James O’Keefe was hailed as a hero by Republicans for bringing down ACORN and forcing Democrats to cut ties with the community organizing group. Now he is a persona non grata within the Republican party. That is, of course, after his arrest yesterday for alleging trying to interfere with Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office phones.
As everybody knows, Democrats were tripping rushing to distance themselves from ACORN last year after O’Keefe went undercover to tape ACORN workers providing advice to his “girlfriend” on how to set up a brothel. Today, Republicans are running away from O’Keefe.
O’Keefe was supposed to be the keynote speaker at a Salt Lake County GOP fundraiser on Feb. 4. But county GOP Chairman Thomas Wright told the Salt Lake Tribune: “We’ll be announcing a new speaker shortly.”
Rep. Pete Olson, R-Tex., is on the defense for introducing a resolution honoring O’Keefe for exposing ACORN. He told the Hill that he doesn’t condone unlawful behavior, as On Deadline reported this morning. There were 31 cosponsors on that resolution, so you can expect Democratic challengers to use that resolution against their GOP opponents in this fall’s midterm elections. Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., is identified here as a cosponsor of that resolution.
