Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Kline Supported O'Keefe, Does He Still?

Last year, James O'Keefe, a conservative activist, posed as a pimp and filmed the undercover videos that led Congress to defund ACORN. John Kline was among thirteen members of Congress who signed a resolution praising the work of James O'Keefe, who was arrested on Monday.

ACORN and its allies at the time insist that O'Keefe told a one-sided story, using shady editing and cherry-picking a few bad workers to paint the entire organization as corrupt. However, O’Keefe was defended as a fearless investigative journalist and Congressmen like John Kline jumped to defend him by signing on to a resolution praising his work in exposing fraudulent activities. Now we need to ask…if he is willing to break the law, wouldn't he be willing to shade the truth in the ways the ACORN supporters have always accused him of?

His ACORN video featured shots of O'Keefe dressed as a caricature pimp, with a similarly attired "prostitute," asking ACORN workers for help setting up prostitution rings, trafficking in children, and evading taxes. The message was ACORN perfidy; the sub-text was: "Not only are these people corrupt, they're too stupid to see an obvious set-up".

According to FBI Special Agent Steven Rayes, O'Keefe was loitering around Senator Landrieu's office when his two alleged accomplices, "each dressed in blue denim pants, a blue work shirt, a light fluorescent green vest, a tool belt, and carrying white, construction-style hard hat," came in, claimed they were from the phone company, and asked for access to the phones in Senator Mary Landrieu’s office in New Orleans. James O'Keefe used his mobile phone to film them.

Congressman John Kline praised O'Keefe and his partner Hannah Giles in setting an example for concerned citizens across America. Now it looks like O'Keefe probably did break the law, shaded the truth and cherry picked video cut outs while Congressman Kline, praising his work, used it to disenfranchise an organization that helped the poor.

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