FDL blogger: O'Keefe's statement is riddled with falsehoods

Written by Eric Boehlert

Published

James O'Keefe released a statement yesterday in which he pushed the it-was-just-a-prank defense for being charged with intent to commit a felony in Sen. Mary Landrieu's office.

O'Keefe claims he was just doing what journalists do; uncovering wrongdoing and that, yeah, maybe he picked the wrong method. Basically the point was to paint himself as a victim, which makes sense since he's Andrew Breitbart's proud protégé. (Just so you know, Breitbart pays O'Keefe a regular salary but apparently has no idea what stories O'Keefe is actually working on.)

But O'Keefe's statement also spends a lot of time justifying the caper by making false claims about his previous ACORN work, and false claims about Landrieu. And that's where Firedoglake blogger Marcy Wheeler (aka emptywheel) comes in, as she systematically dismantles his thin claims.

Some highlights:

-O'Keefe claims he “revealed the massive corruption and fraud perpetrated by ACORN.”

False.

-O'Keefe claims Landrieu was guilty of “taking millions of federal dollars in exchange for her vote on the care bill.”

False.

-O'Keefe claims Landrieu had insisted her phone lines were “broken.”

False.

-O'Keefe claims he and his pals visited Landrieu's office simply to “ask” if the phones didn't work.

False.

To say that Breitbart and O'Keefe are completely out of their league with Wheeler would be the Understatement of the Week. And while I'd love to read their point-by-point response, I doubt they have the nerve to try. (Facts aren't the duo's friends.)

UPDATED: Louisiana's Republican Gov., Bobby Jindal, has condemned O'Keefe's infiltration of Landrieu's office [emphasis added]:

Jindal, who is not known to have a particularly close relationship with Landrieu, said the maneuver was "not acceptable" and said he trusted the federal law enforcement system to "punish those actions."

Didn't Jindal get the Breitbart memo? O'Keefe is the victim here.

UPDATED: Here's more proof that Breitbart and O'Keefe can only survive within the friendly confines of the right-wing media bubble, where nobody ever questions their loopy logic.