The irony is thick here:

How corrupt is the media machine? AP writes this story of national significance. Taken off wire for political reasons http://t.co/EzpGHncGz7

— James O’Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) February 26, 2014

What would O’Keefe know about corruption and media practices? Oh wait, lying, creepy behavior, engaging in a range of criminal activities including illegally entering a US Senator’s office under false pretenses, voter fraud, and misleading videos resulting in 6-figure settlements over his smears.

So, what’s the setup here? Well, he claims to have caught Democratic group Battleground Texas in violation of state election law. He purports to have video showing the violations. And that the AP ran a story, but hasn’t run it nationally.

His argument is that since Democrats have decided to make Wendy Davis the focus that the media should be reporting on the investigation, and O’Keefe’s video is proof of election law violations that should be run nationally. Instead, he claims the AP is covering for Democrats.

It was video by his group that led to complaints being filed with state officials, who’ve thus far passed the buck by recusing themselves because they’re also on the ballot:

Pierce said the initial complaints were filed after a conservative activist group produced a video that purports to show a Battleground organizer talking about transcribing phone numbers off of voter registration cards. James O’Keefe, whose group Project Veritas made the video, alleges that transcribing the phone numbers off the registration cards is illegal.

Project Veritas uses hidden cameras to film Democratic Party and liberal politicians and activists. The videos are heavily edited and some in the past have misrepresented the actions of the people in them.

Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said he believed there was enough evidence for a criminal prosecution.

“It appears that representatives of Battleground Texas were either official registrars who misused personal voter information, or they unlawfully posed as official voter registrars to trick people into handing over personal information,” Dewhurst said in a statement. “The seriousness of this issue merits immediate referral to the Attorney General’s office.”

Gee, why would AP be reluctant to move on this? Probably because there’s a nothingburger there — because O’Keefe’s been proven to produce fraudulent videos that are heavily edited to create a predetermined outcome for his purposes.

Given his history, it’s quite possible that the unedited video would show the exact opposite of what he’s claiming. It’d therefore be interesting to see the unedited video to know whether there’s anything there.

Now, if the unedited video does show the violations of Texas election law, then the Battleground Texas group should be investigated and held accountable.

So far, no one has released copies of the complaint filed against the group, so we don’t know exactly what’s going on here. Moreover, Battleground Texas says that the central assertion against them doesn’t violate state law.

On its face, it appears to be another smear job courtesy of O’Keefe.

@HGTomato provided me with links to some further insight/video. This video deconstructs the 3 hours of raw footage.

The video shows just how O’Keefe’s group has been stretching credulity with clever video editing.