He’s not usually my favorite but Jeff Golberg nails the recent NPR “scandal”:
What is horrible about this is that an NPR executive has lost his job (and his next job, apparently) after falling victim to a truly pernicious sting operation run by a morally-deranged individual. Schiller is being punished (everyone at NPR named Schiller is being punished, in fact) for saying a couple of dumbass things in private, and nodding in agreement to another set of dumbass statements. How about we turn this story around, and assert that these types of sting operations are what is morally egregious here; that humans often say stupid things; and that a person’s life should not be destroyed for making the sort of statements made in the Schiller entrapment.
These James O’Keefe “stings” make me sick. I can’t believe I am living in a society where this nonsense has an important place in our national dialogue.
Villago Delenda Est
“morally deranged”?
Not strong enough.
Of course, this is in the long Rethuglican tradition of “ratfucking”.
Not even prison terms (see the morally bankrupt thug that is G. Gordon Liddy) are enough to deter this behavior.
Jason Bylinowski
I absolutely agree with your last line, DougJ. It literally makes me sick to my stomach whenever I hear his name on the radio or TV. He’s just such an obvious little shit. Our standards for what constitutes a “sting” these days must be really really low.
calipygian
I’m not even sure what Schiller said is remotely controversial. The Tea Baggers AREN’T racists intent on getting up in all of our personal lives?
Fax Paladin
How the flying fuck is he not in jail, anyway? Did he not VIOLATE HIS PAROLE some while back?
Oh, wait, I know the answer to that: Because if he were ever actually arrested for actually breaking the law, Fox News would unleash a shitstorm about how the evil fascist Obama was crushing a political prisoner.
junebug
This is the time to say either what he is doing is wrong or our side gets the same publicity.
I think a few cameras in the conceal carry scam in Utah would make things balance out.
And fuck GG for only being a gas bag on one subject.
I’m out.
Elvis Elvisberg
The statements themselves don’t bother me much.
But I don’t really agree with this post. The guy’s a public figure; in his public capacity, he was making charged remarks. Now, I wish that he would have said, “yeah, I said it. What you gonna do about it?” But… yeah, O’Keefe is a horrible amoral little ghoul, but this strikes me as news. Rather like the fake David Koch.
I’m not gonna die on this hill or anything, but that’s my first reaction.
jl
I get Jonah and Jeffery mixed up, so thought it was Jonah you meant. But was less astounded when I saw the picture.
I get a lot of these pundits mixed up, I am unwilling to endure the pain involved in learning them all well enough not to mix them up. But I am a pansy.
There needs to be push back against this kind of sting operation. I think Jeffery Goldberg summarizes the problems nicely.
The push back should contain the following observation.
One of the favorite excused when something like this happens to a corporation, a reactionary or GOPer is that the evidence was illegally or unethically obtained, and so therefore ‘doesn’t count’.
Should that dodge fail, then one of the favorite excuses is that the organization, or the top brass, should not be held responsible for what some underling said.
If that fails, then the ‘out of context’ excuse is run up the flagpole.
I don’t like gotcha routines like this, whether against sane people, or the insane (which includes most of the GOP office holders at this point, Awnawld being out of office and Huntsman out of the country).
However, the stunning hypocrisy of these vile forces should be loudly and repeatedly pointed out. They should be confronted with it.
Doug Hill
@Elvis Elvisberg:
I mostly thought the fake David Koch thing was funny, that’s why I liked it. If it had to mass resignations, I wouldn’t be down with that either.
Elvis Elvisberg
@Doug Hill: Fair enough.
I felt that way about the Gawker story about the Craigslist-trawling Congressman. The story was hilarious, but I was kinda bummed when he resigned. It just seemed like an overreaction, not a great reason to deprive a district of the guy it had just re-elected.
Omnes Omnibus
OT: In better news, the legal challenges to the WI collective bargaining fiasco have begun.
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
How about we challenge Mr. O’Queef to explain what was false about the statements?
