Andrew Breitbart stood behind James O’Keefe when he was accused of entering Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office under false pretenses. He backed O’Keefe’s ACORN investigation. But O’Keefe’s latest botched plan to lure a CNN reporter onto a boat to seduce her? Breitbart wants no part in that.
Though he didn’t respond to TPM’s request for comment this week, Breitbart put out a statement distancing himself from O’Keefe’s latest stunt late Friday, stating that O’Keefe owed his supporters an explanation.
“From what I’ve read about this script, though not executed, it is patently gross and offensive,” Breitbart said. “It’s not his detractors to whom he also owes this public airing. It’s to his legion of supporters.”
Breitbart didn’t miss an opportunity to take a shot at CNN however, joking that the stunt took place during the “the Rick Sanchez era” before the anchor was fired yesterday.
[TPM SLIDESHOW: Ambush ‘Filmmaker’ James O’Keefe: From The ACORN Sting To Failed CNN Punking]
The report CNN’s Abbie Boudreau was working on when the scheme was supposed to go down back in August is called “Right on the Edge.” An employee with O’Keefe’s Project Veritas decided she was uncomfortable with the plan, in which O’Keefe would would have tried to get Boudreau to come aboard a floating “palace of pleasure.” The documentary will air on CNN Saturday night at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m.
I proudly stood behind James O’Keefe on his groundbreaking ACORN investigation. I also defended him when the media, including CNN — during a previous regime, “the Rick Sanchez era” - falsely reported the Sen. Mary Landrieu story as a “wiretapping” plot gone wrong.In all these cases the left-leaning media exposed its obvious bias against James because of his contrarian point of view and because the targets of his investigations are protected institutions of the Democrat Media Complex.
However, in my dealings with Ms. Boudreau, she and her producer, Scott Zamost, conducted themselves professionally, and I believe James owes them a candid and public explanation.
From what I’ve read about this script, though not executed, it is patently gross and offensive. It’s not his detractors to whom he also owes this public airing. It’s to his legion of supporters.
Ryan J. Reilly
Ryan J. Reilly is a D.C.-based reporter for TPM. Prior to joining TPM, he worked for a news website covering the Justice Department and was a researcher for Bloomberg News. His email address is ryan(at)talkingpointsmemo.com.
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