O’Keefe and Young Conservative Troublemakers Hit CPAC

On the way from the press room to a Thursday night reception I snapped the quick photo below of James O’Keefe (left), who made it to CPAC after all, and who has been tight-lipped to reporters but hardly shy about making the rounds with conservative admirers. O’Keefe’s partner in the mysterious office sting of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Joseph Basel (center) is also pictured, and as Ken Vogel reports, Stan Dai also made the rounds at CPAC-related parties. And O’Keefe’s partner in the ACORN sting, Hannah Giles — the young activist who posed as a prostitute — has also been meeting here with conservatives, spending some time on Thursday at Blogger’s Row.

But another young conservative, whose video exposes have made him a star on the right, has taken a lot more flak at CPAC than O’Keefe. Jason Mattera, the media spokesman for Young Americans for Freedom, gave a speech promoting his book “Obama Zombies” that the New York Times’s Kate Zernike pilloried for its “racial tones” and “racial stereotypes,” comparing his tone of voice to Chris Rock. Mattera, who has a thick Brooklyn accent, couldn’t believe it.

“She couldn’t take a minute to find out that I’m from Brooklyn?” Mattera told TWI. “Guess what? Chris Rock is from Brooklyn, too. It’s unbelievable. Calling somebody a ‘racist’ is the most damaging accusation you can make.” He encouraged TWI to investigate how the story was written. “If you see her, you could ask her, reporter to reporter, why didn’t she find that out?”

Here’s the video of Mattera’s speech — in which he even says he’s from Brooklyn. Judge for yourself.