This nontroversy amounts to “Hey someone said something we don’t like!”
balconesfault
This one isn’t as repugnant to me as the ACORN thing, which was bothersome because he was targeting a bunch of low wage office workers who had no decision-making power within the organization, using selective editing, and probably doing who knows how much venue shopping to find office workers who would even say things he could edit to be damning.
This? So what? Schiller was a big boy.
The biggest problem is that there isn’t a Roger Ailes on the left ready to drop 7 figures on anyone who gets fired.
bluehill
I can only hope that O’Keefe is always looking over his shoulder wondering if someone is trying to punk him. I can’t imagine going through life unable to trust anyone. It would be a fitting consequence for his brand of “journalism”.
KG
sorry, not related to anything, but I’m watching Jeopardy and one of the answers was “sharia law”… should we alert Frank Gaffney?
jl
The one thing that makes the Koch prankster call different is that it did involve the Big Man at the top. I am glad those dim bulbs fell for it.
Obama tried post-partisanship. I never believed in it, but thought it was a good thing to try for, oh, six months or so.
Except when something was at stake that was really important involving matters of fact that had important implications for millions of lives (the economic stimulus). In which case it should have been shoved down their throats, followed by telling them to smile and like it.
But it is clear that the reactionaries’ and GOPer’s idea of political engagement is basically the first half of World War I. Mass attacks regardless of the casualties, ruthless use of all means of destruction, and total scorched earth.
The WI GOP has announced that the real point of their erstwhile ‘fiscal’ union busting measure is destroying the political opposition, ensuring no more honest elections.
Too bad the electronic vote rigging schemes did not pan out. That would have been easier.
I am a post post partisan. Now, the question is, how should we deploy the political mustard gas?
Wile E. Quixote
@Villago Delenda Est:
We can actually thank Jimmy Carter for that. Liddy had been sentenced to 20 years in prison and Carter commuted his sentence to eight years in 1977. From Wikipedia:
Fucking Carter, what a piece of shit. He should have let Liddy rot. Maybe jail isn’t a deterrence for fucks like Liddy, but hey, as long as criminals like him are warehoused they’re not out on the streets preying on the rest of us.
Bob Loblaw
Tragically, the stung individual was the kind of guy who lectures Muslims on the acquired joys of wine tasting, so really, it’s impossible to install any defenses against this kind of behavior or disincentivize it. Think about the extent of idiocy needed to make that prank Koch call work.
We like to think our civil and political and economic leaders are truly smarter and savvier than the layperson. But they aren’t. Publicly accepting that and sympathizing with it, rather than demanding childish perfection, is the only way to get out in front of this trend.
Mike Kay (Ding-Dong-Broder's Dead)
What I don’t understand is why did Vivian Schiller have to resign, when she wasn’t involved.
Mike Furlan
Can’t happen in Illinois, and probably lots of other states.
http://www.citmedialaw.org/legal-guide/illinois-recording-law
If this type of scam is really a serious problem, there is a solution.
J. Michael Neal
@KG: Please phrase your answer in the form of a question.
Redshirt
I blame the Internet. Partially. O’Keefe is like an internet troll working his trollish ways in the real world, and being damn successful at it, as good trolls can.
I wish someone would permanban him, but alas! The Mods work for Fox.
Mr. Moderate
Once again the Republicans are the masters of spin. The dildo wielding “faux” sexual assault felon that is O’Keefe is still getting away with this stuff? I mean really? Sadly there was little I disagreed with that was recorded. The GOP has been co opted by the fringe. The Tea Party does have a substantial racist component to it. NPR can survive without federal funds. Why is it that the fact NPR turned down their $5 million shadow donation making news at all? Why isn’t the fact that this miscreant is just pulling the same tricks that got him arrested in LA and should have lead to a lawsuit for leading a woman into a sexual assault trap? That isn’t news. The rest of this crap is. Way to go for letting the Republicans drive the dialog yet again.
Corner Stone
How about the many “personalities” of NPR who sent an open letter condemning Schiller’s heinous and “unprofessional” remarks:
NPR journalists denounce former executive’s ‘tea party’ remarks
AT
Surely Schiller should have claimed he was working to hard cause he loved NPR and that lead him to make some improper decisoins, then he should pull his pants down and drop a huge dump on a picture of Ronnie R. Jesus would then forgive him.
