CONSERVATIVE ‘HERO’ - CONSERVATIVE DOPE
James O’Keefe, the film maker who almost singlehandedly laid ACORN low, was lionized on the right for his efforts in revealing the nature of the far left advocacy group and their horrific ethics and standards.
O’Keefe has obviously allowed the fame to go to his head. He was arrested today for helping 3 others to bug Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu’s office:
The FBI, alleging a plot to wiretap Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office in downtown New Orleans, arrested four people Monday, including James O’Keefe, a conservative filmmaker whose undercover videos at ACORN field offices severely damaged the advocacy group’s credibility.
FBI Special Agent Steven Rayes alleges that O’Keefe aided and abetted two others, Joseph Basel and Robert Flanagan, who dressed up as employees of a telephone company and attempted to interfere with the office’s telephone system.
A fourth person, Stan Dai, was accused of aiding and abetting Basel and Flanagan. All four were charged with entering fedral property under false pretenses with the intent of committing a felony.
Time for the left to brush off all those Watergate analogies they’ve got stored away in their right wing attack closet. I expect the tsunami to hit right before dinner time and continue for days.
What O’Keefe was doing there we are not 100% sure…well, more like 95% sure:
A witness from Landrieu’s staff said O’Keefe was present in the office and claimed to be “waiting for someone to arrive.”
“Because the details of yesterday’s incident are part of an ongoing investigation by federal authorities, our office cannot comment at this time,” said Landrieu spokesman Aaron Saunders.
O’Keefe on Thursday gave a speech to Libertarian Pelican Institute for Public Policy in New Orleans. O’Keefe was hailed as a conservative hero for dressing as a pimp and taping ACORN employees offering advice on how he and a partner could get away with running an international under-age prostitution scheme.
It appears to me that all of this notoriety went to the kid’s head and he began to see himself as some kind of avenging angel for the right. He certainly was cashing in on his fame:
The New Orleans event was promoted with this glowing statement about O’Keefe by the Pelican Institute: “James has been a pioneer in the use of new media to drive these kinds of important stories. He will discuss the role of new media and show examples of effective investigative reporting.
Prior to O’Keefe’s ACORN gig, the self described “progressive radical” also pulled a sting operation on Planned Parenthood, sending a young looking female into the clinics, claiming to be underage but wanting an abortion. The saleswomen at PP were only too glad to oblige.
But this guy is no journalist - conservative or otherwise. He’s a glory hound. And, if these charges pan out, prove the adage that you’re only as good as your next spectacular. The nature of modern celebrity demanded that O’Keefe try and top his ACORN show. Taping the private conversations of Landrieu and spilling them out all over YouTube would have kept him on top of the heap.
Fortunately, the FBI had other ideas and now O’Keefe faces the prospect of doing hard hitting exposes about prison food.
What a dope.
UPDATE
The FBI affidavit has the guy dead to rights. “…”O’Keefe positioned the cellular phone in his hand so as to record Flanagan and Basel…”
Not exactly an innocent bystander, eh?
[...] Rick Moran at Right Wing Nut House; helpful as always… says “What a dope.” [...]
Pingback by Updated-D’oh! – ACORN Slayer James O’Keefe busted for trying to tap Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu’s phone – Conservatives react | Political Byline — 1/26/2010 @ 4:12 pm
The fruitcake Right, the gift that keeps on giving.
Comment by Richard Bottoms — 1/26/2010 @ 4:32 pm
What an idiot. The FBI will have no choice but to throw the book at him. You just don’t tap a Senator in the Capitol. I don’t think he’ll even get any cover on the Right, although Fox will give him lots of air time to make unsubstantiated accusations against Landrieu.
Comment by michael reynolds — 1/26/2010 @ 5:01 pm
Flanagan is the son of the acting US Attorney in Western Louisiana.
Comment by misterx — 1/26/2010 @ 5:18 pm
I wonder if he’ll meet any real pimps in prison.
Comment by Aaron — 1/26/2010 @ 5:19 pm
Dr. Dave Bowman: My God. It’s full of stupid.
