The genius behind the ACORN pimp-and-ho tapes just got busted by the FBI in New Orleans:
Alleging a plot to tamper with phones in Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office in the Hale Boggs Federal Building in downtown New Orleans, the FBI arrested four people Monday, including James O’Keefe, 25, a conservative filmmaker whose undercover videos at ACORN field offices severely damaged the advocacy group’s credibility.
Also arrested were Joseph Basel, Stan Dai and Robert Flanagan, all 24. Flanagan is the son of William Flanagan, who is the acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, the office confirmed. All four were charged with entering federal property under false pretenses with the intent of committing a felony.
According to the FBI affidavit, Flanagan and Basel entered the federal building at 500 Poydras Street about 11 a.m. Monday, dressed as telephone company employees, wearing jeans, fluorescent green vests, tool belts, and hard hats. When they arrived at Landrieu’s 10th floor office, O’Keefe was already in the office and had told a staffer he was waiting for someone to arrive.
I wonder if the ombudsmen of the Times and Post will reconsider their theory that the papers should have special reporters to write about all of O’Keefe’s stories.
(via Atrios)
Update. Presumably, there will be some kind of “Free the Flanagan Four” movement at some point, but for now, this is all we’re getting from Big Hollywood:
“We have no knowledge about or connection to any alleged acts and events involving James O’Keefe at Senator Mary Landrieu’s office. We only just learned about the alleged incident this afternoon. We have no information other than what has been reported publicly by the press. Accordingly, we simply are not in a position to make any further comment.”
Update. At least the Freepers are keeping it real:
I agree frame up.
FREE THE NEW ORLEANS 4
mcc
Didn’t they learn anything from Watergate?
Linus
That is a fucking tasty schadenfreude shake.
Scott
OMG ACORN COMSPIRACY
Sue
This should be fun to watch. How soon before it gets blamed on Obama?
GregB
Shouldn’t we apply the ACORN rule now?
This means that the entire tea-party movement has been discredited.
-G
Rick Taylor
Will he become a hero and a martyr to the right?
Redshirt
Clearly, Obama’s Justice Department trumped up these felonious charges! Surely! Also.
beltane
Yeah, there is an element of schadenfreude, but that doesn’t detract from the fact that our useless Congress sprung into action to defund ACORN on account of this crook’s activities. Any random scumbag with a right wing agenda can pretty much call the shots in our country.
Colette
You make me so very happy.
Aimai
Truly a great moment in karma.
Aiamai
Sock Puppet of the Great Satan
This is just too precious.
cleek
it gets better!
Nellcote
Oh goody, we have to watch the ACORN tapes as b-roll everytime they report this story.
So what does Brietbart have to say about his protege?
mcd410x
You can’t bet we won’t hear as much about this part of his career …
JenJen
Don’t ever forget: The main complaint of the anti-ACORN crowd is “They might have been breaking the law!!”
The schaden, it freuds itself.
@Nellcote: Paging Mr. Breitbart to the red courtesy phone! FOLLOW THE MONEY.
Mnemosyne
@Rick Taylor:
Is the Pope Catholic?
Violet
Now if the rest of them had only been dressed as a cowboy, an Indian, a military guy…
Martin
@GregB:
That’s the wrong ACORN rule. The proper ACORN rule would be that O’Keefe was entrapped in an elaborate scheme to protect their vote stealing, home loan defaulting plans. They lured O’Keefe into believing he’d taken a good, salt-of-the-earth telecom job and then, in an illustration of how deep ACORNs ties run, got Landrieu to conspire to lure O’Keefe into her office where the one-world Obama FBI jackbooted thugs could arrest him.
Even money says O’Keefe’s sentence is 4,000 hours community service in Haiti, once Obama annexes it and renames it Acorngaea.
canuckistani
I wonder if he’ll dress like a pimp for prison?
Chad N Freude
I can’t wait to see how Fox News covers this.
John Arbuthnot Fisher
I believe that Flanagan is actually the son of the acting U.S. Attorney for western Louisiana. Undoubtedly these Liddy wannabes will find a way to skate on these charges entirely and continue to produce groundbreaking exposes on how Muslim socialists are truly responsible for the deficit and underwear explosives. Also, too.
beltane
@cleek: This is why I will continue to vote for the Democrats no matter how pitiful they may be. The alternative is a party that solely consists of thugs, perverts and religious fanatics, none of whom have any respect whatsoever for the law. I am old-fashioned in that way.