Snayke
What’s worse is that Howie and his panel will treat this as a BFD, whereas him and Amy Holmes were just disgusted with “David Koch.”
Judas Escargot
OT but, in other news. 900 AOL employees to make way for Ms. Huffington’s team.
No comment.
You Don't Say
Sickens me too.
cleek
NPR’s a disgrace.
got in my car today for my 22 minute drive home. i heard:
a story about Libya
a story about how GOP’s glorious triumph in WI
an interview with an asshole GOP state Senator from WI
another story about Libya
and then i was home!
Two Things Considered!
cthulhu
@bluehill: It seems likely that he will end up on the wrong side of an “expose” eventually. From all I’ve read about him, he has not led/is not leading a particularly pristine life himself. Actually I can imagine all sorts of bad results if he sticks to this line of work. If he’s smart, he’ll move into a safer installation in the wingnut welfare biz. I suspect he is not.
Johannes
@Corner Stone: At least Click and Clack are hanging tough.
cleek
gack.
what’s the deal with the edit function?
if it don’t work, take it off the page!
/fume
Omnes Omnibus
@cthulhu: By “wrong side of an ‘expose,'” I presume you mean that he will be arrested for propositioning elderly women in a park while tripping on hillbilly speedballs and wearing a vibrating butt-plug, right?
TenguPhule
How much would it cost to break the GOP Ratfucker’s kneecaps?
Nothing legal seems to work to make them stop otherwise.
Omnes Omnibus
@TenguPhule: Call Tonya Harding’s ex; he would know.
dlnelson
O’Keefe is poison, why he gets prime time is like why does fox noise get time. This guy is so icky, I cannot believe anyone would credibly sit down next to him. He has the yuck factor. I blame the npr guy for not knowing just how slow he is. He must be a part of the special “olympic” running squad. Well the truth must be told, they run funny, and they look funny. And they dress crazy. We have to cut funding for the specials. That is nuts.
Snayke
Seriously, I just read Howie and got more pissed off. We laugh at McArdle and Bobo, but we don’t focus on the nation’s top media critic.
Viva BrisVegas
I don’t know if you guys have noticed, but one form of journalism is dying and another is being created as we watch.
20 years ago the model for cable news was CNN, now it’s Fox News. The new model for journalism on the WWW is being created right now by Breitbart and O’Keefe.
As usual, we liberals have absolutely no fucking idea how to respond.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@cleek: Right click and open in a new tab/window. Hopefully John’s getting it to work the way we all expect it to.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
Remember when ABC went after Food Lion and ABC was declared the bad guy?
elm
Is anyone surprised that NPR didn’t stand up for its self or its employee on this? I know I’m not.
If they won’t bother to defend themselves, I don’t see why I should support them.
Corner Stone
@Viva BrisVegas:
“Bad money drives out the good.”
jl
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
I remember reading about a legal concept called ‘respect for person’ in histories. Does the law have ‘respect for person’? As in Food Lion is a ruthless corporation, so you better respect its ass.
The last time I read about this legal ‘respect for person’ thing was in a history of late Christian Rome, where it was adopted with relish. Didn’t work out too well for them.
BTW, what is the ‘Godwin’ equivalent for invoking the Fall of Rome in political discussions. There needs to be a name for that.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Doug, thank you for reading Jeff Goldberg so I don’t have to. I agree that he got this right. Mostly he tends to make my head hurt.
cthulhu
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yes, that would fit into the standard GOP operative storyline. I do kinda expect that any criminal charges in his future will contain the words “sexual” and “assault” but that’s simply playing the odds.
Ash Can
Hats off to Jeff Goldberg for this article. Credit where credit is due, indeed.
Jebediah
@TenguPhule:
I am sure there are plenty of folk’ll do it for free.
Jay
For a guy who uses sting operations to advance his “cause,” whatever that is, O’Keefe looks like the type usually caught up in the mother of all stings: “To Catch a Predator.”
