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Breakthrough: Our Guerilla War to Expose Fraud and Save Democracy Paperback – June 17, 2014
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Hailed by David Weigel in Slate as having “had more of an impact on the 2012 election than any journalist,” James O’Keefe is young, brash, and provocative: a new breed of guerrilla reporter for the twenty-first century. He and his associates have famously infiltrated some of America’s most protected organizations and institutions. Now, in Breakthrough, O’Keefe chronicles the harrowing undercover investigation that opened America’s eyes to the chicanery of its state houses and the duplicity of the White House during one of the most compromised election campaigns in our nation’s history: the 2012 presidential race.
Of all his controversial sting operations, this was the one that his late mentor, Andrew Breitbart, called “his most consequential.” While still on federal probation, O’Keefe organized an army of citizen journalists, planned a series of video stings to reveal the American system’s vulnerability to voter fraud, and went nose to nose with the most powerful political machine in the world. Along the way, O’Keefe found disheartening evidence that Americans are not nearly as free as we may believe, but also showed just how much real change ordinary citizens can bring about when they are willing to risk the wrath of the powerful.
Free of ideology, Breakthrough is at its core a clarion call for a more ethical society. Despite being vilified and libeled by an establishment media dedicated to suppressing the truth, James O’Keefe has dared to break through the firewall and reshape public opinion by showing things as they really are.
- Print length352 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateJune 17, 2014
- Dimensions5.5 x 1 x 8.38 inches
- ISBN-101476706182
- ISBN-13978-1476706184
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"The new book by James O’Keefe, makes clear this problem to armchair patriots who think someone else is better qualified to engage in direct action. It is a how-to guide for a modern activist craving a blueprint for action." -- J. Christian Adams, publisher of PJ Media
"Code Veritas: James O'Keefe is back...This intellectual heir to Andrew Breitbart has produced a devastating attack on the smeary leftist establishment." -- Roger Kimball, editor-in-chief of The New Criterion and publisher of Encounter Books
"In 320 gripping pages, 28-year-old O'Keefe describes being thrust under the national microscope…O'Keefe's book—which serves simultaneously as a memoir, a manifesto, a tell-all and an activist handbook—the reader watches a young man grow up, wise up and toughen up." -- Chris Moody, Yahoo News
"Fast-paced enough to be a summer beach read, yet substantial enough to stand as a serious criticism of government and media, O’Keefe’s tale of his whirlwind past four years will have your stomach churning and your blood boiling, but in the end will make you want to stand up and cheer. A splendid change of pace from the standard format political books follow. [His] raw, genuine, and tightly focused rage is the beating heart of Breakthrough, and sets it apart within its genre…Breakthrough is a call-to-action and a playbook for aspiring citizen journalists." -- Watchdog Wire
“Upstart James O’Keefe has dealt a major blow to the establishment.” (George Stephanopoulos) . . . “Go watch this video. It’s enlightening, it’s enraging.” (Governor Chris Christie, on the NJEA video) . . . "What I know is that what I saw on those videos was certainly inappropriate."--(President Obama on the ACORN videos) . . .“I’d say this is a grand slam home run.” (Rush Limbaugh, on the NPR investigation) . . . “James O’Keefe is dismissed as a ‘conservative activist,’ but he’s doing something much worse—journalism.” (The New York Post) . . . “O’Keefe aims to discredit us.” (Bill Keller, executive editor of The New York Times) . . . “O’Keefe is courageous.” (Glenn Beck) . . . “A latter-day Mike Wallace.” (Dennis Miller) . . . “The Ashton Kutcher of the Conservative Movement.” (Jon Stewart) . . . “He is already well on his way to being one of the great journalists and deserves a Pulitzer.” (Andrew Breitbart) -- What the Right and the Left are saying about James O’Keefe
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Product details
- Publisher : Threshold Editions; Reprint edition (June 17, 2014)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 352 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1476706182
- ISBN-13 : 978-1476706184
- Item Weight : 10.4 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 1 x 8.38 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,249,503 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,666 in Journalism Writing Reference (Books)
- #1,916 in Journalist Biographies
- #4,222 in Communication & Media Studies
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
James O’Keefe is an award-winning journalist and writer. He is the founder and President of both Project Veritas and Project Veritas Action, non-profit organizations dedicated to investigating corruption, dishonesty, waste and fraud in both public and private institutions.
