The American Spectator

Tim| 1.28.10 @ 8:24AM

Even if one takes this rumor as absolute truth; these guys were courting disaster.
They risked undoing all the good work they did by destroying their own credibility.

AJsDaddie| 1.28.10 @ 8:37AM

While I agree that this wasn't a particularly bright move by the O'Keefe gang, I don't agree that it will "undo" anything. The work he and Giles did with ACORN speaks for itself. The only people who will jump on this to defend ACORN are those who would defend it anyway. For example, I found the tapes no less incriminating because they broke some of the local statutes on taping conversations - did you?

Phil| 1.28.10 @ 9:42AM

Well, this is were the issue gets sticky - do the videos really speak for themselves. It has been suggested that the he wore just a regular dress shirt while filming the videos and added in clips of the pimp outfit after the fact, as well as possibly dubbing in new audio of some of his and giles' comments. Whether or not these things are true, his willingness to skirt ethical/legal boundaries and even outright cross them calls into question his previous actions.

Mike| 1.28.10 @ 8:50AM

O'Keefe is simply the latest in a long line of conservatives dating back to the Goldwater and Nixon era who believe that "extremism in the defense of (their idea) of liberty is no vice." Sometimes I wonder who some conservatives think is the more dangerous enemy-their fellow citizens with whom they disagree or Islamic radicals. Given the rhetoric of the past year, I'm inclined to think it is the former.

Terry| 1.28.10 @ 9:05AM

Mike from your comment the only thing I'm inclined to think you believe in is unicorns. If you wish to see extremism one only needs to venture to the daily kos or moveon.org. Corruption is rampant and someone needs to root it out.

Mike| 1.28.10 @ 9:33AM

"Corruption is rampant and someone needs to root it out." Apparently, for some conservatives, even if it means breaking the law. But why would one be interested in conserving such a quaint concept as the rule of law?

L.E. Light| 1.28.10 @ 12:09PM

When your FASCIST Democrat government prosecutes ACORN for their crimes and permanently defunds them, when the New Black Panther Party is hauled into a courtroom, then we can talk about prosecuting O'Keefe.

Until then, your typical Democrat hypocrisy is showing.

Socialist Jew| 1.28.10 @ 1:31PM

Nice try at explaining things rationally, Mike. Unfortunately, it looks like you'll have to wait until the justice system catches up with the personal decisions of Terry and LE Light. Guys, if you want a justice system that is responsive to the personal decisions of an individual elite that knows better than judges and juries, you should move to China and join the Communist Party. And don't worry - you can still be a capitalist.

Socialist Jew| 1.28.10 @ 1:38PM

ha ha I just realized that I told a conservative who accused a centrist of being a fascist to become a communist! (or member of CPC, at least)

Seriously though if you call the President a fascist you have no god damned clue what fascism was, and you're flipping your middle finger at the half million Americans who died to defeat it.

Tammy| 1.31.10 @ 1:35PM

Hitler was a socialist, fool. Nazi--"National Socialist German Workers' Party."

A tyrant is a tyrant, regardless of moniker. Don't get hung up on names. It's foolish.

Clear enough?

J 2 The B| 1.28.10 @ 9:37AM

I have no idea what was going on with O'Keefe, but I'm sure the truth will come out. Hopefully he will be exonerated.
But wouldn't that be awesome if he just set up the MSM by baiting them in to this situation. Only to throw it back in their face with some new revelation.
Yes, it was risky on his part, but so was the ACORN stuff. He survived that sh*t-storm from the left, he will survive this.
The over-reaction from Olbermann, et al. before any details were made public show you how hot they are to burn this kid alive, facts be damned. Hopefully James and his crew will have the last laugh.

Socialist Jew| 1.28.10 @ 1:33PM

You like a kid trying to make up excuses why Mom and Dad told him Santa Claus isn't real. This kid is charged with a felony, and it's very hard to see how he's not guilty of it, but I'll wait for a jury to decide that.

Tammy| 1.31.10 @ 1:37PM

How about 'innocent until proven guilty' , clown?

J 2 The B| 1.28.10 @ 9:41AM

Another thing, was there this much uproar from the MSM and the left when someone hacked into Sarah Palin's email account looking for dirt? Not even when they found out the juicy nugget that the perpetrator was the son of a Democrat Tennessee State Rep.
Didn't think so. Another glaring example of the biases of the mainstream media.

Mike| 1.28.10 @ 9:45AM

I guess you don't listen to Fox.

Tammy| 1.31.10 @ 1:38PM

You made J 2's point. Where was MSDNC then?

Robert Noel| 1.28.10 @ 9:48AM

O'Keefe and friends could be in even hotter water if the US Attorney (daddy) wanted to up-charge: We are at war - the Truman Declaration of Emergency re North Korea is still in effect as is the Declaration of War re Iraq and Afganistan. Landrieu is a member of the Homeland Security Committee. How about a charge of espionage in time of war? If convicted he could be shot! Let the little putz record that on his IPhone.