Dave C
At some point liberals are going to follow O’Keefe’s example and start doing this on a semi-regular basis like he does. And then things are going to escalate from there. I don’t see any upside to this.
asiangrrlMN
I’m more pissed that NPR fired the Schillers. One Schiller tells the truth, and two Schillers have to go because of it.
O’Keefe is a loathsome specimen of whatever species he represents. He figures out the lowest common denominator, and then he goes below it. And, the worst fusilli thing about it is that his skinny white ass ain’t in jail where it should be.
He is the shitake mushroom that you can’t scrape off the sole of your boot, no matter how hard you try. I truly hope he spends every waking moment of his miserable life fearing payback.
barkleyg
“I can’t believe I am living in a society where this nonsense has an important place in our national dialogue.”
The proof is in the pudding!
piratedan
Judge should have locked this fuckwad up when they had the chance, instead he gets a pled down to a bunch of misdemeanors and walks for screwing about with a Senator communications, which allows him to go about his merry way and continue to prank people out of jobs.
Omnes Omnibus
@piratedan: I wonder what the conditions of his probation are and whether continuing this shit violates any of them.
Calouste
@jl:
I’d say we call it a Gibbon.
Gustopher
Apparently, this is just reasonable. There’s really only one thing to do — do it better.
So, I’m willing to join a right wing organization, if someone wants to “catch” me saying horrible things.
asiangrrlMN
@Omnes Omnibus: I have to think that some of it does, but apparently, this sheetrockheel falls under the rubric of our ‘betters’ in the way he’s handed such lenient justice. Ugh.
SatanicPanic
You can be a right wing congressperson and say Obama is a Marxist, but pointing out that there are racist teapartiers-beyond the pale!
Cliff
Wait, James O’Keefe is your upper limit to nonsense in our public discourse?
You’ve got a tougher stomach than me (which I already knew from how you keep wading into Brooks and McMegan and RedState).
Cacti
Conservatives already hated NPR, so BFD on that one.
I’m not sure what friends they thought they would win by capitulating to them so immediately and completely. Liberals might have even come to their defense about the obvious racism of the Teabaggers, but NPR was too cowardly to give them the opportunity.
Alex
No one has coherently distinguished this case from that of Gov. Walker and “David Koch,” other than pitiful resort to mindless claptrap along the lines of “it was funny when it happened to Walker” or “but Gov. Walker is evil.” The sheer tribalistic chauvinism of the people on this blog — both the front-pagers and the commenters — is simply stunning.
Jebediah
@Alex:
The call to Walker exposed unethical and dishonest behavior from an elected official actively working to subvert democracy. Shiller was caught un-guardedly telling the truth.
Does that distinguishment cohere enough for you?
asiangrrlMN
@Jebediah: Why must you mess up a good supercilious sneer with your lousy nuance?
mcd410x
What’s missing from these videos is all times these stings don’t work. Until we know that, this is just a statistical anomaly.
Mnemosyne
@Jebediah:
I think there’s also a slight difference in the amount of power a fundraiser for NPR has compared to the power that the sitting governor of a state has. But, of course, you can’t present your side as the perpetual victim if you admit that.
FlipYrWhig
@Mnemosyne: Besides, in both cases the embarrassed secretly-taped person resigned in ignominy, except for the the time it didn’t happen at all, and he shrugged it off and kept on doing whatever he felt like.
LesGS
@Elvis Elvisberg: I too thought it was astonishing how quickly that Craigs-list NY Congressman resigned. Until I read on Joe.My.God that he’d been looking for transwomen or cross-dressers who passed well. I think that it’s a shame that trying to connect up with gender-variant folk is considered more scandalous than hooking up with the non-variant, but it is. He clearly didn’t want to kick up a fuss and have his interests dragged out into the open.
James E Powell
I roll my eyes at O’Keefe’s shenanigans, but I am disgusted and infuriated that anyone felt the need to resign over this. Why? Who brought the pressure? I didn’t see anything in the reported statements that can be reasonably disputed. A liberal tells the truth and must resign. Haley Barbour completely fabricates the history of race relations and he is touted as a Republican contender.