Martin
@Chad N Freude:
I think I just described how.
JK
Is this good news for Michael Steele?
JenJen
@Chad N Freude: Ask, and ye shall receive.
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201001260039
Is it me, or does that Fox News staffer come off a little twitchy?
slag
@canuckistani: Based on the judgment he’s displayed thus far, he’ll probably end up going as the ho.
tootiredoftheright
@canuckistani:
Depends if he can visit the dollar store to pick up the costume.
peopleofwalmart.com has the real pimps on display.
bob h
Other than Fox, any ties to Republican Party?
Chad S
Apparently O’Keefe was filming the fake phone company workers…what were they trying to smear Landrieu with by doing that?
Joel
Waterboarding?
PeterJ
I guess they were hoping for some ‘Dirty Landrieu’.
MP
So he’s leavin’ the life he’s come to know.
Group song at my wedding, and it was an ugly, ugly scene. Gladys was drunk off her ass, and the Pips didn’t know half the lyrics.
Good times.
dr. bloor
@Violet:
Not that there would have been anything wrong with that.
dmsilev
It was obviously an ACORN setup. Duh.
-dms
chopper
this is great news…FOR PIMPS.
Zach
Definitions.
A conspiracy that the liberal media is afraid to air: ACORN stealing elections (as evidenced by two people getting high and being too stoned to actually register voters) and facilitating child trafficking (as evidenced by videos of incredibly confused people confronted with the silliest looking pimp and ho ever). Alternative definition: Refusing to prosecute voter intimidation and/or clownish men in berets disowned by the Black Panthers and/or actually obtaining an injunction against the one wielding a nightstick.
Legitimate investigative journalism: Stealing documents from CAIR (who recently played an invaluable role in preventing possible terrorism) and falsifying your identity to infiltrate the offices of arab and muslim Congressmen; secretly videotaping a practical joke and posting it on the Internet that was illegally recorded in a two-party consent state; violating federal wiretapping statutes while falsifying your identity to a Congressional office.
Al Swearengen
I knew the little scumbag (no offense to used condoms) motherfucker would eventually step over the line.
He should be waterboarded to see what he knows of any terrorist plots. It is The American Way.
Tara the antisocial social worker
As I just said over at Sadly, No…
It would be really nice if just once the reports got it right about his crusade against ACORN.
Funny how that part didn’t get the same media play.
dr. bloor
@Chad S:
If they were genuinely trying to tap her phone system, one would assume they thought Landrieu gets “interesting” calls from the rest of the caucus and WH trying to get her on board with legislation.
dr. bloor
@Chad S:
If they were genuinely trying to tap her phone system, one would assume they thought Landrieu gets “interesting” calls from the rest of the caucus and WH trying to get her on board with legislation.
Violet
@Tara the antisocial social worker:
Yep. I don’t think even Jon Stewart gave it any airtime. And he had a long episode on how stupid the ACORN people were.
grandpajohn
he also has civil lawsuits filed against him for breaking state privacy laws and illegally releasing videos made with out the consent of the person being taped.
JenJen
@Violet:
I hereby nominate this comment for “Best Balloon-Juicer Reader Comments, 2010.”
Mike S
Via Media Matters:
Xenos
Whatever happened to the lawsuit the local ACORN chapter filed against Breitbart? Could be some interesting discovery, especially if Fox News knew that the videos where dishonestly edited.
The chances for some useful harassment of Breitbart and Fox have gone up a lot today.
Mike E
Is our children learning? Don’t they know the first rule in Rat Fucking is to
notget caught?Busta
Free The Landrieu Four!
Coming soon to Drudge.
Shell
Amen. The ‘S’ word is entirely appropriate.
Man, talk about idiots rising to their personal-best level of jerkitude.
You just know that dipshit, O’Keefe, had fantasies of being some rw hero/super secret spy/chronicler of his age.
