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Who else thinks there's a high chance the "anonymous conservative blogger" here is one of the Breitbart stooges? This sounds like something right up their alley with their brand of ambush "journalism."

Sherrod Brown Fundraises Off Conservative Blogger’s Misfire Against His Wife:

Sen. Sherrod Brown’s (D-OH) campaign is fundraising off an anonymous conservative blogger’s failed attempt to sandbag his wife, Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist and author Connie Schultz.

The freshman senator is fending off a challenge from Ohio State Treasurer Josh Mandel, who he leads by a 46-41 point margin, according to the TPM PollTracker Average. The gap has recently narrowed.

In an email to supporters titled “Our family scandal” from the Brown campaign, Schultz’s 25-year-old daughter, Caitlin Schultz Gard, recounted the tale of the blogger’s recent email to her mother, who formerly wrote for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, inquiring why she appeared to be hugging the senator in a photo, apparently for a story on reporters getting too close to the politicians they cover.

Connie Schultz’s response to the blogger, who she preferred not to name when contacted by TPM: “I am surprised you did not find a photo of me kissing U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown so hard he passes out from lack of oxygen. He’s really cute. He’s also my husband. You know that, right?” Read on...

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Here we go again with one of these right-wing activists making another undercover video attacking Planned Parenthood and the next thing you know, Republicans are pushing another anti-abortion bill for a non-existent problem on the floor of the House.

As TPM noted, the bill just failed: Gender-Based Abortion Ban Fails In House:

GOP-backed legislation aimed at criminalizing abortions on the basis of the unborn child’s gender failed to pass in the House today by 246-168, having needed two-thirds majority under a suspension of the rules provision.

Here's more from Media Matters on anti-choice activist Lila Rose's appearance on this Tuesday's The O'Reilly Factor: O'Reilly And Lila Rose Team Up To Spread More Lies About Planned Parenthood:

Discredited anti-choice activist Lila Rose went on The O'Reilly Factor to push her latest hoax video attacking Planned Parenthood. Rose and host Bill O'Reilly want people to think that, in the words of Rose's group, Planned Parenthood is complicit in "widespread sex-selection by means of abortion." In fact, Planned Parenthood has stated that it "finds the concept of sex selection deeply unsettling" and the organization "does not offer sex determination services; our ultrasound services are limited to medical purposes."

Furthermore, Huffington Post reported that Planned Parenthood "condemns seeking abortions on the basis of gender, but its policy is to provide 'high quality, confidential, nonjudgmental care to all who come into' its health centers."

O'Reilly and Rose mentioned none of this. Instead, they aired footage from Rose's hoax video of a person walking into a Planned Parenthood office and pretending to be a patient. O'Reilly and Rose pretended that the actions of the employee were representative of the organization. O'Reilly even asked "Are we now China in this country? If Planned Parenthood is advising woman to abort because of gender choice, then we are China. And you should remember that the next time a politician or famous person endorses Planned Parenthood." Read on...

You can read more in their latest article on Rose's effort to manufacture evidence that Planned Parenthood facilitates gender-based abortion here: Hoax Du Jour: Live Action Brings Bogus "Sex Selection" Attack To New York.

The media coverage on this has been terrible from other networks as well, with discussions on this latest vote in the House, but no mention of the fake controversy being drummed up by Rose and organization. As to O'Reilly continuing to assault Planned Parenthood and a woman's reproductive rights, it seems nothing's changed since O'Reilly got his wish with the assassination of Dr. George Tiller.

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Gotta' love it -- Right Wing Journalism Fail: Breitbart.com Interviews ‘Bono’:

This is just classic. Last night, the geniuses at Breitbart.com were trumpeting a HUGE EXCLUSIVE STORY, in which their ambush specialist Jason Mattera scored an EXCLUSIVE interview with U2 singer Bono.

Only problem with this BOMBSHELL: it wasn’t Bono. Apparently, Mattera encountered a guy with an Irish accent wearing sunglasses who looked sort of like Bono, and conducted an EXCLUSIVE BOMBSHELL INTERVIEW that blew up in his face: ‘DC’s Bad Boy Reporter’ Ambushes Bono Impersonator by Accident:

When the mini-Breits realized that they had been bamboozled, they just 404ed the page, with no retraction or statement of any kind, and marked the video “private” at YouTube to hide the evidence of their hilarious screw-up. But of course, the Internet never forgets, and now the heirs of Andrew are stuck in a moment they can’t get out of.

