A FIZZLE OF A SCANDAL

A brief ruminations this Friday before I head out to The Texas Observer's 13th Annual Rabble Rouser Round-Up & Fat Cat Schmoozefest. 

The Texas Observer is one of those venerable publications that is ready for a renaissance. They do fine reporting on under-reported subjects of interest to Progressives. Still, it's been some time since it has been hip and happening as it was in the storied days of Ronnie Duggar and Molly Ivins. I arrived here after the heyday, but it must have been quite a time as evidenced by the still engaging "Final Friday" gatherings set in motion some 40 years ago. The bonfire of a community they built around the Observer has burnt down, but the embers are still hot. Soon, they'll have a new publisher aboard. That may be just the thing. After decades of Far Right control, Texas is tinder-dry and there's plenty of fuel for the fire. 

Now, to the business-at-hand. What of the latest scandal from the Perry-Abbott campaign? 

It seems that James O'Keefe's threat of generating scandal after scandal for the Wendy Davis campaign and Battleground Texas has fizzled. Yes, he got a lot of play with his first fraudulent video which has been thoroughly debunked. His follow-up released two days ago purportedly shows flagrant violations of Texas election law. Last time, the media neglected to add a grain of salt when swallowing his pap whole. Now, an appropriate dose of skepticism has been added. As Jonathan Tilove closes his story in the Austin American Statesman: 

In late January, the American-Statesman compared the raw and edited footage of a Project Veritas video that purported to show Battleground Texas volunteers and Wendy Davis supporters mocking Greg Abbott’s being in a wheelchair, and found that the tapes had been edited in a misleading manner, including moving the sound of laughter to produce the desired effect. 

And the Texas Tribune reports that election law experts disagree with O'Keefe's interpretation of what is and is not legal. 

It seems that the best that the Right Wing echo chamber can do to diffuse skepticism about O'Keefe is to try to instill skepticism about legit media coverage.

Speaking of skepticism about media coverage, what of the Far Right's reaction to O'Keefe's last scam - before and after it was exposed? Did anyone in the Far Right retract, or correct their claims about the smear once it was exposed? Take, for example, the loathsome Katie Pavlich's "coverage." No sign that she will correct her error. This demonstrates her nonexistent ethics as a would-be "journalist." Likewise, "The Real Wendy," the Texas GOP's attack website, keeps beating this one on Facebook.

To paraphrase Erich Segal, "Being a Republican means never having to say you're sorry." Need I further illustrate this point with what should be their embarrassment over Ted Nugent?

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