BDeevDad
Waiting for the wingnut brigade to justify bugging a Senator’s office phones because she should have nothing to hide
BDeevDad
Waiting for the wingnut brigade to justify bugging a Senator’s office phones because she should have nothing to hide
DougJ
I really should have titled this “It’s hard out there for a pimp” and saved the Gladys Knight reference for later.
Oh, well.
Gus
@Violet: FTW.
Zach
@Tara the antisocial social worker:
There’s no need to overstate it; it was a retired MA AG. Not that it’s any more ridiculous that the only person breaking any laws on any of those tapes is the person holding the video camera.
Xenos
@Busta: Funny. I just checked Drudge, and there is no mention of it at all. How could that be?
Xenos
@Zach: Hey – Harshbarger was a harsh burger to some
allegedconvictedmaybe railroadedwho the fuck knows child molesters, so that did not count.McGeorge Bundy
OK, I’m watching Glenn Beck for the first time. Yes, right now. Why? I don’t know. But is this guy always this crazy? He’s talking about how progressives hate “the people,” while Reagan was the people’s champion.
Chad N Freude
@JenJen: Can’t watch from my office.
@dr. bloor: Or O’Keefe and company could make interesting calls themselves.
slippy
@GregB:
Again? I thought having Orly Taint get fined by a judge for her naked whoremastering of the fake Birth Certificate issue was the final straw that broke the Credibility Camel’s back on this one.
Oh wait! Conservatism/Teabagging: a movement that can never fail, never be discredited. It can be failed, and individuals can destroy their own personal credibility but in no way shape or form is Mr. O’Fuckoff Keefe a representative of the depraved, moronic ideology of the Teabaggers. He’s just a bad apple.
Mike S
@Xenos:
Actually Drudge linked to the FOX News article.
Where the comments are priceless:
Paul L.
Conservatives blogs are condemning O’Keefe’s illegal behavior.
I remember when a new ACORN video was released,the nutroots/progressive blogs/Media Matters would go silent on the story until someone came up withnew talking points/narrative .
BTW, the same progressives/NY Times who are condemning O’Keefe’s illegal behavior defended Acorn defended James McDermott and the Martins when they leaked a illegally recorded telephone conversation between Newt Gingrich and top Republicans.
Zam
@Xenos: Yea, I wouldn’t expect to see one for some time, in my experience these assholes just deny anything is happening after something like this. It isn’t even just the right wing, after the Jim Cramer appearance on the Daily Show MSNBC didn’t say a word despite promoting the event for a week. They don’t like to look stupid.
Shell
This will be a nice little tid-bit to cheer up John, when he resurfaces.
Morbo
@Nellcote: Sez TPM: “I need to find information on this. I’m out of the loop on this. I will make my determination then on when to comment.”
@JenJen: BEAR ALERT!
Joshua
We really need to cut O’Keefe some slack. Fake pimpin’ ain’t easy.
Jon H
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Republican administration Pentagon Senior Staff of the 2030s.
joeyess
If no one has said this already, I will: Follow the money.
Follow this little fucker’s money trail to where ever it leads.
We may get to relive Watergate.
And seeing how this is a son of a USA, I think this is a perfect time to fire every fucking GOoPer that holds that position. You know, the ones that Obama, in the interests of holding Republican hands and opening doors, kept in place after The Village lost it’s idiot?
Clean. House.
Dino
I thought context was for effete liberals??
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/01/26/fox-okeefe/:
Fox News aired a report about the arrests shortly after the news broke. However, reporter Tim Vaughn tried to downplay the news:
VAUGHN: [It’s a] very weird story that probably needs a lot of context and a lot of looking into, which is what we’re going to do here. I just wanted to get it on the record with it right now.
SHEP SMITH: So, they’re saying basically, they’re in there — It sounds as if what they’re saying is, they’re looking for some ACORN hanky panky and they try to tap into Mary Landrieu’s telephone to get it.
VAUGHN: That could be one way of looking at it, yes.
TooManyJens
From the FOX News comments:
Oh, STFU already. I bet all these people whinging about Obama being a “Chicago style” politician have never been within 500 miles of the place.
South of I-10
I figured the BJers would be all over this already. They are looking at some serious penalties if convicted.
