Nearly 60 hours after CNN first detailed James O'Keefe and his cohorts' alleged plot to “get CNN Investigative Correspondent Abbie Boudreau onto a boat filled with sexually explicit props and then record the session,” O'Keefe mentor Andrew Breitbart has (finally) stepped up to the plate and said that O'Keefe “owes his supporters an explanation.”

In a statement splashed across the Big family of websites, Breitbart writes that he has long defended O'Keefe, but no longer:

However, in my dealings with Ms. Boudreau, she and her producer, Scott Zamost, conducted themselves professionally, and I believe James owes them a candid and public explanation.

From what I've read about this script, though not executed, it is patently gross and offensive. It's not his detractors to whom he also owes this public airing. It's to his legion of supporters.

A couple of points:

First, this is a big deal. A number of conservative media figures have come forth to condemn O'Keefe's alleged actions, but Breitbart has been O'Keefe's patron, providing him with a platform, paying him "a fair salary," and saying that he deserves a Pulitzer for his work. Now he's saying that he can no longer defend O'Keefe. If ANDREW BREITBART thinks you're so unprincipled that you're toxic...

Second, Breitbart gets no points for bravery here. He dropped his response at 9 p.m. ET on a Friday, when it will assuredly get as little coverage as possible. The time to demand explanations was two days ago, back when Breitbart was threatening legal action against those who would dare to characterize O'Keefe as part of Breitbart's “crew.”

Third, let's not forget, without James O'Keefe and his ACORN lies, no one would know Breitbart's name. He wouldn't be going on Good Morning America or getting profiles in Time magazine -- he'd be just another hack with a website, a poor man's Tucker Carlson. Those tapes are what made Breitbart's Big empire; without them, his website would be best known for reporting fake, pointless stories like the ones about Obama's Maoist Christmas ornaments and “Bertha Lewis'” Oval Office visit.

Without O'Keefe, Breitbart would be a nobody. But even that couldn't save O'Keefe from being thrown under the bus.