James O'Keefe

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James O'Keefe is an American conservative activist and journalist, who is a protege of Andrew Breitbart. He and Hannah Giles, posing as a pimp and a prostitute, videotaped the Baltimore, Maryland ACORN office giving them advice on starting a brothel, which triggered major scandals in late 2009. [1] He and three other journalists have been arrested and charged, by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with interference with the telephones of the New Orleans, Louisiana offices of Senator Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana).

He has described his approach as

The tone of my videos is unique. I'm not just reporting on something, I'm becoming something I'm reporting on.[2]

ACORN sting

Breitbart carried the ACORN report and introduced O'Keefe. [3]

Ann Coulter, on Sean Hannity's 11 September show, said

Appearing on the September 11, 2009, edition of Fox News' Hannity, Ann Coulter said of O'Keefe and Giles, "Those were the two most unbelievable pimps and prostitutes I've ever seen. She has perfect skin, gorgeous hair. Oh, and I really liked the fur coat. I love that These young right-winners [sic], they are so magnificent. Why can't they -- they be the Republicans in Washington?"[4]

Bill O'Reilly, on his 23 September 2009 show on Fox, said about their investigation,

Congressman Frank of Massachusetts and Congressman Conyers of Michigan want Congressional investigators to see if the undercover duo broke any federal laws. In addition, they want to find out exactly what ACORN is guilty of and they want to examine the group's housing opportunities agenda In my opinion, Frank and Conyers should be giving Ms. Giles and Mr. O'Keefe congressional medals for exposing corruption that apparently the Feds were not able to expose."[4]

Landrieu incident

While Michelle Malkin took no position on his guilt or innocence in the Landrieu incident, "This is neither a time to joke nor a time to recklessly accuse Democrats/liberals of setting this up — nor a time to whine about media coverage double standards...This is neither a time to joke nor a time to recklessly accuse Democrats/liberals of setting this up — nor a time to whine about media coverage double standards."[5]

College and early reporting

As a student at Rutgers University in 2004, as the editor of a conservative magazine he conducted a "satirical campaign to ban Lucky Charms cereal from campus dining halls on the premise the breakfast fare was offensive to Irish-Americans...which included a hidden-camera video with a Rutgers dining services official, was intended to demonstrate what O'Keefe saw as the absurdity of political correctness." Subsequently, as a law student in 2006, he used hidden-camera techniques on Planned Parenthood counselors.[2]

References