James O'Keefe Has History of 'Racial Resentment'

Now that James O'Keefe is a fixture in the news and his past is coming under increased scrutiny, Max Blumenthal wonders why his supporters aren't bothered by a background of stunts "shot through with racial resentment." His piece in Salon picks up on a report by the anti-racism group One People's Project that O'Keefe attended a white nationalists forum in 2006, where he helped "give anti-Semites, professional racists and proponents of Aryanism an opportunity to share their grievances and plans to make inroads in the GOP."

The piece also re-runs bits of O'Keefe's online college diary, which first appeared on Daily Kos, in which he complains of living in an "all-black dormitory" and having a gay roommate. In addition to the ACORN videos, O'Keefe has pulled off all kinds of racially tinged stunts, including an "affirmative action bake sale" at Rutgers in which he sold items at cheap prices to minorities. He also lost a job at the conservative Leadership Institute after he made a prank call to Planned Parenthood promising a donation only if it paid for the abortions of black women.