Tammy| 1.31.10 @ 1:39PM

Idiot!

bluecollarbytes| 1.28.10 @ 10:09AM

I'm waiting to see if O'Keefe was going to actually Tap the phones. Nearly every news article I read yesterday claimed that's what he was trying to do. I think many news articles these days are written by folks who simply repeat what they've read in other news articles, so it may be 'reporters' repeating misinformation.

Ken (Old Texican)| 1.28.10 @ 10:39AM

Let's calm down and let the facts come to light, folks.
Right now its all gassy gossip.

Greg Scandlen| 1.28.10 @ 10:42AM

I'm not sure what the crime was. Going to a Senator's office is not a crime, and as far as I know pretending to be a telephone repair man is not a crime. Wiretapping would be, but it is not clear to me that is what they were doing.

PB| 1.28.10 @ 10:47AM

Pretending to be a telephone repairman by itself is not a crime, but doing so to gain entry to areas not accessible to the general public (telephone hub closet) is definitely a crime.

james wilson| 1.28.10 @ 11:06AM

In most instances, being a congressman is a crime.

Mike| 1.28.10 @ 11:20AM

And who elects the congressmen? I guess if one exercises one's franchise, by your definition, one becomes an accessory to criminal activity.

Tammy| 1.31.10 @ 1:40PM

Not if they hide it from us. Or are you psychic?

Doug Wenzel| 1.28.10 @ 11:47AM

The biggest area of legal danger is that Sen. Landrieu's offices are in various Federal Buildings, that doubtless have other Federal tenants (local FBI or DEA office, or Homeland Security, perhaps?) This opens up a wide range of potential criminal statutes.

Technically, what was O'Keefe trying to prove? That these Federal buildings had an inadequate number of trunk lines for all the calls from upset constituents to be routed to the DID extensions in Landrieu's office? Since government is a monopoly, I'm sure their planning for Busy Hour Traffic is conservative as to the ratio of extensions to trunk lines. It's not like a business - when a client can't get through, who are they going to turn around and call?

Whatever his intentions, I think there's potential for some very serious time.

Phil| 1.28.10 @ 12:11PM

Good comments. O'Keefe's attorney's explanation perhaps is plausible, but it seems like a very high risk/low reward situation. I mean, even if he could disrupt the phone lines (not likely) what was his anticipated response by the Senator's staff going to be? - "Woohoo, the phones are down" - Even if that was the case, how damning is that? To me this would suggest O'Keefe is incredibly naive/stupid, or that their explanation is not the full story.

Sean| 1.28.10 @ 11:50AM

I think public officials should have all their phone lines tapped. A small price to pay for being able to loot trillions of dollars from the American people.

Deborah D| 1.28.10 @ 2:15PM

Funny!

JohnD| 1.28.10 @ 12:04PM

Maybe they were manipulating the phones so that people's calls COULD get through, knowing it would cause Landrieu some embarrassment. Landrieu's people seem rather quiet about the incident - you'd think they'd be howling like stuck pigs over an attempted bugging of their offices.

Liberal Reader| 1.28.10 @ 12:15PM

These young men are accused of breaking the law.

They're not guilty. They're accused of committing a crime.

But it's for the law courts now. If they did what they're accused of, they deserve to be punished.

All of this is pretty basic.

Now, perhaps this Senator was looking to displace this young man's father from the court, etc. That'll go to his motive to commit the crime, perhaps.

Tammy| 1.31.10 @ 1:42PM

What crime, clown? Don't you mean "ALLEGED" crime

JP| 1.28.10 @ 12:47PM

I thought last summer's stunt with ACORN was just that, a stunt. There is no way AG Holder was going to indict them, and O'Keefe should have figured that one out.

This current situation shows a degree of recklessness that undermines whatever credibility the young man had. One wonders if he was just looking for media attention. He broke at least 2 federal laws. Investigative journalism, I always thought was overdone. Rarely do they pan out. And they require a lot of money to run. Taking YouTube videos isn't journalism. I think O'Keefe fancied himself a modern-day Woodward, using the new internet platform to launch himself into stardom. One thing he forgot - Woodward and Bernstein got lucky. They worked for a newspaper that was well funded, and that was owned a ran by people who hated RM Nixon to the core. They also worked in a city with thousands of high level bureaucrats with political scores to settle. He should have realized that since Watergate there have been no other scandals uncovered by journalists. Watergate has grown into a myth, and will soon be forgotten outside of J-Schools.

O'Keefe wants to get his 15 minutes of fame on the cheap. Well, he's got it. I hope he can stay out of prison.

Phil| 1.28.10 @ 4:10PM

Their new defense is that "they're just kids, they hadn't thought things through." Haha, I don't buy that in the least, they knew full well what they were doing or they are just damn idiots. 24-25 year olds are not just kids, especially when O'Keefe at least purports to being a professional journalist.

Tammy| 1.31.10 @ 1:45PM

What did they do that was so terrible? They tried to out Landrieu because she's lying to her constituents.

More power to O'Keefe and his fellow muckrakers. Traditional journalism is dead. The Lame Stream Media is thoroughly corrupt.

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