# Rebuttals/responses to new James O'Keefe video? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 18, 2016, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuttals-responses-to-new-james-okeefe-video/768905 "2016-10-18T00:27:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuttals-responses-to-new-james-okeefe-video/768905/21 "2016-10-20T09:15:51Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > The one guy got fired and the former felon resigned from his role, all without any media coverage. 1. This isn’t true. 2. Even if it were true, good - Project Veritas is irreparably tainted and _shouldn’t_ be taken seriously; it’s the equivalent of inviting someone like Kent Hovind on to talk about evolution or what constitutes a “church”. 3. This _still_ isn’t true. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuttals-responses-to-new-james-okeefe-video/768905/22 "2016-10-20T09:33:07Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > 1. This isn’t true. > 2. Even if it were true, good - Project Veritas is irreparably tainted and _shouldn’t_ be taken seriously; it’s the equivalent of inviting someone like Kent Hovind on to talk about evolution or what constitutes a “church”. > 3. This _still_ isn’t true. Ok there was some coverage. The rest of what I said was true. You people have to realize I do not put much time into this stuff and I had never heard of this outfit before this video came out. “Foval was laid off Monday by Americans United for Change, where he had been national field director; Creamer announced Tuesday night that he was “stepping back” from the work he was doing for the unified Democratic campaign for Hillary Clinton.” [https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/post-politics/wp/2016/10/19/two-democratic-operatives-lose-jobs-after-james-okeefe-sting/?client=safari](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/post-politics/wp/2016/10/19/two-democratic-operatives-lose-jobs-after-james-okeefe-sting/?client=safari) ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuttals-responses-to-new-james-okeefe-video/768905/23 "2016-10-20T10:33:00Z")
“O’Keefe” + “video” - “snuff” = “not worth watching” ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuttals-responses-to-new-james-okeefe-video/768905/24 "2016-10-20T10:35:05Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Ok there was some coverage. The rest of what I said was true. .“the rest of what you said” didn’t convey a message. The only important bit you were adding to the thread was the part that was blatantly false. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuttals-responses-to-new-james-okeefe-video/768905/25 "2016-10-20T11:43:02Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > You people have to realize I do not put much time into this stuff Yeah, we realize that. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuttals-responses-to-new-james-okeefe-video/768905/26 "2016-10-20T13:36:45Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > The one guy got fired and the former felon resigned from his role, all without any media coverage. And yet somehow I heard of it a day or two ago. I must be magical! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuttals-responses-to-new-james-okeefe-video/768905/27 "2016-10-20T15:32:52Z")
Seeing some blokes get fired still does not make what O’Keefe reports the reality. In the Washington Post report there is the observation that what the one that was boasting about interrupting a Trump rally was not telling the truth as we know who did the disruption, students that were not related to the campaign. What is typical of videos like this one is that after all the dust is settled we usually find that there was a lot that the video missed, or was edited out; in the ACORN case that made O’Keefe famous it ended up with him having to settle with one of the people that lost his job. The worker there actually did call the police right away after his peculiar interview with O’Keefe. That is key IMHO to understand what happens in “stings” that O’Keefe makes. The mark, out of being helpful or in an effort to humor a person that seems to look to get help, convinces the worker to go along with hypotheticals or “what ifs”. Careful edits then can turn chit chat like that into “damming” video evidence that was actually people that does not know better (it happens a lot, remember the Peter Principle). Such display of ignorance is BTW a good reason to get someone canned. There is also the factor that the mark can go into self aggrandizing mode or knows better and realizes what is going on ( **the worker thinks that he is confronting a con man or criminal and wants to keep it cool until he has a chance to call the police** ) and plants poison pills with the impossible boasts and bullshit that can make the troll to trip if he tries to do what was “recommended”. In fact IIUC the Washington Post article also points to a case in the recent videos where the mark actually had someone transcribing the conversation and later he could show that the posted edited video was misleading, so he kept his job. Bottom line, O’Keefe has done a lot of damage to the ignorant or the innocent alike, one should demand much better evidence from the likes of him. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuttals-responses-to-new-james-okeefe-video/768905/28 "2016-10-20T15:35:27Z")
When they give you edited footage and won’t give you the complete unedited stuff…pretty much says it all. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuttals-responses-to-new-james-okeefe-video/768905/29 "2016-10-20T15:39:46Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Seeing some blokes get fired still does not make what O’Keefe reports the reality. We should call it the [Shirley Sherrod Effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firing_of_Shirley_Sherrod). > [@](#): > > On July 19, 2010, Shirley Sherrod was fired from her appointed position as Georgia State Director of Rural Development for the United States Department of Agriculture. Her firing was an administration reaction to media reports on video excerpts from her address to an event of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in March 2010 and commentary posted by conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart on his website. Based on these excerpts, the NAACP condemned Sherrod’s remarks as racist and U.S. government officials called on the official to resign. But, after a longer version of her address was reviewed and her remarks were understood to be about the importance of overcoming personal prejudices, the NAACP and White House officials apologized. In addition, United States Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack apologized for the firing and offered Sherrod a new position. Oh, looky, Breitbart was involved in that one, too. If you see Breitbart’s name attached to a “sunny day” weather report, be sure to take your umbrella. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuttals-responses-to-new-james-okeefe-video/768905/30 "2016-10-20T16:11:40Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > This. It’s hard to reach a point where _documentary video_ produced by you is so dishonest as to be completely untrustworthy, but O’Keefe and his band of liars pulled it off. Agreed, he makes Morgan Spurlock and Michael Moore look like Pulitzer candidates. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuttals-responses-to-new-james-okeefe-video/768905/31 "2016-10-20T16:33:57Z")
Worth pointing out that the guy who resigned has a wife running for a House seat. He said he’s stepping down to not be a distraction. That doesn’t imply guilt nor preclude him from joining again later, just that he views her end of it more importantly than his own. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuttals-responses-to-new-james-okeefe-video/768905/32 "2016-10-20T20:22:38Z")
According to David Fahrenthold at the Washington Post (who has been digging into the Trump Foundation this election season), the Trump Foundation “charity” gave $10,000 to Project Veritas last year. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuttals-responses-to-new-james-okeefe-video/768905/33 "2016-10-20T20:47:51Z")
I don’t think it matters at this point. If this had been released around the time of the first debate this might have been taken seriously, but with Trump clearly trailing and clearly losing voters, it’s almost to the point where any bad dirt from any source is going to be regarded as a political hail Mary pass. The only reason I care enough to post is that you have organizations like CNN and other outlets who continue to report this drivel despite their disclaimers “We should tell you that James O’Keefe has a history of doctoring videos” – then why fucking report it? Why bother even treating it like real news? I almost wish someone from CNN and Fox News would turn this into a focal point of an interview and have whoever is being interviewed turn around and say _"You know I’d love to talk about that but actually I saw an even more interesting article in the Onion today._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rebuttals-responses-to-new-james-okeefe-video/768905.md?page=1)