James O’Keefe’s investigations have led directly to the passage of new legislation, federal and state investigations, congressional inquiries, the defunding of taxpayer-funded groups, resignations, firings, restrainings, arrests and disciplinary action.
O’Keefe’s series of voter fraud exposés inspired several states to reform their election laws, forced resignations in Washington, and pushed FBI and Department of Justice officials to defend themselves before federal lawmakers.
His investigation into ACORN led to the group’s collapse. He caused a Planned Parenthood Vice President to be fired, National Public Radio executives to be fired, an Enroll America director to be fired, Medicaid worker retrainings, an investigation into Battleground Texas, and Congressional field hearings into Obamacare navigator fraud.
The Nation magazine wrote, “O’Keefe’s influence on voting rights opponents and legislators alike is particularly jarring.” Slate.com agreed, “O’Keefe has had more of an impact on the 2012 election than any other journalist.”
In 2013, O’Keefe authored New York Times bestseller, Breakthrough: Our Guerilla War to Expose Fraud and Save Democracy, the inside story of the challenges he faced bringing his powerful new form of guerilla reporting to the forefront.
In May of 2014, O’Keefe released videos at the Cannes Film Festival showing Hollywood environmentalists agreeing to take money from phony Middle Eastern oil tycoons to fund anti-fracking movies. The videos prompted a U.S. Senate investigation into the funding sources of NGOs.
During the summer of 2014, an investigation by Project Veritas transformed the discussion on national security. Dressed as Osama bin Laden, James O’Keefe crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico into the United States. In a follow-up video, Project Veritas exposed the lack of security at the northern border as an investigator dressed as an ISIS terrorist crossed Lake Erie into Cleveland. In his grilling of officials from the Department of Homeland Security, Senator John McCain referenced the investigations as proof of the failure to secure the border.
Heading into the crucial fall elections of 2014, James O’Keefe launched Project Veritas Action, which launched investigations in four key Senate battleground states to expose the hypocrisy of candidates who were saying one thing to the voters and something entirely different to their close supporters. All four Senate candidates exposed by O’Keefe lost their races, some by incredibly narrow margins.
In 2015, O’Keefe oversaw the expansion of both Project Veritas and Project Veritas Action, providing the vision and direction for projects that increased the training, professionalism, and reach of both organizations. During the expansion, both organizations released impactful investigations. Most notably, Project Veritas conducted investigations of the Veterans Administration, political correctness on campus, and the corruption within the racial grievance industry. Project Veritas Action reported on multiple instances of the Hillary Clinton campaign violating state and federal campaign law.
During the 2016 election cycle, both Project Veritas and Project Veritas Action released videos exposing key Democrats not only admitting that voter fraud exists, but also showing how to successfully commit it on a massive scale. One result was that a New York City Democratic election commissioner was forced out of his position by Mayor de Blasio and the New York Assembly.
O’Keefe also released videos exposing how the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton worked with consultants to organize paid protesters at Trump rallies, which sometimes erupted in violence. The investigation into Democracy Partners caused two key Democratic operatives to resign, sparked a response from the White House, and caused Donald Trump to bring up the videos in the final presidential debate. O’Keefe was ultimately credited with having a significant impact on the 2016 presidential elections for his October Surprise video series.
In the Summer of 2017, O'Keefe began his American Pravda video investigation series which focused on revealing the bias and hidden motivations at mainstream media companies. The American Pravda: CNN series exposing directives to drive a "Russia narrative" made national headlines, was mentioned by White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders during a press briefing. The American Pravda: New York Times series led New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet to call O'Keefe "despicable."
