is now emerging: Andrew Breitbart. Who he? Well, Breitbart is a right wing commentator and publisher, and most notably the creator of websites such as Biggovernment.com, a site with a slant not unlike that of the so-called Taxpayers’ Alliance. On this site, the O’Keefe arrest is headlined in one piece as “Crime Tolerating Left Pounces on Apparent New Orleans Stunt”. You see, it’s only a game – where’s your sense of humour?

Breitbart was instrumental in pushing the ACORN “sting” videos, and it now transpires he had O’Keefe on the payroll – except that, he says, those payments did not include any illegal activity. Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he? Not surprisingly, Breitbart has not said whether or not he would have been willing to promote, or profit from, any product that O’Keefe and his pals may have generated from their visit to Senator Landrieu’s office, had they got away with their “stunt”.

The originals of the allegedly heavily edited ACORN “sting” videos have yet to see the light of day. And it’s not clear just who else may be involved with O’Keefe and his particular brand of “investigative journalism”.

More updates to follow.

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