ACORN Video Hack Busted Bugging Senator's Phones

O'Keefe leaving court yesterday, sans belt, which only elitists wear. Patrick Semansky/AP

Remember that conservative kid who punk'd the community organizing group ACORN with a hidden camera, fueling a right-wing backlash against the organization that contributed to Congress cutting their funding? We don't want to disillusion you or anything, but it turns out he's kind of shady. On Monday, James O'Keefe and three pals—all 24 years old—were arrested in New Orleans trying to bug the phones of Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu's office. Naturally, O'Keefe videotaped the whole thing, so there's that to look forward to.

According to the FBI affidavit [pdf], O'Keefe, Stan Dai and Robert Flanagan (who is the son of William Flanagan, acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Louisiana!) gathered at Landrieu's office around 11 a.m. dressed as telephone company employees and told staffers they were there to fix the phones. Landrieu's employee let them fiddle with the main phone at the reception desk, but then they said they needed access to the telephone closet, which was on the tenth floor. When someone there asked to see their credentials, they claimed they forgot them in the car, and soon after the U.S. Marshal's Service apprehended them, the AP reports.

It's unclear why O'Keefe and his cohorts have targeted Landrieu in their earnest Ayn Rand crusade; it's probably because the Democrat wants to help lazy poor people or something. (Some right-wingers have attacked her over the $100 million in extra Medicare subsidies she won for her state in the Senate health bill.) After being released last night on $10,000 bond, O'Keefe shouted "Veritas" (Latin for "truth"), presumably because "Sic Semper Tyrannis" is a little played out.

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By John Del Signore in News on January 27, 2010 10:30 AM

Comments [rss]

5borough

How many bugs have they recovered so far?

ckl

He was a good kid.

dreamking

They call him 'Sugar' because he gave it out so sweet.

MrCholly

LMAO Good one.

Ph

They need to throw the entire library at these smug motherfuckers.

NannyState

As long as it's George Bush's library, they're fine with that.

Amanda Harletsch

and in the mean time this little piece is sneaked in by republicans :

"last week's Supreme Court decision in the case Citizens United vs. FEC overturned over a century of precedent and opened the floodgates for unlimited amounts of corporate money to flow into our political system. Shockingly, the court's decision may even allow foreign corporations and large multinationals to manipulate our elections.

Progress on any issue we care about depends upon our ability to stop the corporate takeover of our electoral process. If we do nothing, this ruling has the potential to undermine the very foundation of our democracy."

ckl

That Supreme Court thing has been pretty well covered and very visible.

Amanda Harletsch

but yes, Acorn is the real problem here.

Republicans are so useful for the success of evil.

NannyState

He was obviously casing that federal office building for a future terrorist attack. An "enhanced interrogation" at Gitmo should reveal all the details.

Sinchy

Lets not forget that the ONLY reason for the conservative / republican outrage at ACORN is that the group registers poor people to vote.

Conservatives have always tried to suppress the voting roles knowing that if everyone in this country voted, republicans would never again hold power.

Listen to this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GBAsFwPglw

Amanda Harletsch

what about creating empty controversies when the real issues (task force from senate to determine fiscal future) is actually being opposed and blocked by republicans in congress!