[ed.note: As TPM was among the first to report, it does not appear that O’Keefe and his gang were trying to bug Landrieu’s office, contrary to original reports. All that we know for sure is that the government alleges they entered a federal office under false pretenses with the intent to commit a felony. So for the moment the precise nature of O’Keefe’s criminal conduct is unclear. For the latest on the story see our on-going coverage at TPMMuckraker.com.]
Beyond the criminal activity and brazenness of the act, one of the questions we were wondering yesterday afternoon about the WingNerd team down in New Orleans was, just what were they thinking? O’Keefe was allegedly using his cell phone to film the attempt to bug Landrieu’s office as it happened. And that’s not too smart since that amounts to filming your accomplices in the process of committing a felony.
And it goes beyond that. Let’s say their ‘operation’ was a complete success. And let’s say they got something really juicy off of Sen. Landrieu’s tapped phone line. What exactly were they going to do with it? Read More
Andrew Breitbart, whose “Big Government” website was the platform for James O’Keefe’s ACORN pimp sting video last year, released a seemingly categorical statement yesterday saying he didn’t have anything to do with O’Keefe’s alleged tampering with Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office phones.
But things got a lot fuzzier in a radio interview Breitbart did with a sympathetic Hugh Hewitt late yesterday. Read More
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) promises no outbursts during tonight’s State of the Union address: “I am a gentleman.” That and the day’s political news in the TPMDC Morning Roundup.
House Dems say they’re ready to go with Plan B … if the Senate is ready to do it with them. Must read.
Three of the four suspects in the alleged plot to tap Sen. Mary Landrieu’s phones have roots in the gonzo world of conservative campus journalism.
There are a slew of angles to Wing-Nerd Journo Super-Hero team that tried to bug the office of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA). But a key part of the story is a little-known conservative think tank called the Pelican Institute.
Former congressman and now-McCain primary opponent J.D. Hayworth is standing behind his embrace of birtherism.
I’ll know McCain is feeling the heat when he starts calling the president “Barry”.
Remember James O’Keefe, the ‘pimp’ from the tag team of conservative ‘journalists’ who landed a massive blow on ACORN with their hidden camera series of videos showing ACORN employees discussing and advising on how to hide various forms of illegal acts?
Well, O’Keefe just got arrested by the FBI down in New Orleans for his role in a plot to plant wiretaps in the state offices of Sen. Mary Landrieu. That was on federal property. So a big time felony.
Once we heard that O’Keefe got clipped, we wondered whether this was another job for Andrew Breitbart who published O’Keefe’s ACORN videos. Our Christina Bellantoni just got hold of him and he responded: “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.”
Now we have two Democratic senators saying explicitly (and a third perhaps implying) they will not support using budget reconciliation for an amending bill to ‘fix’ the original senate bill and pave the way for passage in the House.
They need 50 votes.
Needless to say, the magic of the reconciliation process is that you don’t need these three and up to seven of their colleagues.
Majority rule. What a concept …