Charles has the transcript posted as well and the original video which I've posted above. Media Matters has more and I'm not holding my breath for us to get any kind of retraction from Sean Hannity, who was pushing this on his radio show -- Jason Mattera Still Hasn't Found What He's Looking For:

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Is it just me, or does anyone else think James O'Keefe has some real issues with liking to play dress up a bit too much? I'm not sure when we're finally going to see the last of James O'Keefe and his brand of ambush "journalism", but yesterday could not be too soon for me.

From TPM -- James O'Keefe's Latest 'Terrorist' Medicaid Sting Goes After Woman For Following Law:

Stop me if you've heard this one. A man goes into a public assistance office in Charleston, South Carolina in a kilt, tells them he's a member of the Irish Republican Army and asks for help for 25 fellow Irishmen in a hospital who need Medicaid.

A government employee follows the rules and explains the process for filling out a Medicaid paperwork and the qualifications they'd need to meet. She informs them that a federal law intended to protect patient privacy requires her not to divulge any information he's told her.

So what happens next? James O'Keefe's Project Veritas releases a deceptively edited video that makes the woman look like a terrorist sympathizer, though it isn't even clear if she knows the background of the IRA.

In the edited version, the woman says it would not be in her best interest to divulge anything because she could not afford it and she doesn't want to go to jail. As it turns out, that's what she's supposed to do under the law.

To his credit, O'Keefe posted the full unedited video of the "sting" directly after the edited version. Which makes it all the more curious that Project Veritas edited the tape in a way that paints the government employee in a bad light. Read on...

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From News Hounds -- Mike Huckabee Pimps Lila Rose's Radical Anti-Choice Agenda:

Lila Rose, is a pal of James O'Keefe and darling of the anti-choice movement and its media mouthpiece Fox "News" which was more than happy to provide her bogus Planned Parenthood "sting" videos with supportive coverage. As Rose's videos, which purport to show Planned Parenthood assisting sex traffickers, and their subsequent validation occurred at the time that the radical anti-choice GOP Congress were trying to defund Planned Parenthood (whatever happened to job creation?!) there was clearly an anti-choice agenda on the part of "America's newsroom." It's no secret that Mike Huckabee is part of the radical, anti-choice efforts to recriminalize abortion and birth control. As such, it's no surprise that he would have interviewed Lila Rose whose James O'Keefe type of videos are part and parcel of the attempt to bring back the bad old days of back alley abortions or as the teabaggers would say, "taking back America." And while reality based politicians are concerned about the economy, Huckabee says that abortion is the most important issue. Nice to see that he's using his platform (or is it "pulpit?") at Fox to advance the GOP war on women of which sweet, virginal Lila is a commanding general. And in addition to promoting radical anti-choice memes, Huckabee was able to work in the name of George Soros - along with Planned Parenthood, another nemesis for Fox News.

As they went onto note, here's how Huckabee opened up his show.

HUCKABEE: Well look out Planned Parenthood, because Lila Rose is back. Lila is the twenty two year old president of LiveAction.org. That's the group that shot an undercover video where a couple posing as a pimp and a prostitute talked to a Planned Parenthood staffer about bringing in some underage sex workers for a checkup.

Except of course that's not true. From Media Matters -- Why Is Live Action Doctoring Its Planned Parenthood Audio?:

When the anti-abortion rights propagandists at Live Action began releasing their Planned Parenthood smear videos earlier this week, we explained that their claim that Planned Parenthood was covering-up "child sex trafficking" was clearly a lie.

That's because way back on January 18, Planned Parenthood's president wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder about the incidents and requested an FBI investigation into the possibility that "an individual or individuals are engaged in activities that violate several federal criminal statutes relating to sex trafficking involving minors."

So Planned Parenthood obviously wasn't covering up anything; they were fulfilling their obligation to keep children safe.

We also warned that media should be skeptical about the heavily edited video footage released by Live Action.

As it turns out, we were right to raise concerns.

More there so go read the rest. Now back to Huckabee.

HUCKABEE: Well, that video had Planned Parenthood so up in arms that George Soros actually held a conference call about what he could do to take down Lila Rose and her group.

Actually, no, it didn't.

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Fox News reaired a segment they originally ran on their business channel earlier this week where John Stossel attempted to rehabilitate the reputation of the ambush "journalist" James O'Keefe. All I can say is I hope these two just gave anyone who is suing this hatchet man some extra material to work with.

