Glenn Beck Backpedals Away From ACORN Pimp

Onetime buddy Glenn Beck yesterday joined the ranks of conservatives distancing themselves from James O'Keefe, young right-wing hero turned suspected Watergate-style spy. O'Keefe, 25, and 3 cohorts were hit with felony telephone tampering charges when they were busted dressed as repairmen in Sen. Mary Landrieu's New Orleans offices earlier this week. "If they were doing that, it's Watergate," Beck said yesterday.

"That's insanely stupid, and illegal—if it's true. I don't think you even go dressed up," added the outraged Beck. "It's a senator, for the love of Pete." Beck heavily promoted O'Keefe films in which he posed as a pimp to discredit the activist organization ACORN. A Fox editor this week referred glowingly to O'Keefe as the ACORN "gotcha" guy, and cautioned that the arrest should be examined "in context." Pat Buchanan and blogger Michelle Malkin also joined Beck yesterday in lambasting O'Keefe, notes the Los Angeles Times.
(More Glenn Beck stories.)