Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
My colleague Dave Weigel, who uncharacteristically finds himself as part of a story rather than reporting one, has written a post at the Washington Independent clarifying what he has said and what he remembers about James O'Keefe and his attendance at a debate between white supremacist Jared Taylor and Kevin Martin. That last part is important because Blumenthal's original accusation was that the event was a white nationalist conference. Weigel says:
As Epstein's August 28, 2006 post on the nativist site VDare.com makes clear, it was a two-hour debate, not a conference. I made this clear in my initial post. The only "white nationalist" onstage was Taylor. John Derbyshire has some controversial views on race, but co-panelist Kevin Martin is and was, as Andrew Breitbart's Big Journalism delights in pointing out, African-American.
He also says that while he's being credited by the director of the One People's Project as the source of the information about O'Keefe manning a literature table, but in fact he was a recipient of that claim, not the source of it:
5) "According to One People's Project founder Daryle Jenkins, O'Keefe was manning the literature table at the gathering that brought together anti-Semites, professional racists and proponents of Aryanism."This is Blumenthal's sourcing, but according to Larry O'Connor of Big Journalism, Jenkins cited me as a "witness." I talked to Isis, not Jenkins. And I never told anyone that O'Keefe had "planned" the event or "manned" the table, because I could not confirm those things. I did tell Isis, after seeing her photo of O'Keefe, and hearing her description of the event -- and remembering her walking around, taking photos -- that her photo definitely jogged my memory of O'Keefe being there. And O'Keefe has confirmed that he was there.
I exchanged emails with Isis last night and the only confirmation she gave on this question of the literature table is that O'Keefe "was sitting either near it or at it." She does say that O'Keefe and other interns from the Leadership Institute "helping Marcus out with the event." And Weigel says:
In my original post, I wrote that "O'Keefe's position at the Leadership Institute gave him some ownership of the event, but in general the crowd consisted of conservatives and libertarians who wanted to see some controversy." What I meant was that unlike the reporters in the room or the college students watching the spectacle, O'Keefe was Epstein's co-worker. He didn't wander in off the street -- he knew his colleague was planning an event, knew it was so controversial it was moved out of the building, and he tagged along. But to some readers, that sentence suggested that O'Keefe was, indeed, a planner of the event. He absolutely wasn't.
So it sounds as though this story is pretty much falling apart. No one really knows whether he was manning a literature table full of white nationalist magazines and books and no one can prove it. Sitting hear it doesn't prove a thing, nor does his attendance at a debate on the subject show that he supports one side or the other. It may well be that O'Keefe is a racist, but this incident does not provide evidence of it and should not be cited as such.
By the way, if you're interested in details on the FBI seizing the pictures from Isis, here's the story on that.
By the way #2, I got several emails from racist idiot Jared Taylor over the weekend. He twice misrepresented what I'd written on the subject, then decided that I was "neither a scholar nor a gentleman" because I told him he needed to work on his reading comprehension skills.
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Comments
I realize the following question is OT, but I find Isis' story far more compelling. Does Isis know why the Justice Dept. wanted to seize her materials?
Posted by: Michael Heath | February 8, 2010 9:10 AM
Ed:
I really don't need to have that piece of information about O'Keefe to determine that he's a scumbag. His history is replete with instances of his asshatedness. Of course, since he is a dick, it's not hard to understand how some folks might conflate his being a co-worker of the idiot who DID plan the conference AND his showing up there as being indicative than somewhat deeper involvement than "wandering in off the street".
Posted by: demopcommie | February 8, 2010 9:17 AM
Ed I would love to do an interview about my fed raid, but you need to get back to me about it.
Also, I should contact my attorney first.
Peace!
Isis
Posted by: Isis | February 8, 2010 1:40 PM
Also, Weigel is a journalist who has to maintain a "relationship" with certain political group as to still be able to have access to these kinds of events.
Hence, glossing over what this forum was about and who was behind it and the planning was glossed over by him to remain on the safe side.
As a freelance photographer, I don't have to worry as much.
Fact is, Marcus Epstein and his gaggle of buddies at Leadership have a rep of "race based" outlook that they were trying to kindle in the conservative movement.
One thing that Weigel also left out is that the racist group "Vdare.com", Peter Brimlow's pet race based project was involved in the planning of the forum.
Charles Johnson from Little Green Footballs was able to find that fact.
The forum was set up to promote Jared Taylor, as he and Marcus are very good friends.
Why would O'Keefe be there as part of Marcus's posse' if he wasn't there to support what Marcus was trying to pull?
This story is not falling apart. But, because it is an ugly story about a very seriously ugly element in the reality of our American politics today, people do not want to face it.
