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Mother Jones Lays Out History Of Deception Behind Right Wing's "Sting Videos"

March 31, 2011 8:36 am ET by Media Matters staff

A March 31 post on Mother Jones magazine laid out the right wing's history of deceptive and misleading "sting videos." The post summarized what was included in the videos, what was edited out, Andrew Breitbart's involvement, and the lasting effects of each project. From Mother Jones:

Mother Jones' O'Keefe Table

Tags: Andrew Breitbart, Mother Jones Magazine, James O'Keefe

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    • Author by neon desert (March 31, 2011 9:22 am ET)
      2  
      Frontline as done by junior high students. Almost.
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    • Author by NoTrueScotsman (March 31, 2011 9:23 am ET)
      3  
      Good job Mother Jones (no matter how much David Corn creeps me out). I particularly like the segmentation you used to document the videos..."Scary Black People Meme?" will now be a part of any analysis I do, whether relavent or not.
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      • Author by epkklk851 (March 31, 2011 9:32 am ET)
        4  
        You do have to admit that it's out there. The New Black Panther Party and Beckie's favorite "I'm gonna get me some of the Obama money" lady. And just look at Teh Blahz, if there was a fight on video that involves Blacks and/or Hispanics, they give it a thread and their enlightened posters comment about cockroaches, monkeys, and other stereotypes.
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        • Author by NoTrueScotsman (March 31, 2011 9:43 am ET)
          7  
          Oh, I wasn't being sarcastic in that way. It's definitely out there. It's part of the headline algorithm for Fox.

          I think of it like I think of the names of local Chinese food spots. In general, it's [Positive-sounding English Phrase] + [Asian Region or Country Name] + [Mythical Beast]. For example, No. 1 Chinese Phoenix, or Good Fortune Hunan Dragon.

          For Fox it's ([Minority Group] or [Political Opposition Member]) + [Inflated Action] + "..." + "Is this the end of [Jingoistic Phrase] as we know it?"

          The [Inflated Action] can be anything, as long as the actual action is blown out of proportion (for example, "questions cashier over the correct amount of change" becomes "hassles store clerk, commits extortion").

          This is how you get headlines like:

          "Black woman hassles store clerk, commits extortion....Is this the end of the Free Market as we know it?"
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          • Author by NG_Officer (March 31, 2011 10:03 am ET)
            2  
            that's some good s**t
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          • Author by grrson (March 31, 2011 10:05 am ET)
            3  
            Maybe they just get Stossel to write their headlines.

            You know, maybe something like: "Homeless people actually nation-destroying communists who refuse to work"

            Or maybe: "Impoverished school children: Why do THEY get a free breakfast?"

            Real heart-warming, patriotastic stuff.
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            • Author by magnolialover (March 31, 2011 10:11 am ET)
              4  
              I always love the stories from those on the right who talk about how EASY it is to live on welfare, and that these folks are just getting a free ride, putting their feet up, and just kicking back living the good life.

              I'd love to see one of them actual pony up, and go on welfare for 2 months to see how "easy" it is to live on welfare. Give them the same amount of money/food stamps that a typical welfare receiver gets, then see if they can take care of rent, food, clothes, and other essential items.

              Something tells me, they wouldn't be up for the challenge.
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              • Author by bilbo_dies (March 31, 2011 11:44 am ET)
                2  
                I'd love to see one of them actual pony up, and go on welfare for 2 months to see how "easy" it is to live on welfare. Give them the same amount of money/food stamps that a typical welfare receiver gets, then see if they can take care of rent, food, clothes, and other essential items.

                Not going to happen.

                First they would have to sell their house and car and then spend all their liquid assets, including 401k, etc before they could even qualify.

                Second they would have to actually be starving enough to put up with the hassle of all the paperwork, etc before you ever get approved and get a check.

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              • Author by jonimacaroni1 (March 31, 2011 1:04 pm ET)
                2  
                I know someone who's on unemployment, and has normal food, housing and utility costs, no car payment, no extra expenses at all, and a kid to support, and she's not making it in unemployment payments. She applied for Food Stamps finally after running out of other resources, and she only qualified for $30 a month, no rent help, no other help.

                The idea that it's easy to survive on government assistance is nonsense. It's even tougher when one is on "welfare".
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    • Author by eb (March 31, 2011 9:35 am ET)
      2  
      The ultimate hubris of it all is the assumption that such techniques would expose some sort of inherent moral deficiency in liberals and progressives.

      The ultimate irony is that you wouldn't have to doctor inflammatory off the cuff remarks by leading conservative figures to get an outrageous legacy of embarrassment and corruption revealed. Just a cursory glance of the archives of media matters exposes far worse deeds and expressed views than O'Keefe's fabricated smear stunts.
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      • Author by magnolialover (March 31, 2011 10:12 am ET)
        2  
        Thing is, they don't care about their embarrassing items, they EMBRACE them fully and completely.

        It's like the old talking point about Obama attending a "radical" church, while the same folks attend churches that talk about homosexuals as something less than human, and compare them with child molesters and bestiality.
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