Media Matters caught this earlier in the week and has more -- Stossel Rehabs O'Keefe In Absurd Segment On Undercover Sting Videos:

On the April 21 broadcast of Fox Business' Stossel, John Stossel hosted disgraced right-wing filmmaker James O'Keefe to debate privacy rights of those targeted by undercover sting videos. During the segment, which was rebroadcast April 23 on the Fox News Channel, Stossel praised the so-called success of O'Keefe's sting videos against ACORN and NPR, but at no point did he mention that O'Keefe's videos were found to be deceptively edited. Moreover, Stossel falsely claimed that O'Keefe is "careful not to go to" states with two party filming consent laws, when, in fact, O'Keefe has conducted his undercover video operations in several states with law prohibiting such activities.

As Media Matters has repeatedly noted, O'Keefe has been widely criticized for deceptively editing his videos. For instance, O'Keefe's ACORN videos were found to be edited to falsely suggest criminal violations by ACORN employees. Then-California Attorney General Jerry Brown's office conducted an investigation into the ACORN videos that concluded there was no evidence of illegal activity by ACORN, and that O'Keefe's videos were deceptively edited to suggest otherwise. According to Brown: "[T]hings are not always as partisan zealots portray them through highly selective editing of reality. Sometimes a fuller truth is found on the cutting room floor." Glenn Beck's website, The Blaze, compared the raw video footage of O'Keefe's video hit against NPR executives and found that the video was edited to "intentionally lie or mislead." NPR contributor David Folkenflik also asked independent consultants to review both the edited video and the raw footage, and wrote of their findings: [...]

Given the wealth of real investigative journalists who conduct their important work in an ethical manner, it is simply unfathomable why Stossel would stoop to hosting O'Keefe as a pillar of investigative journalism. After all, this is the same guy who recently was caught trying to frame CNN correspondent Abby Boudreau by attempting to seduce her on a boat filled with sex toys. Stossel has certainly hit some low points during the course of his career, but this one just may take the cake.

More there so go read the rest. I've got to agree with Media Matters' Julie Millican. This very well may be a new low even for the likes of Stossel.

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Looks like Chris Wallace was in the mood to give Breitbart's buddy James O'Keefe, another plug this week as his "Power Player of the Week." Wallace's omissions about O'Keefe's record were nearly as bad as O'Keefe's deceptive video editing. Shameful.

Media Matters has more -- Wallace's "Power Player" Designation For O'Keefe Ignores His History Of Deception:

For the second time, Chris Wallace named James O'Keefe Fox News Sunday's "Power Player of the Week." But Wallace ignored O'Keefe's history of discredited claims and allegations that O'Keefe deceptively edits his videos, including the NPR video that earned him the latest "Power Player" designation. [...]

Wallace Touted ACORN Sting, Promoted Upcoming Video Release. Wallace began his "Power Player of the Week" segment by touting O'Keefe's ability to go after "big targets" and get "stunning results," regardless of "[w]hether you admire or condemn his tactics." Wallace went on to tout how O'Keefe's ACORN videos "pushed Congress to cut off federal funding," and concluded by noting that a video from "an undercover sting of a public television executive" would be released by O'Keefe in the coming week. From the March 13 edition of Fox News Sunday: [...]

Wallace Ignored Deceptive Editing Of O'Keefe's Videos

Beck's Right-Wing Website Found "Questionable Editing" In O'Keefe's NPR Video. Citing an examination of the NPR video conducted by Glenn Beck's website TheBlaze.com, Politico's Ben Smith and Slate's David Weigel reported that the video of Schiller released by O'Keefe's Project Veritas was deceptively edited to portray certain statements by Schiller out of context. Smith described the editing as "some really serious, dishonest lily-gilding." [Ben Smith, Politico, 3/11/11; David Weigel, Slate, 3/11/11; The Blaze, 3/10/11]

In Touting ACORN Video, Wallace Ignored That O'Keefe Deceptively Edited Those As Well. Wallace noted that O'Keefe's ACORN videos "pushed Congress to cut off federal funding," but he didn't mention that the videos were edited to falsely suggest criminal violations by ACORN employees. Then-California Attorney General Jerry Brown's office conducted an investigation into the ACORN videos that concluded there was no evidence of illegal activity by ACORN, and that the videos were deceptively edited. According to Brown: "[T]hings are not always as partisan zealots portray them through highly selective editing of reality. Sometimes a fuller truth is found on the cutting room floor." [California Attorney General's Office, 4/1/10]

Wallace Plucked Schiller's Statement On NPR's Federal Funding Out Of Context

Read on...

Transcript below the fold.