I am not a politico or a spin master, I report what I see, usually with a camera.
I don't lie, make up propaganda or even get a pay check from anyone for what I try to bring to the public.
I have risked much of my life, and even have been in some scary situations to be able to help the public see the truth behind what is happening in our country right now.
When I shoot events, rallies, protests ect... people ask me who I am shooting for, and my answer is: YOU!
Posted by: Isis | February 8, 2010 2:01 PM
Isis,
I hope Ed is able to do an interview with you concerning the FBI/DoJ business. This is a story that needs some attention.
Posted by: Shawn Wilkinson | February 8, 2010 3:52 PM
1. "It may well be that O'Keefe is a racist, but this incident does not provide evidence of it and should not be cited as such."
Ah but "it may well be..." so let's just keep an open mind? Good thing you're not a happening node of the justice system wherein no evidence = innocent of charges.
2. "No one really knows whether he was manning a literature table full of white nationalist magazines and books and no one can prove it."
False. O'Keefe knows and in the absence of any other testimony that can be corroborated his word carries the day.
Other than that one could say "No one really knows whether Ed Brayton was manning a literature table full of white nationalist magazines and books and no one can prove it." As you can see, the slander is still packed inside that statement.
As for "I exchanged emails with Isis last night and the only confirmation she gave on this question of the literature table is that O'Keefe "was sitting either near it or at it." ... It doesn't take a journalist of long experience to smell the waffle and the weasel coming off that statement, does it?
Posted by: vanderleun | February 8, 2010 7:36 PM
I have to laugh at being accused of being too easy on him and too hard on him in the same thread. That tells me I'm doing something right here.
I agree that the situation with Isis needs more exploration, but quite frankly after seeing what she has to say about Dave Weigel, a friend and a colleague, I'm not terribly inclined to continue that conversation. Dave did not "gloss over" anything here. He is doing what a careful and ethical journalist does, which is not overclaiming the evidence and making accusations without having the evidence to back it up. Nor did he leave out anything about vdare.com; in fact, he quoted that site directly. And the notion that I'm "turning away" from this story because it's too ugly is simply too ridiculous to bother responding to.
The fact is that I suspect -- important word that doesn't mean "know" or "can prove" -- that O'Keefe probably is, like Marcus Epstein, at least a borderline racist. But the evidence as far as this particular event has been overclaimed from the start. It was not a "white nationalist conference" it was a debate between one white nationalist and a black scholar in opposition. And O'Keefe did not organize it. And as far as the literature table goes, the most you could tell me is that he was sitting "at or near" that table. That's not very compelling evidence. If he was, in fact, helping hand out racist literature then that would be solid evidence and I would have no problem declaring him a racist, full stop. But that claim simply hasn't been established, and most of the claims in the original story have so far turned out not to be true. So like any careful journalist, I'm not going to translate my suspicions into bold accusations. And if that isn't good enough for vanderleun, tough shit.
Posted by: Ed Brayton | February 8, 2010 8:55 PM
Har!..... Briebart's dogs are scrappin talons inside a fish tank...and Jared Taylor even published Breibart's article of defense of this O'Keefe situation on American Renaissance ???
Could it be that Archie Bunker Breitbart might be closer to Jared Taylor than he's letting on....?.....a Hollywood HACK does not a Kst wonk make!...bad bad move....
...'Ol' Andy is just nother wannabe cartoon player...so....best to ignore the Breibartisc flailing tantrums....he'll be drowning in his own filth soon 'nuff....
Posted by: Breitbart Busters | February 8, 2010 9:05 PM
Jeezus, these elite "professional" journalists just kill my ass dead. Every point cited in the CJR's trash job on Max Blumenthal was basically true: he did express racist views in his recently-revealed college diary, and he did engage in racist behavior in his vile prank calls to Planned Parenthood offering donations if they would abort only black babies, and in his ridiculous ACORN video stunt featuring his cheesy "pimp" Halloween outfit, and he sure as hell did participate in the racist American Renaissance shindig a while back. The evidence of James O'Keefe's racism is practically lying in the streets like the proverbial gold nuggets in 1849 San Francisco. It's not rocket surgery, people.
Looks to me like the elite... uh, that is, professional journalists at CJR are just pissed off because ordinary "amateur" citizen journalists like Daryle Jenkins and Isis are doing their job far better than they ever could. Daryle and Isis are getting down to business and doing the dirty job of taking down scum like Breitbart while the "professional" elites of the US media piss their pants when Breitbart so much as goes "boo".
No damn' wonder the establishment print news media and "professional" journalism are dying. Get off the dime, or get over yourselves.
Posted by: Mike Flugennock | February 10, 2010 12:46 AM