There are just some stories that make me smile. We all love it when the little guy wins. That feel-good glow gets even better when the little guy wins over some detestable human being. Such is the case with the for ACORN worker who was baited and “edited” into looking like a real jerk, when in reality, he was the victim.
According to the Washington Post:
SAN DIEGO — A conservative activist who secretly filmed employees of the now-defunct community group ACORN has agreed to pay $100,000 to settle a lawsuit with one of those workers.
James O’Keefe and his partner in the videos, Hannah Giles, agreed to make the payment to Juan Carlos Vera. O’Keefe said in the settlement he “regrets any pain suffered by Vera and his family.”
The videos showed Vera and other ACORN employees appearing to give O’Keefe and Giles advice regarding prostitution, illegal immigration and other activities. The widely aired footage and the resulting outrage led to ACORN disbanding.
Vera told investigators he was just trying to get information from the suspicious pair. He immediately called a detective relative.
Vera’s attorney, Eugene Iredale, said he and his client were happy with the settlement, but it was a small consolation.
“Mr. Vera’s reputation was savaged, his job was taken from him, and the organization for which he worked was destroyed,” Iredale said. “They were able to destroy an organization by selective editing.”
O’Keefe’s attorney, Michael Madigan, called the payment a “nuisance settlement” and said O’Keefe has a career ahead as a talented investigative journalist.
Yea, right James. And the National Inquirer is a nationally acceptable newpaper with a good reputation. NOT.
My problem with O’Keefe is his deception. Baiting a person and tricking them into saying things out of context is simply bad investigative journalism and this kind of information is not admissible in court. James is known for using the editing room to his advantage also.
O’Keefe is a conservative activist and he often goes after targeted groups around the country who are hated by the uber-cons. Planned Parenthood, groups like (now unfunded) ACORN, PBS, and other well-known groups are often at the business end of O’Keefe’s wrath. Medical groups like Planned Parenthood are not judgemental so it is easy to ‘catch’ someone in one of those groups saying something that can be turned around and wrongly distributed.
Maybe if enough people sue Mr. O’Keefe he will mend his ways.
Bwahahahahahahaha! An expensive lesson for Mr O’Keefe. Maybe his future successful career in journalism will recoup his earnings, yeah right. This couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
@Starry, that’s exactly how it hit me. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
It is so not going to be an expensive lesson. I bet there is a line, staring with the Koch Brothers, willing to pay the fine.
He’ll write one of those right wing books, and the conservatives will buy them up like Twilight DvDs. He’ll make millions.
That still doesn’t take a way the fact that he is really without scruples.
@Moon-howler
Well, Moon-howler, most of the writers of those vile right wing wacko conservative books are lacking more than a few scruples. He’ll fit right in. I’m surprised he’s not getting special recognition at CPAC. But yeah you know and I know that this chump will probably write a NYT best seller or get a multi-million dollar gig at a Fox News or both.
Ablsolutely, El Guapo. He has made a name for himself already. Bob Woodward of the Uber-cons.