This is a very bad situation and resigning makes it worse.
Herbal Infusion Bagger
” Now, I wish that he would have said, “yeah, I said it. What you gonna do about it?””
Because the Republicans are looking to cut NPR’s funding, and NPR needed this story to die quickly.
It’s nice to dig your heels in, but while NPR could survive without Fed funding, probably it’d do so at 20-30% fewer staff. I’d have resigned myself, rather than risk dozens of my colleagues losing funding ‘cos I got punked.
O’Keefe is a loathsome toad, but unfortunately wingnut welfare means he’s a made man.
hilts
James O’Keefe and Andrew Breitbart are malignant media carcinogens. In a perfect world, they’d both be working as janitors.
Jay Rosen has a good commentary about the situation at NPR
h/t http://pressthink.org/2011/03/they-brought-a-tote-bag-to-a-knife-fight-the-resignation-of-nprs-ceo-vivian-schiller
Marc McKenzie
“These James O’Keefe “stings” make me sick. I can’t believe I am living in a society where this nonsense has an important place in our national dialogue.”
Unfortunately, to use a quote from a favorite show of mine: “Well kid, believe it.”
The question is, why is the press giving this guy so much coverage when it’s clear that he’s a charlatan and someone not even worth the proverbial war bucket of piss?
cckids
@Jay: Ain’t it the truth? My 16 year old daughter, first time she saw him, said “he looks like a creeper” (current teen slang for predator). He’s now referred to as “the creeper dude”.
Joseph Nobles
Unfortunately, there turns out to have been more to this story. O’Keefe also had recorded phone calls with another NPR official who offered to help keep the fake Muslim group anonymous to help them avoid a federal audit. Link goes to Politico, but it’s better than the Blaze or Big Government.
TenguPhule
Walker confessed to being a fucking crook on tape.
There’s your difference, Troll.
drunken hausfrau
I say we start doing it too — more Koch-Walker punking please. Fight fire with fire. Also, let’s face it — the other side is going to say a lot of stupid things because they say them publicly anyway — imagine what they say in private, wink, wink!
urbanmeemaw
@Corner Stone: While NPR does some things very well, I would not miss it in the least. Really.
Triassic Sands
O’Keefe is a slimy POS, but it’s difficult to see how one can condemn this “sting” and justify the phony David Koch phone call. I think it’s a shame the Schillers lost their jobs, but if the fake Koch call contributes to Walker’s removal from office via recall, then I’d call it a fair trade off, even though they aren’t technically connected.
Taking a step back though, I’d rather not see this kind of sting become an integral part of both parties trying to discredit one and other. Even when the target is a thug like Walker, the tactic doesn’t seem especially desirable.
When the statements/admissions of Schiller are compared to those of Walker, it’s hard for me to accept that one loses his job and the other (IOKIYAR) continues his reign of terror.
In a perfect world, both would be unemployed because they’d be in jail. It’s hard for me to see them working as janitors, an honorable vocation, in anything close to a perfect world.
Yelli
Wasn’t it not too long ago that Fox News chief Roger Ailes callled NPR execs Nazis?? Where was the outrage on the right or anywhere for that matter?
As far as I know, he still has his job and NO ONE denounced his remarks at Fox. sigh…
bob h
“for saying a couple of dumbass things in private, and nodding in agreement to another set of dumbass statements.”
What is dumbass about a candid reference to Republican anti-intellectualism, stupidity, and willful ignorance? Any frank discussion of them will bring outrage and be interpreted as insulting. I guess what is dumbass is not self-censoring.
scot
O’Keefe is a loser who can’t find a woman who isn’t repulsed by him and NPR are pathetic politically correct pansies.
brendancalling
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: someone is eventually going to put O’Keefe out of our misery. Punks like him never end well, and i will not be surprised the day he’s found in 6 different dumpsters stretching up the east coast.
cleek
test
cleek
@Alex:
i’ve said here repeatedly that i don’t see any real difference between the two. each got punked. each should have known better.
kay
No one in elite media or opinion gave a rat’s ass when the low-level workers at ACORN were smeared and defamed.
