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You are here: Home / Nothing From Nothing Leaves Nothing

Nothing From Nothing Leaves Nothing

by $8 blue check mistermix|  October 28, 20118:01 am| 38 Comments

This post is in: Clown Shoes, Good News For Conservatives

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James O’Keefe’s latest project, “To Catch a Journalist” is trying to uncover the seamy underside of the liberal media, and he’s made two shocking  discoveries:

  1. There’s a DC journalist who goes out to have drinks with his sources. (Sam Stein)
  2. Two academics leading to a seminar at NYU like the New York Times and think Michele Bachmann is crazy. (Jay Rosen and Clay Shirky)

Neither of these yawners has gotten any traction — the only reason I know anything about them is because I follow Rosen on the Twitter and he wrote a post explaining how one of O’Keefe’s operatives was able to sit in on his seminar. Rosen argues that O’Keefe is a terrorist in precisely one way:

Occasionally I will hear someone exasperated at his tactics describe O’Keefe as a kind of terrorist. This is not wise and it’s not true. He doesn’t use violence; he’s an “entrapment journalist,” as Steve Meyers of Poynter put it. But having been targeted, I can see one thing in his methods that is akin to terrorism.

As I said, when someone asks to sit it on my class, I say “come on in.” But my students are now shocked and angry that their learning environment has been invaded by a trickster like O’Keefe. I need to prevent that from happening again. But the only way I can do so is by closing my classroom to all outsiders, or by looking into the background, motivations and character of potential visitors, which is creepy and offensive. O’Keefe has struck at a pedagogical strength–the openness of my classroom–and changed it into a weakness. In that precise sense, and no other, he is like a terrorist.

That’s not quite right.  The second way that O’Keefe is like a terrorist is that his tactics are calculated to provoke an over-reaction from the target.  That’s how he was successful in ousting the CEO of NPR over something a fundraiser said in an unguarded moment.  If NPR had acted the way that Rosen and Stein do in this case, their nontroversy would have blown over.  Instead, NPR’s duck and cover gave  O’Keefe credibility and a reason to raise more money from conservative backers.

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Reader Interactions

38Comments

  1. 1.

    arguingwithsignposts

    October 28, 2011 at 8:15 am

    O’Keefe really is a rancid sack of shit. He’s also tone deaf and pig ignorant if he thinks this “expose” will have any impact whatsoever. Even within the 27 percent, I can’t imagine many people who either know or care about Shirky or Rosen.

    Seriously, one wonders how long he can keep this con going with such low profile targets.

    A side note: Way back in the day, I had a professor in seminary who was known for his “moderate” views in a denomination in the midst of a conservative insurgency. A similar thing happened to him. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much passion expressed in a classroom as the day the prof. spoke about that event. Palpable revulsion, righteous indignation and a sense of spiritual wounding. Great guy, too.

  2. 2.

    Southern Beale

    October 28, 2011 at 8:19 am

    Big news from Occupy Nashville over night.

    I plan to make all my donations to the ACLU of Tennessee this year. Seriously. Fuck it all.

  3. 3.

    Nomad

    October 28, 2011 at 8:25 am

    Am I showing my age when I say I was in the audience for a Billy Preston appearance on The Mike Douglas Show?

    O’Keefe? He’s just uber-pissed off at Herb Cain for stealing his pimp hat.

  4. 4.

    r€nato

    October 28, 2011 at 8:27 am

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    Seriously, one wonders how long he can keep this con going with such low profile targets.

    really?

    who knew what ACORN was before O’Keefe and Breitbart doctored those videos and got the so-called liberal media to be their megaphone?

    Like a one-hit wonder who keeps trying and trying to get another 15 minute hit of fame (think Joe the Plumber), he’ll keep trying these stunts. He’ll be happy with a batting average of .100. Why wouldn’t he? ACORN was his home run, and he hit at least a double with Shirley Sherrod.

    We haven’t seen the last of this punk, not for some time unfortunately.

  5. 5.

    JGabriel

    October 28, 2011 at 8:34 am

    mistermix:

    There’s a DC journalist who goes out to have drinks with his sources.

    Oh my fucking god! Journalists drink?

    Next you’ll be telling me that Republicans have sex, even gay sex.

    .

  6. 6.

    DBrown

    October 28, 2011 at 8:39 am

    And you know who else are terrorist – the Mafia – yet why are the cops and FBI not hunting these cowards and killers that spread fear across the nation by blood shed and murder not under the same war we are launching against a few hundred losers hiding in cave on the other side of the world?

    Because law enforcement is made up with people who are mostly cowards and bullies that have time only to attack innocent or helpless people. Not risk their well being hunting real criminals that are really dangerous – be realistic – cops are mostly afraid of criminals so they get their arrest quota’s by going after the safer and helpless poor trapped in the drug trade.

    The terrorist have won it is just how much treasure we want to waste pretending to fight people that now pose little threat to us. Rather than hunting down real killers and thugs.

  7. 7.

    Jim C

    October 28, 2011 at 8:41 am

    @JGabriel:

    Journalists drink?