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
I have a feeling this will turn out to be just a boneheaded stunt by a few twenty-somethings who aren’t nearly as smart as they think they are. But we can still dream of another Watergate. HaleBoggsgate? Needs work.
dr. bloor
Shorter: “You’re goddamn right we lawyered up.”
Chyron HR
@Paul L.:
They nourish us.
Xenos
@Paul L.:
Links or it did not happen.
Midnight Marauder
@Paul L.:
Are you sure they are blogs, Paul L.? Are you sure they aren’t…nothing at all?
GregB
Redstate should settle on:
We’re All Pimps and Hos Now?
-G
Chad N Freude
@Paul L.:
Thank you for the links. Oh, wait . . .
Paul L.
@Xenos:
You mean convicted felon, level 3 sex offender and Scott Brown supporter Gerald Amirault and the Fells Acre Day Care case.
Now that Scott Brown got elected you don’t have to hold back on smearing Gerald Amirault.
Sad_Dem
Please tell me he was wearing a fake moustache. And that this will be as all over the news as the ACORN video, and that Karl Rove will lose his full-time job as a TV pundit, and that my ex will be calling me back any day now, and that the plutocracy be right back with the money, and that drawstring pants will never, ever come back in style. And that all the liberal media will say, gee, I guess we were wrong about this guy.
Loneoak
@mcc:
Yeah, there are two possible lessons from Watergate:
1) go to prison and come out with a wingnut prison ministry that makes you filthy fucking rich and opens bottomless wingnut welfare coffers
2) go to prison and get a wingnut radio show that makes you filthy fucking rich and opens bottomless wingnut welfare coffers
DougJ
Now that Scott Brown got elected you don’t have to hold back on smearing Gerald Amirault.
The case against the Amitraults was bullshit. You’re right on that count.
Zam
@Chad N Freude: Actuallyt Malkin seems reasonable about this
Sure as hell surprised me, I mean she was the one with the scarf jihad right?
Xenos
@Paul L.:
Oh, Paul, you rise to the bait so well.
Check out the appeal that Amirault filed, and lost, and let me know about how much the crazy testimony that was in the news affected the verdict.
Jon H
This is a slap in the face to Cokie Roberts.
Svensker
@Paul L.:
Oh, go fellate yourself. You’ll have fun and you’ll leave us alone for a little while. (I was going to say, you won’t be able to talk with your mouth full, but that doesn’t necessarily apply.)
Paul L.
@Chad N Freude:
Links
Ugh: ACORN-buster busted at Sen. Landrieu’s office in alleged bugging plot; affidavit link added
Life During Wartime
JGabriel
It was!
I have it on good authority that O’Keefe got an e-mail from Dick Cheney in Nigeria, promising him 35% of 80 Million Dollars and a Republican majority in 2012 if only O’Keefe would send his name and account information and show up in Landrieu’s office pretending to be a telecomm worker for verification purposes!
.
BDeevDad
Sorry about the repeats, tremor got the best of me.
lizzy
My bet is on Glenn Beck spinning this into an ACORN/Obama/FBI conspiracy against HIM. He’s so good at conspiracy theories afterall. Bill O’Reilly better watch his back!!
Midnight Marauder
@Paul L.:
You know, if it didn’t amuse me so, it would be rather sad to contemplate your otherwise pitiful existence of partisan tit-for-tat link posting without any greater appreciation of the conversations you keep stumbling into.
But it does amuse me, and for that, me and my whirlybird rotorcraft friends thank you.
Zach
@South of I-10:
They would’ve been facing 5 years (times several counts) already for illegally recording & transmitting their interactions with ACORN, and it violated statutes in several states they targeted.
This is what happens when we’re soft on crime and let criminals roam free!
PeterJ
I’m waiting to see if right wing bloggers actually can connect this dot with the ‘doctored ACORN tapes’ dot and the ‘still no undoctorted ACORN tapes released’ dot and become enlightened.
I seriously doubt it though.
bemused
The four were reported to have met the judge in red jumpsuits. Not the costume O’Keefe had in mind for his latest idiotic stunt. Does LA allow reporters & photographers in court. I sure hope so.
JenJen
The Twitterati have a great new tag: #teabugging
fourlegsgood
awesomeness!!!
