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You'd think the wingers would figure out that James O'Keefe makes them look like fools every time he posts another one of his "videos." You'd think they might consider not pimping those videos like they're real when they're so easy to debunk. You'd think.
This time, it's North Carolina under fire, but O'Keefe ridiculously claims voter fraud when the only fraud is O'Keefe and his bogus claims. This time around, O'Keefe features a "dead voter" and a voter who he claims is illegally registered to vote because he was not a citizen at the time he was called for jury duty. Unfortunately for O'Keefe, he became a citizen in the 80s, a fact that was easily verifiable before publishing the video.
As for O'Keefe's dead guy, it turns out James forgot that "Jr." at the end of a guy's name means he's the son of the dead guy and also happens to be a very much alive registered voter.
Via Media Matters:
Yes, as multiple obituaries for Bolton note, he was survived by, among others, his son Michael Gordon Bolton, Jr. Public records searches using the Nexis database confirm that Bolton Jr. was registered to vote at the same address given to the poll worker by the O'Keefe operative.
This isn't the only error of this sort O'Keefe made. As ThinkProgress noted, the "non-citizen" voter supposedly exposed by the video is actually a naturalized citizen.
The best screw-up of all is the one where O'Keefe punks the Daily Caller, Breitbart.com and Michelle Malkin. I love it when one of their own hangs them out to dry so thoroughly. In the opener of his ten-minute long video, O'Keefe's minions are walking up a driveway to "prove" that a non-citizen has voted in the North Carolina primary.
Via ThinkProgress Justice:
Now, it turns out that the second “non-citizen,” William Romero, is actually a citizen as well, according to his family.
The video opens with O’Keefe’s cameraman walking up Romero’s driveway and confronting a member of his family about whether he is a citizen. O’Keefe points to court records from 2010 where Romero was excused from jury duty because he was not a citizen at the time. Therefore, as O’Keefe argues, Romero’s voter registration dated December 5, 2011 is fraudulent because Romero “is not a United States citizen.”
Oops! That calendar can be a pesky thing. It turns out Romero became a citizen in early 2011, and registered to vote because that's what good citizens in this country do: they vote.
In fact, Romero’s family told ThinkProgress he became a naturalized citizen in early 2011.
What’s more, Romero’s family told ThinkProgress that they had began receiving harassing telephone calls two weeks before the incident in the video asking if Romero was a citizen. They confirmed to the caller — it’s unclear whether they were speaking with O’Keefe himself or another individual — that Romero is indeed a citizen. Nevertheless, O’Keefe proceeded to ambush the family at their home and publish this video claiming he’s not a citizen.
Never mind the fact that what O'Keefe is trying to do will prove nothing other than that some insane dude with a video camera is trying to commit voter fraud. Never mind that what O'Keefe actually accomplishes is an embarrassing display of dishonesty and fraudent behavior himself. The right wing blogs continue to treat him like something legitimate despite the fact that he is show to be a blatant psychopathic liar over and over and over again.
O'Keefe has already plea-bargained his chicanery in New Orleans down from a felony to a misdemeanor, but he is still a criminal, and nothing he says, does, publishes or tries should be considered legitimate. But that won't stop the wingers from amplifying his nonsense simply because it fits the narrative they want to push. Just so long as we all understand that this isn't journalism, and it's not really the kind of things taxpayers should have to fund via a tax-exempt organization.
As long as we're at it, let's hold the wingers accountable for repeating O'Keefe's lies with no correction. Malkin and Breitbart are sticking to their now-debunked claims. The Daily Caller has issued a small correction to their original article, but all three should be fully retracting theirs, and O'Keefe's, claims. The fraud here is James O'Keefe, not the innocent voters he tried to frame.