O’Keefe is a graduate of Rutgers University. He founded an independent newspaper in College called The Centurion. He is a 2014 recipient of the Young Professional Conservative Leadership “Buckley Award” awarded to “young professionals in recognition of significant achievements in advancing the conservative cause.” He is the recipient of the Robert Novak Award for Journalistic Excellence (2011), has been named “Fox News Power Player of the Week” twice, and was on the Forbes “30 Under 30” for media moguls.
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Since seeing his jaw dropping Acorn videos on Andrew Breitbart's "Big Journalism" site, I have followed Mr. O'Keefe and Project Veritas from arm's length, so my expectations of the book was that I would read a rehash of details I already knew, with some insider baseball stuff thrown in, and perhaps a few insights as to who O'Keefe was personally.
Nope.
What I got was a great political adventure story and a lot of good late night reading. James is not just a great muckraking journalist in the best sense of the word, he is a great story teller, and spends little time in his prose embellishing his accomplishments, which frankly speak for themselves.
What he gives you is detailed chronology of every sting operation he's done since he was an undergrad in Rutgers, and got the administration to stop serving "Lucky Charms" in the school cafeteria on St. Patty's Day because it offended the ethnic sensibilities of the Irish.
Some revelations I learned while reading the book was that Saul Alinsky was a brilliant tactician, and his "Rules for Radicals" are not ideologically bound. Since Alinsky was such a repulsive creature of the left, I never considered this, but O'Keefe did. He leap frogged Alinsky by using his rules against the left, and by creating "Veritas" rules that will someday become the Bible for 21st century muckraking journalism.
Another revelation was how restrictive and risky the three years of probation were on Mr. O'Keefe, but how productive they were. O'Keefe was put under probation for entering a Federal building under "false pretenses" and found guilty of a misdemeanor. For that he was restricted to travel, and was stuck in the state of New Jersey. He was forced to orchestrate his stings remotely. O'Keefe exposed voter fraud in various states, public teacher's union corruption, Medicare abuses, and corrupt NPR execs cozying up to Middle East political groups offering money while trashing the Tea Party. All of this while finding time to post satirical musical videos on YouTube poking fun of the ruling class in Washington.
In a heartbeat this story would be made into a screenplay and a fabulous movie, except for the small fact that O'Keefe is a conservative, and we know how that would fly in Hollywood.
I'm just happy that this decent young man is now free to travel and is spinning up an army of O'Keefes to harvest more low hanging fruit of political corruption, but probably not quite as happy as his former parole officer.
Project Veritas pits itself against the reigning intelligentsia replete with corrupt politicians, smug academics, media clowns, anti-journalists, and flak catchers. For an excellent sociological analysis of this intelligentsia I refer you to Thomas Sowell's "Intellectuals and Society." (See my review on Amazon.) It's not as funny but makes an excellent companion to Breakthrough.
James has his downs as well as his ups as for example when he was outed while attempting to sting Senator Mary Landrieu's Corruption Inc. in New Orleans. He and his colleagues languished in prison while Federal jackboots destroyed exculpatory evidence. So what else is new? Louisiana has nurtured a culture of corruption since being instructed in same by occupying Federal forces one hundred and fifty years ago.
When Project Veritas makes a successful sting the intelligentsia screams like a coven of witches on fire. They cover up, lie, destroy evidence, "edit" film, change the subject, and slander the messenger. By the end of the book it's all sooo predictable.
These folks have created an alternate reality for themselves, because they find the reality they were dealt not to their liking. As they live in that contrived reality, any attack on it is a threat to their lives. Hence the screams.
But life depends on a correct identification of reality. Any distortion of that identification is inimical to life and therefore evil. In order to preserve a semblance of rationality the intelligentsia covers their distortions with a crust that pays lip service to reason. Over time, as they and their power brokers gain strength their pretentions will no longer be needed. The crust will crack and the slime inside will ooze out over what remains of decency.
It's happened before, and it can happen here. If it happens later rather than sooner we have Project Veritas and James O'Keefe III to thank for it.