The morons on the right are already claiming “SET UP!!”
right. BWAHHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAAAAA
MikeJ
@PeterJ: Doctored or not, I never understood what the tapes were supposed to show. Sex workers aren’t allowed tax advice?
Keith G
When will the mugs show up on The Smoking Gun?
kommrade reproductive vigor
Translation: Can’t talk now, we have to clumsily attempt to remove all traces of our association with these people.
Seriously, I bet some ISP customer service rep. is trying to figure out why some guy is screaming BURN THE TAPES down the phone right now.
@lizzy: Well obviously. This is step one in the Obamacorn’s plan to lock up every Caucasian male in the U.S.!
Something Fabulous
I am wondering if the target is Landrieu for local pol reasons or if it’s only Landrieu so far because this was the point at which they got caught. If I were a staffer in any other D senator’s office, I’d be checking all our phones as well. IIRC the ACORN thing required multiple visits to multiple offices to get enough footage to mess around with, right?
Fitzwili
Re:The following 31 House Republicans cosponsored Olson’s measure, which declared that O’Keefe was “owed a debt of gratitude by the people of the United States”:
Todd Akin [R-MO2]
Roscoe Bartlett [R-MD6]
Joe Barton [R-TX6]
Rob Bishop [R-UT1]
Jo Bonner [R-AL1]
John Boozman [R-AR3]
Paul Broun [R-GA10]
Henry Brown [R-SC1]
John Campbell [R-CA48]
John Carter [R-TX31]
Howard Coble [R-NC6]
Tom Cole [R-OK4]
Michael Conaway [R-TX11]
John Culberson [R-TX7]
Mary Fallin [R-OK5]
Trent Franks [R-AZ2]
Louis Gohmert [R-TX1]
Kay Granger [R-TX12]
Ralph Hall [R-TX4]
Jim Jordan [R-OH4]
Steve King [R-IA5]
John Kline [R-MN2]
Doug Lamborn [R-CO5]
Blaine Luetkemeyer [R-MO9]
Daniel Lungren [R-CA3]
Kenny Marchant [R-TX24]
Joseph Pitts [R-PA16]
Bill Posey [R-FL15]
Phil Roe [R-TN1]
Jean Schmidt [R-OH2]
John Shadegg [R-AZ3]
After people make their HCR phone calls tomorrow they should call these jokers and let them have it- it has been frustating to have to persuade and cajole Dems who should know better- it will be cathartic to let loose on these ridiculous people!
JenJen
Breitbart: ““We have no knowledge about or connection to any alleged acts and events involving James O’Keefe at Senator Mary Landrieu’s office. We only just learned about the alleged incident this afternoon. We have no information other than what has been reported publicly by the press. Accordingly, we simply are not in a position to make any further comment.”
Again, the schaden, it freuds itself.
Nellcote
Where’s the mug shot?
Tara the antisocial social worker
Zach, thanks for the correction.
I tracked down the link to the TPM story about the altered tapes, if anyone’s interested.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/12/acorn_report_finds_no_illegal_conduct.php
Zam
@Something Fabulous: That actually might be a good point, I suppose I might just be paranoid, but these guys have demonstrated they don’t just do this once.
Fitzwili
Re: above
Not only will it be cathartic- it is about time that the Republicans got knocked back on their heels, called out for their disgraceful behaivior, and put on the defensive. I implore anyone out there to call AFTER you have made your HCR calls- view it as a special treat!
kommrade reproductive vigor
Bets: Which fReichtard windbag will be the first to work himself into a lather bewailing the poor boys’ fate at the hands of horny cons?
I’m putting $50 on Dild O’Reilly.
Chad N Freude
@Paul L.: Thanks. I never thought I would read anything reasonable from Malkin. I’m keeping a careful watch out for winged pigs.
Loneoak
Any perspectives on whether this will get the attention of DA’s that may have otherwise overlooked their previous law-breaking? Seems like a federal offense would trigger an awful lot of new investigations and indictments.
demkat620
See Mary Landrieu is a democrat and everyone knows ACORN steals for Democrats so ACORN was obviously stealing for Mary Landrieu so they totally had to wiretap her and its all Mary Landrieu’s fault for being a Democrat in the first place.
I can be their lawyer.
joeyess
FLASHBACK: 31 House Republicans Supported Resolution Honoring Alleged Felon James O’Keefe
This gets even better and better.
