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
Transcript below the fold.
WALLACE: Whether you admire or condemn his tactics, there's no debating that undercover activist James O'Keefe has taken on some big targets and come up with some stunning results.
Once again he is our "Power Player of the Week."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMES O'KEEFE, UNDERCOVER ACTIVIST: We thought it would be a funny YouTube video and we'd get them to say something silly like, "Oh, you guys, that's cute." But never in our wildest dreams did we ever imagine this.
WALLACE (voice-over): That was James O'Keefe in 2009, marveling at the impact of his undercover ACORN videos that pushed Congress to cut off federal funding.
Now he has struck again, masterminding a sting of NPR executives at what was supposedly a lunch with rich Muslim donors that showed their political bias here against the Tea Party.
RON SCHILLER, NPR: I mean, it's scary. They're seriously racist, racist people.
WALLACE: We wanted to find out what drives the 26-year-old O'Keefe, who describes himself not as a conservative, but a progressive radical. And what we discovered is an outrage with liberal hypocrisy.
O'KEEFE: If you use their rules against them, you can really just tease them and mock them and really destroy them.
WALLACE: As a student at Rutgers, he says he became fed up with political correctness, especially about race. So, on St. Patrick's Day, 2004, he met with an administrator to demand they stop serving Lucky Charms cereal with its Irish leprechaun.
O'KEEFE: As you can see, we're not all short, green, but we have our differences of height. And we think this is stereotypical of all Irish Americans.
They said yes. And then I realized, OK, now I'm on to something.
WALLACE: Four years ago, he called Planned Parenthood offices to say he wanted to donate money to abort black babies so his child wouldn't be hurt by affirmative action.
O'KEEFE: So that's definitely possible?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, always. Always.
O'KEEFE: Can I put this in the name of my son?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely.
WALLACE: In 2009, when Hannah Giles called and proposed they sting ACORN, O'Keefe was on board.
O'KEEFE: She said, "I can be a prostitute." And that's when I said, "What if I'm a pimp?" And then we said, what if there are 13-year-old girls involved? And we just upped the ante and just made it more ridiculous.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not (ph) sure now you can make it legal.
WALLACE: O'Keefe has had problems. Last May, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for posing as a phone repairman to get in Senator Mary Landrieu's office. But now he has a new scout.
The head of NPR was forced out in the latest scandal. And Congress may oblige what that executive said was his secret hoax (ph).
SCHILLER: Well, frankly, it is very clear that we would be better of fin the long run without federal funding.
WALLACE: O'Keefe says his friends always tell him the next sting will never work.
O'KEEFE: "They'll never say yes. That's ridiculous. That's absurd."
Every time they say yes. So people say, "You're never going to do it again." I disagree with them. I think that I'll come with a new strategy and I'll get them to say yes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: O'Keefe has also engineered an undercover sting of a public television executive. And his groups says it will release that tape this week.
And that's it for today. Have a great week, and we'll see you next FOX NEWS SUNDAY.
