Conservative Project Veritas auteur James O’Keefe, last seen upsetting deceased veterans’ widows, has published a new undercover “investigation” that he claims shows “the ease in which individuals may register to vote for themselves or others without identification requirements of any kind” in Minnesota. Progressive blogger Brad Friedman explains why, even if true, it hardly matters. Mediaite explains that it isn’t even true.

About a month ago, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told supporters that his failure to get on the Virginia Republican primary ballot was the result of what he called “fraud” by one of his campaign’s signature collectors, who turned in 1,500 bogus signatures. Now, progressive blogger and broadcaster Brad Friedman is reporting that the Virginia Attorney General’s office and the State board of Elections have confirmed that they are investigating the incident.

Filling in as host of The Rachel Maddow Show Thursday night, Up With Chris Hayes star Chris Hayes threw another log on the Newt Gingrich serial hypocrisy fire, tying the candidate’s failure to get on the Virginia Republican primary ballot to a 2009 Gingrich op-ed that excoriated the “enablers” of ACORN‘s “long history of engaging in voter fraud.”

There’s an almost irresistible story circulating on the internet that seems to suggest that petitions for the recall of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker have been signed by the likes of Mickey Mouse and Adolf Hitler, and that those signatures will be counted in that recall effort. It’s the kind of story that makes for ideal two-minute filler on 24-hour news outlets, so before it gets a head of steam, let’s look beyond the overreaching headline (“Mickey Mouse, Adolf Hitler Allowed On Wis. Recall Petitions“) and vague copy, to what is actually a run-of-the-mill process story.

On Wednesday’s America Live with Megyn Kelly, Eric Shawn reported a Fox News exclusive that “former ACORN officials are now playing key roles behind the Occupy Wall Street movement, in part planning related demonstrations and strategy.” Kelly added that the former ACORN office in Brooklyn, is now the headquarters for a group called New York Communities for Change and its executive director, John Kest, is a former ACORN official…

On the heels of his “To Catch A Journalist” sting video, conservative activist James O’Keefe sat for a nearly 30-minute interview for Mediaite on Monday, discussing his attacks on Huffington Post’s Sam Stein, and his discrediting of Rutgers Professor Jeff Keefe. Toward the end of our interview, I asked O’Keefe if he would mind answering a few nagging questions about his previous work, specifically the CNN sex boat “caper,” and the racial subtext of his ACORN pimp costume.

Undercover filmmaking personality James O’Keefe is perhaps defined by his aversion to the mainstream media, that bastion of liberal thought that shields the corruption his life’s work is dedicated to expose. So the New York Times isn’t the first place one would expect to find a glowing five-page look behind the scenes of his latest stunt, a Medicare hoax starring fake IRA and Russian mafia members. And yet here it is– O’Keefe, glorified in the pages he reviles as he takes a Times contributor along for the ride as he scuttles across New Jersey in search of wasted taxpayers’ dollars.

Fox News’ new afternoon panel show The Five had its second episode today and started off with a segment on presidential hopeful Rep. Michele Bachmann. The group went through a number of what they felt were “personal attacks” against the Congresswoman coming from, in order, fellow Minnesotan Rep. Keith Ellison, ABC, and Bill Maher and pointed out what they (for the most part) felt was a “double standard” in the treatment of a strong conservative woman.

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich seems to be of the opinion if his campaign is going down, he wants to go down in a big spectacular way. With staff members fleeing, a potentially over-active wife, multiple accounts at the jewelry store Tiffany’s and some past unfavorable words about Republican Congressman Paul Ryan‘s attempt to reform Medicare, a new book now reveals that Gingrich also has some critical thoughts on Sarah Palin and Rudy Giuliani.

The parallels between right-wing undercover dance-pop sensation James O’Keefe and left-wing (?) hacker/fashion icon Julian Assange have been long drawn out, but with every new interview the similarities become starker. O’Keefe visited John Stossel on his eponymous FBN program to defend his tactics and asserted that, since “the public has a right to know… you simply don’t have an expectation of privacy when you’re discussing business matters.”

Conservative film- and troublemaker James O’Keefe does little to dissuade animosity from the left, though after a series of faux pas has left him adrift as ideological allies question who in their right mind who greenlight wiretapping a Senator’s office or cornering a journalist in what can only be described as a “dildo boat.” To that end, Playboy‘s Jordan Lieberman sought O’Keefe and found a conflicted picture of a passionate activist with a serious judgment problem.

On Wednesday night’s Colbert Report, conservative auteur and would-be Bizarro Captain Stubing James O’Keefe came perilously close to ensnaring host Stephen Colbert into his latest sting, an email effort to defer the cost of his so-called NPR sting video through online donations. Colbert saw through the plea as a ruse to associate himself with an unsavory criminal element, but didn’t ask the obvious question: how did O’Keefe compose a five page fundraising email to pay for an NPR video, and not offer his donors a frickin’ tote bag?

While Bill Maher didn’t say anything as provocative on Real Time this week as, say, calling the Qur’an a “hate-filled holy book,” it wouldn’t be Bill Maher if he weren’t antagonizing someone, and tonight he needled one of his favorite targets, the Republican Party. Maher’s main beef with the right wing tonight: a perceived lack of focus on real issues in favor of “useless distractions.”