Has there been any follow-up on them? What happened to them? What effect did that disgusting lock-step ratings-motivated witch hunt have on their lives?
Were they able to find work after media played edited tape which led to a criminal investigation? They were exonerated in that investigation, by the way, but a criminal inquiry is terrifying for the average person.
They were indicted, tried and convicted on cable television, based solely on “evidence” submitted by a conservative activist.
Funny. I don’t remember any heart-felt pleas on their behalf.
Mr Furious
Not sure why anyone thinks removal of federal funds would strengthen NPR’s resolve at all. At best it’d still be run by liberal pussies afraid to be called liberal and continue jumping at shadows. At worst they’d become just like the rest of the useless broadcast media.
Emma
Joseph Nobles: NPR has released emails showing that they were NOT going to take the money until the “group” gave them more information about themselves.
It still doesn’t stop me from despising them for not fighting back.
mds
@Corner Stone:
Once I finished laughing, I noted that Schiller’s remarks violated at most two of the items on that list. Remember, kids, just give up your lunch money today, and they’ll never come back for more. Apropos of which:
@Herbal Infusion Bagger:
Whereupon … Republicans will continue to try to cut NPR’s funding. And if all this craven capitulation is to keep congressional Democrats from stomping on them the way they did on ACORN, well, that’s not particularly reassuring, either.
@Calouste:
Seconded! Gibbon’s Law states that in any internet discussion of the parlous state of our constitutional republic and its public discourse, the probability of a reference to the Roman Empire approaches one.
someofparts
Give them the South. Let’s fortify the border at the Mason-Dixon line and then keep them on the other side of it.
Begin with an exchange period and help people move to the part of the former U.S. that they want to occupy. I know plenty who will choose to live under fascist rule, and I will be thrilled to help them get out of my world.
Of course, once they are an entire other country, they will always be trying to start wars with us, so we will have to remain vigilant and be tough with them. Without smart folks from Blue culture to support them, they will be broke soon enough, so we should just leave them that way, and then they shouldn’t be too much bother.
someofparts
Give them the South. Let’s fortify the border at the Mason-Dixon line and then keep them on the other side of it. Begin with an exchange period and help people move to the part of the former U.S. that they want to occupy. I know plenty who will choose to live under fascist rule, and I will be thrilled to help them get out of my world.
Of course, once they are an entire other country, they will always be trying to start wars with us, so we will have to remain vigilant and be tough with them. Without smart folks from Blue culture to support them, they will be broke soon enough, so we should just leave them that way, and then they shouldn’t be too much bother.
Moonbatman
James O’Keefe/Rethuglians stings are against the powerless and therefore wrong.
Progressive sting are against the corrupt and powerful and therefore correct.
We should also ban the public from recording the Police in Public as the Police unions want.
Peace Out. The Power is Yours.
Paul in KY
@cckids: Hollywood couldn’t cast a more ‘creeper’ face than his, IMO.
Master of Karate and Friendship
This makes me sick, too.
Not as sick as the torture and murder our government commits, of course.
Corner Stone
@urbanmeemaw:
I’ve never cared for it, personally.
Corner Stone
@Master of Karate and Friendship:
Boom! Roasted!
Pococurante
@someofparts:
Hey now, Texas was happily Democratic until all you snowbirds began showing up in the 1980s.
Corner Stone
@Pococurante:
Got a bunch more damn yankees flowing in now as well. The Greater Houston Metro Area added some ridiculous number of jobs late last year but they expect the unemployment number to rise due to migration.
And if oil stays above $90 bbl for an extended period of time this area’s gonna get red hot.
Pococurante
@Corner Stone: I went through three serious downturns in Houston and swore I’d never work there again. Houston (and Austin for that matter) is a one-sector town. DFW is much more balanced.
Jebediah
@asiangrrlMN:
I apologize. Don’t know what I was thinking…