I believe that Carl Jung was a genius, and since he said the things that people attack are quite often a reflection of the things they despise and fear in themselves, I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps James O'Keefe is simply another self-loathing Republican closet case. I mean, look at his long track record of ridiculing the poor, ethnic minorities and otherwise marginalized groups - his choice of targets might be part of a larger picture.
Yesterday this interesting story ran in the Washington Independent. Could this be part of that picture?
Ben Wetmore, the 28-year-old conservative activist whom James O’Keefe called a “mentor,” has stayed out of the headlines since it was revealed that he housed O’Keefe and the other participants in the bungled sting of Sen. Mary Landrieu’s (D-La.) office. When I reached Wetmore by phone yesterday, he politely declined to talk about the situation until it settled down.
Still, the Wetmore-O’Keefe friendship was, in gonzo journalism terms, a productive one. In 2008, after O’Keefe had left the Leadership Institute, the two men recorded hidden camera video of themselves going to three state offices in Massachusetts, applying for marriage licenses, openly admitting that they were straight men who wanted to get married to take advantage of the benefits.
In the video, O'Keefe asks his friend if his girlfriend minds them getting married, and he says she doesn't. O'Keefe doesn't mention a girlfriend himself.
Then again, maybe he's just a shy, awkward sort who covers it up with bravado, the kind of socially-handicapped guy who's just trying to fit in any way he can - as evidenced by this picture showing O'Keefe at a performance by his Rutgers glee club at Carnegie Hall.
I guess that makes him a "Gleek" - only without the charm. Or the humanity.