Those Wacky Wepublicans Wiw Never Wearn!
Pasquinade
Stan Dai: he is an assistant director at Trinity University’s Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence, which trains people how to be spies.
http://majikthise.typepad.com/majikthise_/2010/01/is-this-the-same-stan-dai-.html?cid=6a00d8341c61e653ef0120a813e410970b
dmsilev
@TooManyJens:
Round here, we prefer our politicians deep-dish rather than thin-crust.
That *is* what they mean, right?
-dms
Wile E. Quixote
@Paul L.
You mean the recording they made using nothing more than a common scanner that was legal before the cellular phone companies, who were selling a service that had no security whatsoever, got the government to force all scanner manufacturers to block out the cell phone frequencies rather than improve the security on their system, a system which they fraudulently implied was as secure as a landline?
I know that you’re a stupid, ignorant fucking c#nt Paul, but there’s a huge difference between leaking a recording of a conversation made in the clear over the airwaves on a system that was as fundamentally secure as an Mr. Microphone and fraudulently presenting yourself as phone company employees so you can tap a Senator’s phone. Besides, if Newt Gingrich had nothing to hide than he had nothing to fear about having his phone conversations made over a medium which had as much security as a CB radio.
Violet
@JenJen:
Really? I’m flattered!
joeyess
From the Freeper comments:
Now that’s a bedwetter!!
Sad_Dem
Gotta hand it to the freepers. They can’t be parodied.
Chad S
@dr. bloor: Those calls wouldn’t be going through the main lines at the front desk.
I have a feeling that we’ll find out that they just wanted tape of the exchange, then splice in audio of something incriminating later.
DBrown
@Wile E. Quixote: Nailed.
kommrade reproductive vigor
My God. It’s full of stupid.
Chad N Freude
@joeyess: Where’s John LeCarre when you need him?
OC
What a bunch of dipshits. At least they didn’t dress up as plumbers.
Allan
@Paul L.: You lost me at Hillbuzz.
WereBear
Watergate Redux.
Can it be true, or am I hallucinating?
Comrade Kevin
@Allan: He always loses me at “Paul L.”
Svensker
@Paul L.:
Shorter Paul: He hit me first, teacher!
It’s all tribes and moral relativity with you guys, innit?
joeyess
@Chad N Freude: Ha ha ha ha…… no shit.
Libertini
@Mike S: Sadly, my rep is on this list. Sucks living in red counties in Texas.
fraught
Landrieu is dropping the charges after receiving a large contribution from RNC chairman Steele.
joeyess
@Paul L.:
Got syntax?
ChrisB
@Violet: I’m a little late to the thread but JenJen’s right: awesome comment!
GregB
Andrew Brietbart should immediately release all of his e-mail and phone contacts with the suspects.
I mean, unless he has something to hide.
-G
kay
Good.
Maybe now media will revisit the edited ACORN tapes and clear those low-level ACORN employees these loathsome creeps unfairly smeared.
They were whining they weren’t given enough serious media coverage, were they not? I agree. Let’s look at the whole issue over again, in the context of this new information.
Eric S
@JenJen: Seconded
Veritas78
Prediction: the FBI will hit this extremely hard. First, it’s a slam-dunk to up their conviction rate. Second, they have no sense of humor when it comes to felonies. Third, they really don’t like anyone encroaching on their exclusive wiretapping franchise.
I’m going to enjoy watching these fools bankrupt their families and THEN go to jail.
Liberty60
I just skimmed the comments in Wingnuttia. They are all filled with “Lets not jump to conclusions” and “frame up”, and my personal favorite, “presumption of innocence.”
For my part, I am keeping an open mind; we won’t really know the truth until these men have been waterboarded, slammed against a wall, forced into stress positions, and held sleepless for a month.
Or as Rush would call it, a frat hazing.
Warren Terra
And nothing else other than their blinding smiles, except their wetsuits, of course.
r€nato
I see a lot of teabagging parties in these young mens’ futures… and I’m not talking about political protests.
Mike in NC
But… Michael Moore is FAT!
