As Newshounds Ellen reported, sting videographer James O'Keefe is not a paragon of ethical standards. And neither are his videos which are manipulated to make his subjects appear as if they are doing something illegal. His attempted video entrapment of ACORN workers resulted in O'Keefe having to pay $100,000 to settle a suit filed by a worker who claimed that he was misrepresented. But O'Keefe's shady past isn't a problem for those on Fox News who use his videos to discredit those on the Fox/right wing enemies list. Last week Megyn Kelly his latest video, which purports to show Wendy Davis' followers mocking her wheelchair bound GOP opponent, to attack Ms. Davis. Fox & Friends, who played part of the video, used it to attack Ms. Davis. But O'Keefe is no stranger to this happy chat show where his bogus ACORN videos were pimped, in 2009, on a segment featuring O'Keefe dressed as a pimp (Not how he dressed for the stings). In underscoring why Fox viewers are misinformed, Brian Kilmeade assured the audience of the video's truthiness!
Monday's chyron set the propaganda message immediately: "So Much for Civility, Davis Team Makes Fun of Abbott's Wheelchair." After Steve Doocy noted that Davis became famous after her filibuster, Elisabeth Hasselbeck reported that Davis "took some liberties" with her personal narrative but fired back by accusing her critics of not having "walked a day in my shoes." Hasselbeck said that this comment wouldn't have been noteworthy except for the fact that Davis' opponent is in a wheelchair. The chyron described the "Disgust Over Davis, Also Said Abbott Hasn't 'Walked in Her Shoes'." This faux controversy over a figure of speech provided the lead in for the O'Keefe video described, by Hasselbeck, as showing Davis' followers "attacking" Abbott. As the chyron continued the faux outrage with Fox fact: "War of Words, Davis Supporters Mock TX GOP Candidate," part of the video was played. The chyron for the video: "Big Mouth, Big Problem, Dems Caught on Video Laughing at Abbott." Nobody mentioned that the video hasn't been vetted.
Brian Kilmeade informed us that "the video comes out, thanks to James O'Keefe who did some surveillance work so the video is real the people are real, this actually happened so whether you liked the video or not the facts are that you are mocking somebody who happens to be your opponent, not you Wendy Davis but your opponent, the group who is supporting you is mocking your opponent...which is unbelievable." He cited Wendy Davis' statement, which came out after the video was released, in which she criticized the video commentary and praised Abbot. Kilmeade spoke about how a Davis candidacy could galvanize Democrats but now "we have a situation where Wendy Davis' story isn't adding up" and the polls, prior to the video, weren't good.
Looking pretty darned serious, Steve Doocy said that Davis "was a long shot" before this broke and now "she's a longer shot." Doocy praised Abbott's commentary, on Megyn Kelly's show, about "denigrating the disabled," as "taking the high road." As they chyron lauded Abbott, "Persevering in Politics." Doocy concluded with "that's what's going on in Texas, Wendy Davis, her invented history and the slams at Mr. Abbott." Hasselbeck added the icing on the propaganda cake: "To destroy someone because of that disability." At that point, Doocy shouted "it's disgusting" after which Hasselbeck added "it's nothing short of that."
What's disgusting is that the pals are using a video where nothing inappropriate is being said. As David Weigal reports on Slate, there's no there, there - only discussion about how the campaign slogan ("Stand with Wendy") is problematic because Abbott is in a wheelchair. What's also disgusting is that while the pals were whining about how Abbott was being disrespected, they were doing the same thing to Davis whose history is not "invented." But the most disgusting part of this hit piece on Davis is that it is based on video (and who was doing the laughing - Davis' supporters or the O'Keefe plants?) done by a lying sleazebag with a criminal past - video that, according to Fox, is "real."
So much for civility?