    I hope no one ever tells Pete Hamill.

  8. 8.

    arguingwithsignposts

    October 28, 2011 at 8:41 am

    @JGabriel: I do think we’d have a better village media if journos didn’t “hang out” with their sources in D.C. Not like that’s ever going to happen.

  9. 9.

    RossInDetroit

    October 28, 2011 at 8:55 am

    O’Keefe’s job is easy now. He’s made his big kill and has the attention of the hardcore right. All he has to do now is pop up a couple times a year with some new scandal that’s meaningful to only a handful in the GOP and he’s more or less assured success within that realm. That he’s irrelevant to the other 90% of the population doesn’t really matter.

  10. 10.

    JGabriel

    October 28, 2011 at 9:03 am

    @DBrown:

    The terrorist have won it is just how much treasure we want to waste pretending to fight people that now pose little threat to us. Rather than hunting down real killers and thugs.

    Like Republicans?

    .

  11. 11.

    JGabriel

    October 28, 2011 at 9:05 am

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    I do think we’d have a better village media if journos didn’t “hang out” with their sources in D.C.

    By “hang out”, do you mean the drinking or the gay sex?

    .

  12. 12.

    Scott

    October 28, 2011 at 9:07 am

    I actually am expecting O’Keefe to shoot someone someday. The gravy train won’t last forever, and he and Breitbart don’t strike me as the kinds of guys who’ll react well to obsolescence.

  13. 13.

    arguingwithsignposts

    October 28, 2011 at 9:09 am

    @JGabriel: both and.

  14. 14.

    Mark S.

    October 28, 2011 at 9:16 am

    @Scott:

    I would prefer if they just shot themselves. The world would be a much better place.

  15. 15.

    jwest

    October 28, 2011 at 9:17 am

    It doesn’t matter how hard Rosen tries to screen who hears him, his remarks will be exposed.

    Liberalism can’t survive in the light of day.

  16. 16.

    RSA

    October 28, 2011 at 9:21 am

    How long will it be before O’Keefe or one of his supporters quotes Rosen, as follows?

    “Occasionally I will hear someone exasperated at his tactics describe O’Keefe as a kind of terrorist… I can see one thing… he is… a terrorist.”

    Ellipses may or may not be included.

  17. 17.

    Carbon Dated

    October 28, 2011 at 9:21 am

    That’s not quite right. The second way that O’Keefe is like a terrorist is that his tactics are calculated to provoke an over-reaction from the target.

    But that is what Rosen is saying too. It is Rosen’s over-reaction:

    …closing my classroom to all outsiders, or by looking into the background, motivations and character of potential visitors, which is creepy and offensive.

    …that has turned the strength of his classes into a weakness. It’s the same thing.

  18. 18.

    arguingwithsignposts

    October 28, 2011 at 9:23 am

    @jwest: If by “exposed” you mean he writes a pretty widely read blog and takes to the Twitter several times a day and has books, speaking engagements and interviews all over the internet, then yes, clearly his “liberalism” won’t survive the light of day.

  19. 19.

    gbear

    October 28, 2011 at 9:24 am

    Why isn’t the punk in jail for parole violations?

  20. 20.

    Mark S.

    October 28, 2011 at 9:25 am

    @jwest:

    You’re right. This is the only way we could possibly know how the devious Mr. Rosen thinks.

  21. 21.

    arguingwithsignposts

    October 28, 2011 at 9:27 am

    @Carbon Dated: Rosen didn’t say he would do that. He’ll hold his own in this fight. O’Keefe actually may have chosen a bad target here. Both Shirky and Rosen are pretty wise in the ways of the net. He’d have done better to target someone without tenure at a different school.

  22. 22.

    Mark S.

    October 28, 2011 at 9:30 am

    O’Keefe should take on the liberals at Anonymous.

  23. 23.

    gbear

    October 28, 2011 at 9:32 am

    Liberalism can’t survive in the light of day.

    Funny to hear that liberalism won’t stand the scrutiny of a publicity whore who needs to put on a costume and lie about his identity (and absolutely everything else) in order to get a ‘story’.

    & how’d that boat thing work out?

  24. 24.

    Nevgu

    October 28, 2011 at 9:36 am

    of course mistermix is so blind to the world around him he does not realize all he is doing is helping that worm okeefe by writing some blog post about him.

    Heck of a job mistermix. Way to mix it up in between your Cain obsession.

  25. 25.

    arguingwithsignposts

    October 28, 2011 at 9:38 am

    @Mark S.: 4 teh lulz

  26. 26.

    jwest

    October 28, 2011 at 9:45 am

    Rosen seems to be trying to get ahead of the next installation of this story – his private meeting with the mysterious “Lucas”.

    What will the “heavily edited” O’Keefe version (and the raw footage) show?