“Chicago style politician” is merely another racial dog whistle that’s been around for years. But Flugelshlong will show up shortly to deny it.
kay
@Liberty60:
They have the presumption of innocence, and they’ll get ordinary process.
Unlike the low-level employees they and FOX News, acting as judge and jury, smeared and discredited in those doctored tapes.
But I’m glad they’ll be treated properly. Just remember they would never, ever afford you the same presumption.
Chad N Freude
After their convictions, when their appeals finally reach the Supreme Court, we will have Strict Constructionists Scalia, Roberts, and Alioto find the Original Intent of the Constitution to be that boyish pranks can’t be felonies.
JenJen
@Violet: Yes, really!! Gawd, honey, that was hilarious!!
And Another Thing...
@Pasquinade: That’s a great link. Thanks… So one of the alleged perps is the “undercover pimp” of Acorn tape fame, one is a son of an acting US Attorney, and one is an activist Young Republican with a plugged in resume. This story has legs. Popcorn !! The Daily Show script just writes itself. In a federal building, no less. And O’Keefe was video taping the incident…cause it worked out so well last time. Heh !!
Violet
@JenJen:
Y’all are making me blush.
Bubblegum Tate
Not to get too far off topic here, but it is really amazing just how widespread this paranoia is among greater wingnuttia:
They’re absolutely convinced that anybody who comes to a wingnut blog and disagrees with wingnut talking points is a plant, most likely paid by George Soros and sent to disrupt wingnut blogs. I can understand where the paranoia comes from–these are already very paranoid people, and they prefer to live in their own reality instead of actual reality, so the whole “Soros plants!” thing is an easy way to deal with cognitive dissonance–but it’s just so fucking kooky.
Tsulagi
@Sad_Dem:
They’re bulletproof on that. A few comments after the “FREE THE NEW ORLEANS 4,” one commenter provides a link to an FBI agent’s affidavit. In the affidavit the agent swears O’Keefe admitted to entering Landrieu’s office under false pretenses and recording his fellow dipshits acting as telephone repairmen. Brilliant legal positioning, BTW, of admitting involvement in federal felony to an FBI agent.
In a comment following the affidavit link, one Freeper knew the deeper ramification…
Liberty60
@And Another Thing…:
No doubt while whispering- “We have replaced the fine coffee these people normally serve, with Folger’s Crystals….”
VladCat
I can’t decide if I want to call this “PhoneGate” or “PimpGate”.
MattR
@VladCat:
PimpMyPhoneGate?
chopper
@Tsulagi:
jesus, the stupid just feeds on itself until it becomes a black hole. we may have just found evidence of the wingularity bozon.
skippy
i swear, i didn’t read your post before i did mine, doug. but yes, it is the obvious choice.
EIGRP
I’m surprised the freepers et al haven’t made some weird, incomprehensible connection to the White House Party Crashers. These guys were really just party crashers.
I also noticed on FR that you could make a donation… what happens if you put in a negative dollar amount? Will I get money in my paypal account so they are paying me to view their website?
-Eric
VladCat
@MattR:
I am humbled!
And now I get “Hard out here for a pimp”. Hope the video with Little Jimmy shows up faster than I am!
fraught
@Violet: Go ahead, blush away. You deserve it!
theylivebynight
If O’Keefe is the E. Howard Hunt of this fiasco who is the Chuck Colson? Also, thank God for the timing of this. News has been mostly dire and I really needed something to lighten my spirits.
Incertus
It’s probably because I grew up in Louisiana and saw the old boy network in action more than once (and once on my behalf), but the fact that one of these idiots is the son of an Assistant US Attorney scares me. I wouldn’t be surprised if they walk.
theylivebynight
@Incertus:
I also assumed as much.
Colette
@theylivebynight:
Andrew Breitbart would be in the running to play that role in the made-for-TV movie.
In other news, I’m happy to see that Paul L. still likes pie. I like pie, too.
Thoughtcrime
@Mike E:
Or in this case, “Tea Buggering”.
kay
@Incertus:
“A federal law enforcement official said one of the suspects was picked up in a car a couple of blocks away with a listening device that could pick up transmissions. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was not part of an FBI affidavit that described the circumstances of the case.”
Hmm..
Brian J
No matter what is wrong with our side, at least we are not as insane and deranged as the creeps at Free Republic.
