Kirsten Gillibrand Stood Up To The Right Wing Scam Artists Who Targeted ACORN And Landrieu

Scam artist James O'Keefe III with would be hooker Hannah Giles

You've no doubt heard about how the Fox/Republican ACORN scam blew up in their faces today. DWT readers saw the joke in real time, last September when James O'Keefe and his crack team pulled one over on people who love to have something pulled over on them-- especially when it makes progressives look as bad as they are themselves and they imagine everyone else is as well.

Back then Senator Mike Johanns and his right-wing colleagues couldn't wait to jump all over ACORN and smear them with all that Glenn Beck nonsense that so fascinated the mainstream media for a week or three. In fact, on September 14, Johanns' amendment, S.Amdt 2355, "prohibiting use of funds to fund the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) passed 83-7, craven disgraces to the Democratic Party like Evan Bayh, Blanche Lincoln, Arlen Specter, Ben Nelson, Dianne Feinstein, Claire McCaskill rushing to buy into the trumped up demands of the far right as fast and loudly as they could. At that time only seven out of the huge Democratic majority had the intestinal fortitude to stand up and call "bullshit" on this scam-- Roland Burris (D-IL), Bob Casey (D-PA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). That was a pretty gutsy, even heroic, vote at the time-- especially for the only one of the 7 up for re-election this year (Gillibrand) and looking even better today. I wonder how Landrieu feels.

There was another amendment besides Johanns', I want to bring up, this one by lunatic fringe GOP dirtbag, Pete Olson (R-TX), which attempted to honor O'Keefe and his accomplices. Nothing ever happened with it, but Olson did manage to find 31 crazy co-sponsors to go along for the ride: Todd Akin (R-MO), Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD), Joe Barton (R-TX), Rob Bishop (R-UT), Jo Bonner (R-AL), John Boozman (R-AR), Paul Broun (R-GA), Henry Brown (R-SC), John Campbell (R-CA), John Carter (R-TX), Howard Coble (R-NC), Tom Cole (R-OK), Michael Conaway (R-TX), John Culberson (R-TX), Mary Fallin (R-OK), closet queen Trent Franks (R-AZ), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Kay Granger (R-TX), Ralph Hall (R-TX), Jim Jordan (R-OH), Steve King (R-IA), John Kline (R-MN), Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO), Daniel Lungren (R-CA), Kenny Marchant (R-TX), cultist Joseph Pitts (R-PA), who today claimed he'd never heard of O'Keefe, Bill Posey (R-FL), Phil Roe (R-TN), Mean Jean Schmidt (R-OH), and John Shadegg (R-AZ). Lotta Texas Crazy in that lot! And how did they forget Michele Bachmann and Virginia Foxx?

Anyway, in honor of Gillibrand's foresight and brave stand, I thought I'd share a little clip from Colbert's show with you tonight:

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UPDATE: The Accomplices-- 3 Conservative Activists

Media Matters introduces O'Keefe's partners in crime: all lowlife movement conservatives, Joseph Basel, Robert Flanagan (son of William Flanagan, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana), and notorious right-wing fanatic Stan Dai.