At last year’s CPAC convention, Andrew Breitbart and I had a much-publicized dustup over conservative dress-up artiste James O’Keefe (he of the undercover NPR “sting” video), concerning the racial overtones of O’Keefe’s choice to wear a pimp costume in the intro to his ACORN videos. That encounter didn’t go so well, but this year’s CPAC offered a fresh chance to discuss the issue. During a long lunch with Breitbart, liberal filmmaker Lee Stranahan, and liberal blogger Mike Stark, I finally got an answer to my question.

Earlier today, James O’Keefe released a statement in which he expanded upon his initial denial that he planned to sexually humiliate CNN correspondent Abbie Boudreau, a denial that is belied by additional evidence presented in Boudeau’s “Right on the Edge” documentary. In addition to the “CNN Caper” document that outlined the plan, Boudreau also released emails and telephone recordings that corroborated key elements of the plot.

We reached out to Boudreau to see if she had a reaction to O’Keefe’s statement. Her response was brief and to the point:

Since the story of conservative ACORN slayer James O’Keefe‘s attempt to sexually humiliate CNN correspondent Abbie Boudreau broke on Wednesday, ever-more disturbing details have emerged. Saturday night’s airing of Right on the Edge, the Boudreau documentary about which she and O’keefe were supposed to meet, fills in a few more blanks, and reveals just how monumental a screwup this was for O’Keefe.

Conservative reaction to James O’Keefe‘s alleged plot to sexually humiliate CNN correspondent Abbie Boudreau has been almost uniformly harsh. Until now, aside from a few tangential tweets, O’Keefe mentor and benefactor Andrew Breitbart has been silent on the matter. Those waiting to take their cues from the influential conservative media figure can now let the pigeons loose, as Breitbart has released a statement in which he praises Boudreau, and calls O’Keefe’s plot “patently gross and offensive.”

Aside from several segments on her own network, CNN correspondent Abbie Boudreau‘s tale of attempted sexual humiliation by conservative activist James O’Keefe has gotten scant coverage on cable news. Popular Fox News late-night yuckfest Red Eye at least tried to cover the story last night, and while there was some mockery of O’Keefe, the overall effect was to deflect and trivialize what O’Keefe is alleged to have done. The segment begins with a misguided comparison to Stephen Colbert‘s congressional testimony, and ends with panelist Ann Coulter lamenting the fact that “narc” Izzy Santa prevented Boudreau from “rolling in the condoms.”

CNN correspondent Abbie Boudreau was interviewed by Rick Sanchez this afternoon regarding the now-dominant story of ACORN pimp James O’Keefe‘s attempt to lure her onto a boat “filled with sexually explicit props and then record the session,” a “prank” that even conservative media figure Brent Bozell called an “attempted assault.”

As more details emerge over conservative activist James O’Keefe‘s ugly attempt to lure CNN correspondent Abbie Boudreau onto a boat “filled with sexually explicit props and then record the session,” many are waiting to see what the reaction from the online right will be. Early indications are that O’Keefe may find himself adrift, as the founder of conservative watchdog Media Research Center has scathingly denounced O’Keefe, and even O’Keefe mentor Andrew Breitbart shows signs of distancing himself from his onetime star.

Any shred of a doubt you may have had left over whether James O’Keefe (is a total dirtbag) has intentions that are less than admirable can pretty much be tossed. CNN is reporting that O’Keefe attempted to punk CNN correspondent Abbie Boudreau by getting her on a boat “filled with sexually explicit props and then record the session.” To what end? Well, this is where it gets really nasty.

Considering her tenacious coverage of the subject it’s not surprising that Rachel Maddow jumped all over news that former ACORN employee Juan Carlos Vera, depicted on the infamous and heavily edited tapes talking to James O’Keefe about how to orchestrate their human-trafficking scheme has filed a lawsuit against both O’Keefe and his partner Hanna Giles.

On Wednesdsay, 5 California high school students were sent home from school when they were asked to remove their American flag shirts, out of respect for Cinco de Mayo, and refused. The following day, many students staged a mass walkout to attend a rally protesting the fact that the 5 students weren’t punished more harshly. The story got national news attention, but gratifyingly doesn’t seem to have caught on with many people (beyond Roger Ebert). Still, there are some surreal elements to this story that deserve closer inspection.

It’s funny because it’s true.

As we reported earlier, Rachel Maddow is rolling out what appears to be a series of segments digging into California Attorney General Jerry Brown‘s report on the unedited James O’Keefe/Hannah Giles ACORN tapes. One of the funnier details in that report is the bit of chitchat at the end, where ACORN receptionist Tresa Kaelke, already hip to O’Keefe’s ruse, tells him he resembles Princess Diana.

Rachel Maddow may have just established herself as the preeminent mainstream media watchdog last night. Her calm, thorough, twelve minute evisceration (sorry Jon Stewart, but it was) of the ACORN scandal was a far more damning commentary on the laziness and gullibility of the media and the questionable intentions of Fox News in general than anything else.