Redshirt
Silly rabbits! It’s not a felony if it’s against a Liberal. It’s patriotism and protecting our Freedom.
Bob L
Were is the story? Who doesn’t sneak into senator office to tap their phone while pretending to be a phone company worker? That is like placing hidden microphones in your neighbors bed room. Part of the American Way of Life(r).
Incertus
@kay: I saw that. But I also saw Edwin Edwards beat the US Attorney’s office three times straight while he was Governor. I hope they all do major time, but I’ll believe it when I see the video of them being led away from the courtroom in shackles.
The Sheriff's A Ni-
@Incertus: Eric Holder is channeling his inner Lee Corso. Bugging a Federal office? You ain’t skating from that one.
kay
@Incertus:
Oh, I believe you. By next week, there will be a legal defense fund set up and the Wall Street Journal will have an editorial decrying the rogue prosecutor. It doesn’t matter if they know who the prosecutor is, he or she is by definition “rogue” because a conservative may be charged with something.
I remember the response to Scooter Libby.
I just don’t think his prosecutor-dad can help him, personally, with this one.
South of I-10
@Incertus: The updated Times Picayune story says they bonded out from St. Bernard Parish Prison. Why were they in St. Bernard? Why not central lockup downtown?
me
He fixes the
cabletelephone?Peter J
O’Keefe has admitted intent to an FBI agent and there’s talk that he might get ten years for this. I’m guessing there’s a big chance for a plea bargain as long as he got someone else to finger.
Maybe Breitbart and the rest over at BigGovernment are all innocent, if they aren’t O’Keefe will probably start squealing soon.
Incertus
@South of I-10: Video from WWL said that St. Bernard is where federal prisoners are booked, and this is a federal case.
South of I-10
@Incertus: Interesting. I did not know that. I wonder why?
Deschanel
Haha- all comments are locked down over at Big Hollywood, after only 23 of them, and evidence of many deleted comments even then.
Yes, it is a rich thing to behold, immensely gratifying. Federal charges just sweetens the whole thing. Because they are x3 ordinary charges of things like trespass and subterfuge and oh yeah, wiretapping. Jail these bitches, make it a show trial. I don’t care, that’s US property these jerks tried to fuck with. Richly deserved, fuck them.
Chad N Freude
@Peter J: Unless he has signed instructions from Mitch McConnell, I doubt that he can give up anyone worth bargaining for.
Liberty60
@kay:
See that is what makes my head explode in rage.
These are the very same characters who cheer on the waterboarding, cheer on Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who sneer at the ACLU.
Until of course, it is their turn to do the perp walk, and suddenly they are whining and blubbering and clinging to every damn one of the Bill of Rights.
Greenwald had it right when he said that when they hold the whip handle, none are more sadistic; when the whip is taken away, none are more pathetic.
Mnemosyne
@Liberty60:
I’ve also noticed that these are the exact same people who are more than happy to lock a 16-year-old up for life because he was old enough to understand what he was doing, but are now claiming that a 24-year-old is too young and naive to understand that wiretapping a federal building is wrong.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
@Peter J:
Fix’t. ;)
Fester Addams
Gee, the work clothes and clip-board thing always works on Burn Notice.
Who would have thought the guy with the keys to the phone closet who works for the General Services Administration would have, um, security awareness…
2CR8LF4
These idiots had no idea what they were doing. The comment about village people is right. As I saw mentioned on C+R or FDL, these fools were dressed like they were outside plant workers, not inside plant. What fool wears a hard hat in a cable closet/room? Safety vest? Had they just faked a service call to the telephone company from the building and watched the real guys show up, followed them and found out how they dressed and where they worked/ hung out. They could probably have faked proper clothes, company credentials and paperwork to never be suspected in the first place and gotten away with it. These guys aren’t amateurs, they’re clowns.
Little Dreamer
@South of I-10:
Don’t forget, they’ll lose their right to vote for at last a few years (while in jail), I think that is going to hurt these guys the most.
Cain
@Little Dreamer:
Not their behinds? Life is going to be unkind in prison. Poor fools. I feel bad for them. FBI smells blood in the water.. that one guy’s dad who is a temp USA is going to have to do a lot of explaining.
cain