Comment by Richard Bottoms — 1/26/2010 @ 5:48 pm
It makes the allegations that he overdubbed the audio in his ACORN tapes, to misrepresent the conversation he had with them, seem a little more credible.
Comment by angullimala — 1/26/2010 @ 5:51 pm
Fake ACORN Pimp And Cohorts Who Exposed Group’s Controversy Arrested, Charged With Felonies For Pulling A “Richard Nixon” In Senator Mary Landrieu’s (D-LA) Office…
Conservative “New Media Hero” Makes Richard Milhouse Nixon Proud — Busted For Wiretapping In A New Orleans Federal Building… EVEN RIGHT-WING BLOGGERS ARE DISMAYED AT JAMES O’KEEFE’S DISREGARD FOR THE RULE OF LAWThis time, the …
Trackback by THE GUN TOTING LIBERAL™ — 1/26/2010 @ 6:26 pm
RE #5
“Pimps in Prison” will be the least of his worries…he’s about to meet the “other” teabaggers!
Comment by Dee — 1/26/2010 @ 6:48 pm
A personal cell phone is a bugging device?
I’ll bet he’s acquitted. This is probably a publicity stunt, and I’ll bet he called the FBI on himself.
Don’t mistake this as making an excuse for a criminal… if he’s guilty of a felony, throw the book at him. I just find it a bit far-fetched that he could be so stupid that he would actually try to bug a Senator’s office.
Comment by lionheart — 1/26/2010 @ 9:04 pm
Lionheart:
Read the updated stories. He was using the cell camera to tape his compatriots who were doing the bugging. In other words, he just supplied the evidence to convict himself.
These guys are screwed. And it’s a shame because they’re just dumb-ass kids high on ideology and arrogance. They need to cop a plea fast. If they drag this out the feds will hammer them.
Comment by michael reynolds — 1/26/2010 @ 9:27 pm
He did a pretty good job with the ACORN stuff, but he was an idiot to try to bug Landrieu’s office. What I cannot figure out is why he thought taping his friends tapping her lines was a good idea. Very strange story.
Comment by Brainster — 1/26/2010 @ 10:35 pm
Hi Rick
It is worth remembering that police beat journalism is the most one-sided in the field. You get the cops story and nothing from the arrestee. No one will let the arrestee speak for fear he will violate his rights, and a smart arrestee isn’t going to talk. The lawyer almost always says almost nothing and waits to work in court. If the media stays interested that is when the people find out about the inevitable other side. It is interesting that the journalism profession does not as a rule do anything much to blunt the assumption almost all of us make that the arrestee is guilty because he was, well, arrested. Newspapers, for example rarely seem to run paragraphs saying something like “X police agency makes x thousand arrests per year, and in x percent of the cases charges are dropped, a settlement agreement is reached on a lesser charge or the case is otherwise disposed. No more than x percent actually go to trial. Of the x percent of cases going to trial x percent result in conviction.” Some formula like that that at least shows a little scepticism about the guilt of the arrestee.
IMO this arrest is pretty weird and so is the conduct alleged. Who would want to be sandwiched between an outraged US Senator and the FBI??
This should be very interesting as more facts come out.
Comment by Jim — 1/27/2010 @ 1:57 pm
Told you… from Allah:
Then from Frum:
Sorry to burst your fantasy, M.R.
Comment by lionheart — 1/27/2010 @ 6:40 pm
They weren’t bugging the office, they were trying to record the office staff actually confirming they were blocking phone calls.
They were trying to ascertain the phone system in the closet had been altered to reject constituent calls.
O’Keefe was there to record the conversation and activity and was transmitting it back to the “listening device” a few blocks away.
There was no intention of planting bugs.
Comment by Vicky — 1/28/2010 @ 1:46 pm
[...] Rick Moran: But this guy is no journalist – conservative or otherwise. He’s a glory hound. And, if these charges pan out, prove the adage that you’re only as good as your next spectacular. The nature of modern celebrity demanded that O’Keefe try and top his ACORN show. Taping the private conversations of Landrieu and spilling them out all over YouTube would have kept him on top of the heap. [...]
Pingback by Oh Jimmy Mack, When Are You Coming Back? « Around The Sphere — 1/29/2010 @ 2:06 pm