  27. 27.

    cmorenc

    October 28, 2011 at 9:45 am

    @DBrown:

    Because law enforcement is made up with people who are mostly cowards and bullies that have time only to attack innocent or helpless people. Not risk their well being hunting real criminals that are really dangerous

    This is a false caricature of police drawn from the minority of “bad apples” on your typical force. A vastly more accurate picture of police is that they are very representative of the segments of society they typically come from, importing both the good, brave, and honorable elements of their social background and the not so good, timidly cautious, and less honorable elements. They have a tough job to do that often involves handling genuinely unpleasant, difficult, unruly people and often the scumbags of society as well, and even when they deal with the more normal, civil elements it’s often an inherently unpleasant type of encounter (traffic ticket, car wreck with injury, etc). However, just as with regular society, police forces include some people who get perverse satisfaction from the license their office gives to exert authority and control over other people, both psychological and physical. What a great perk it is to be able to hit that accelerator on a Ford Crown Vic and speed along past traffic, blue lights flashing, at speeds a civilian would lose his license for if caught by these same cops.

    My brother-in-law was for many years a North Carolina Highway Patrolman, and it’s fascinating to hear him talk about his experiences, both for the best in police and frankly some of the worst. I don’t approve, but I do understand him when he recounts that some particularly ill-behaving arrestees happened to “hit their head on the door of the patrol car” when being arrested and put in the back seat to be taken to jail.

    None of which justifies the way the police have dealt with some of the OWS protesters, but I understand the sociology and psychology involved much better from my relationship with my brother-in-law.

  28. 28.

    J

    October 28, 2011 at 9:56 am

    He may not be a terrorist, but he is a criminal–why isn’t he in jail?

  29. 29.

    kindness

    October 28, 2011 at 10:11 am

    Yea well NPR’s corporate heads are pearl clutchers, openly willing to whore NPR to suck up to conservatives and kick DFH’s even when the DFH’s are right.

  30. 30.

    Paul in KY

    October 28, 2011 at 10:21 am

    @Scott: I’m hoping someone shoots him (and then gets away).

  31. 31.

    jwest

    October 28, 2011 at 10:32 am

    Some people seem upset when a citizen journalist exposes the truth to the “unsavvy”.

  32. 32.

    arguingwithsignposts

    October 28, 2011 at 10:41 am

    @jwest:

    Some people seem upset when a citizen journalist exposes the truth to the “unsavvy”.

    You’re just taking a piss now.

    Get back to us when you find a “citizen” or a “journalist” or “the truth” or “exposure” anywhere near O’Keefe or his master Breitbart.

  33. 33.

    Johnny Coelacanth

    October 28, 2011 at 11:26 am

    @jwest: “unsavvy”. You may be full of shite, but you do understand who Dimbart’s audience is.

  34. 34.

    Snarki, child of Loki

    October 28, 2011 at 11:37 am

    @J:

    He may not be a terrorist, but he is a criminal—why isn’t he in jail?

    What for, trying to wiretap someone without a warrant?

    Why, he has exactly as much legal right to do so as the President of the United States.

    I look forward to when O’Keefe steps over the line with someone and gets himself Tasered for his trouble, and can only hope that a video gets posted on Youtube.

  35. 35.

    dj spellchecka

    October 28, 2011 at 12:33 pm

    o’keefe’s group tried a sting on an ohio think tank involved in the “no on 2” campaign….didn’t work

    http://washingtonindependent.com/114607/okeefe-organizations-undercover-attempt-on-ohio-think-tank-fails

  36. 36.

    smith

    October 28, 2011 at 3:07 pm

    When O’Keefe did his ACORN and Planned Parenthood stings he wasn’t very well known – well he is now, thanks to his stupidity in trying to mess around in Sen. Landrieu’s office.

    He is on people’s radars now and I know that blogs now have a watch on him. Gawker was tipped off somehow that O’Keefe was planning to start some nonsense at one of the Occupy Wall Street rallies – he dressed up as a banker and he and his camerman walked through the crowd hoping someone would confront him. Turns out people at the rally were filming him knowing he was going to be there; he was mighty pissed, especially when he didn’t get he and his “team” didn’t get the reactions they wanted.

    I’m sure he’ll try and keep pulling some stunts (once again, isn’t he violating his probation by doing this stuff), but people are on to him. Breitbart and company are going to have to have someone else take over the reins of these types of operations.

  37. 37.

    Kathy in St. Louis

    October 28, 2011 at 5:18 pm

    I am one of those nasty liberals who think Bachmann is crazy. I was also one of those nasty liberal, lo those many years ago, before Watergate, who thought Nixon was a huge crook. Learned that at my father’s knee, yes sir.

    Nixon supporters thought it was just liberal bias in the press, the press “kicking Dick Nixon around”. As it turned out, Nixon was a HUGE crook, which had nothing to do with liberal bias. Michedlle Bachmann’s being crazy will also be proved to be an evaluation of a politician rather than an indictment. When will these guys get the fact that liberals are just better judges of character and demeanor than they are?

  38. 38.

    pseudonymous in nc

    October 29, 2011 at 2:11 am

    I’m now convinced that O’Queef is heading towards the Fred Phelps M.O. — he’s going to get the living shit kicked out of him, then try to sue the shit-kickers.

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