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By now everyone has heard about James O'Keefe and his attempt to "punk" CNN reporter Abbie Boudreau. That special aired over the weekend and it basically glorified a bunch of right wing wingnut ambush "journalists" with friendly interviews and no perspective from anyone being harmed by their actions. The special completely glossed over what happened with James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles and their doctored tapes of ACORN employees. They showed the two of them in their pimp and prostitute outfits without mentioning that they weren't wearing those clothes when they entered the ACORN offices.

The special featured Andrew Breitbart, James O'Keefe, Hannah Giles, Lila Rose, Jason Mattera and Ryan Sorba, many of whom you would have never heard of if you weren't watching Fox News. The show featured a series of softball with the group that were about as hard-hitting as you might expect when watching the Oprah Winfrey Show.

I would imagine that it would have been all favorable coverage of them had it not been for the stunt O'Keefe tried to pull on Boudreau. The show basically glorified the type of crap Bill O'Reilly has been doing for ages now and treated it as some new form of journalism that's going to keep the "mainstream" media honest.

All they did is lend some very undeserved credibility to Andrew Breitbart and his minions who have a terrible history with ambushing politicians or anyone else they decide to scapegoat for the week and then putting out highly edited videos later. That's not journalism. CNN should really be ashamed of themselves for this horrid piece of "investigative journalism."

You can read the entire transcript here.

The clip above is a bit from the end of the special. Apparently James O'Keefe is going to be featured in a music video and thinks he's Michael Jackson reincarnated.

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Alan, Alan, Alan...you forgot to use the Keith Olbermann "How to talk to Bill O'Reilly's stalker-producer in a way that guarantees the interview doesn't get on the air" guide for dealing with this sort of situation. Bill-O decided to send his stalker-producer Griff Jenkins out to do another one of his ambush interviews to get Rep. Grayson to respond to calling Enron lobbyist turned Fed lobbyist Linda Robertson a "K Street whore", which Grayson has since apologized for.

Someone needs to send Rep. Grayson Keith's tips in case Griffy-boy decides to take some more time away from promoting the Tea Baggers and sit outside of his office all day waiting to shove a microphone in his face. Three words Mr. Grayson--Malmedy, Mackris, loofah.

Howie Klein's got more on Grayson's comment about Linda Robertson over at the HuffPo--Alan Grayson calls a whore a whore-- Beltway whores freak out & defend Enron lobbyist working at the Fed.

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As Contessa Brewer notes in the beginning of this segment, ACORN is threatening legal action against the filmmaker who posed as a pimp at their offices and Fox News which ACORN "calls an advocacy organization for right wing interests".

Dylan Ratigan then brings in ACORN's Scott Levenson to discuss the matter and this has to be one of the more infuriating interviews I've watched on MSNBC for a long time. Ratigan was so desperate to prove his preconceived notion that what ACORN does is somehow a left wing alternative to Dick Armey's FreedomWorks that Scott Levenson may as well have been having a conversation with himself here.

Ratigan: What is your explanation for that video?

Levenson: Well there is an explanation for this video as an attack on the work that ACORN is doing. We got a hundred and fifty thousand people into their first home. Kept fifty thousand people free of foreclosure, this year, done unprecedented work in health care, unprecedented work in education, so we see this as a coordinated attack driven by Fox entertainment, and not news, Fox entertainment, on the work and the members of our organization.

Ratigan: I was thinking about the conversation that you and I are about to have and about the one I was fortunate to have with Matt Kibbe of FreedomWorks who’s a conservative organizing group, a different agenda and we were talking about the frustration that exists I this country about the government process…

Levenson: And thank you for asking me…

Ratigan: …and the banks, I agree with you from what I can see journalistically that you have been targeted from conservative groups, but… when they target you they find things that are unsettling and so (crosstalk) that’s what I said when I look at Matt Kibbe, I understand your issue but I look at the, when you say “Oh kill Obama this, not kill, but kill Obamacare” so when the radicals (crosstalk).

Levenson: You’re absolutely right. Process matters. Process actually matters so it’s very important to look at these films as you’ll see none of these people got a loan. None of these people got a mortgage. None of these people filled out an application. None of these people even filled out (crosstalk) let me finish the point. None of these people even filled out an intake form. So we at ACORN have a multi-step process that keeps people from doing the wrong thing. These people never got to first base.

Ratigan: If you look at the vulnerability, like in other words let’s assume that you or Matt Kibbe or any of these organizations, that the intention is good. That the intention is to manifest political interest, but that those on the left or right are willing to behave when not properly monitored, in an unethical, manipulative, distorting, destructive manner that ultimately comes at the expense of the country. And I don’t care if it’s on the ACORN side, the FreedomWorks side or any other side. Obviously you’re process could use some improvement.

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