First of all, there is absolutely no reason for any higher primate to take seriously anything produced by James O'Keefe's slander factory. I realize this lets out most of the people thumping their tubs on Tuesday morning regarding O'Keefe's SHOCKING EXPOSE of how CNN made up this whole business about the president*, his campaign, and the Russians. Look, here's an employee of CNN talking smack about his bosses. Unprecedented in any newsroom I've ever been in. He works in the CNN medical unit, but he Has Opinions about the network's coverage of the story, which he apparently is willing to share with anyone who gets on an elevator with him.

What does the janitor think? Or some of the sports guys? Or the lady who rolls in the doughnut cart every morning?

BREAKING!

I don't mean to burst anyone's bubble, but, within any news organization, there are going to be people on any given day who think Story A isn't worth covering, or that the bosses are hyping Story B because the bosses are corrupt losers who couldn't hack it in real reporting, or that their work has been butchered by editors who deserve slow death by piano wire. Hell, I've been one of them, and more than once, too. If you can get a camera in there and record them surreptitiously, you can get really cool stuff, especially if you have a long track record of being an unethical midnight creeper with the conscience of a machete.

The key, of course, is what happens next. When O'Keefe ratfcked ACORN, the Democratic members of Congress ran for cover and defunded the organization, essentially destroying it. He later wound up paying $100,000 to an ACORN employee for invading his privacy. This is all fruit of a demonstrably poisonous tree and, no matter how heavily it's hyped by the usual suspects—Hannity must be over the moon—it has no more relevance to the actual reporting on the Russia story than do the opinions of the Kremlin custodial staff.

The important thing now is for everyone with actual credibility not to chicken out in the face of the newly manufactured outrage. (This means you, Zucker.) The manufactured outrage is not a story. It's not even really news. Neither is the fact that this horsepucky is Out There. If anyone needs lessons in how to proceed, there's a Ms. Sherrod who might be able to help.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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