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I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict: the James O’Keefe/Landrieu phone interference case will be resolved with a very stern talking to by a judge, no criminal record, and 100 hours of community service each for the four arrested young people. Which seems about right. After which … you know there really IS a case for aspiring journalists going to journalism school!
The James O’Keefe Arrest
Recent Posts by David Frum
- Where Will All the Smart Kids Go?
- Has Competition Impoverished America?: Review of “The End of Affluence” by Jeffrey Madrick
- Anatomy of a Train Wreck: Review of “The System” by Haynes Johnson and David Broder
- Bookshelf: The Bankruptcy Around the Corner
- Health Care: Beware the “Little Fix”
Ok so the conservative soft on Right wing crime continues. No surprise there.
These adults under false pretenses entered a Federal building with the intent to bug a Senators office and phone system. The fourth person had a listening device on him that would have been used to listen in to that Senators conversations. One of them was a trained covert specialist.
And you say 100 hours of community service. Then the next post is about throwing the book at someone who chucked a pie at someone. David you have lost all sense of proportion.
Regan was a criminal, got away with it. Nixon was a criminal almost got away with a slap on the wrist. Delay was a criminal again a slap on the wrist. Bush and Cheney were and are criminals. The right wing is full of criminals who are just able to get away with anything.
I dunno if wrist-slapping is going to be resolution to this case. Even if O’Keefe and his crew were attempting to ‘punk’ the Senator’s office the same way they did ACORN, the way they did it violated some serious laws. Trying to wiretap a sitting Senator? A Senator WHO IS ON THE HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE? Disregard the D or R that’s listed next to any Senator’s name: joke or not, you do not attempt to breech national security.
Throw in that one of the culprits is a son of an acting US Attorney in the state, and the need to NOT let these guys go off easy gets unavoidable. The justice system cannot appear to show favoritism.
P.S. having trouble updating my password on the Profile page, something about the cookies not enabled… but they are on my browser, so I don’t know what is blocking the attempt…
This site is causing major problems in IE, just constantly crashing the browser. In firefox it constantly wants to install a non existing mime plugin. Please fix
“These adults under false pretenses entered a Federal building with the intent to bug a Senators office and phone system”.
I just can see a hand slap for this, no matter who did it……………..
I think this was a foolish stunt and I have a hard time seeing how trying to compromise the security of a Congressperson’s office in *any* way deserves to be defended. Naturally, some on the left are already trying to use this to discredit the ACORN videos. You don’t give the other side ammo like this, you just don’t. I’m not sure what any of them were trying to accomplish.
I’m relatively sure Mr. Frum’s being ironic here, however.
Another prediction: the usual baggage of trolls here will reference this youthful gotcha-journalist guy as proof positive that conservatives are all loose-player whack-jobs… ignore the lack of seriousness of his “crime”, try to play the ol’ “Watergate” connection game by terming it (fill in the blank) “gate” and a dozen other typically dishonest liberal spingames.
Meanwhile, indicted Democrat activist hacker David Kendall, son of TN Democrat official and former Obama-supporter, who hacked into GOP VP candidate & Alaska Gov Sarah Palin’s email account 18 months ago, continues to escape justice because the Democrats have hired big gun lawyers to co-counsel for the politically-connected hacker in order to thwart FBI investigators, federal warrants and the criminal division of US DOJ.
Maybe Obama should make one of them his new Czar for Journalistic Ethics and the other his new Czar for Modern Media? It’d fit the usual pattern of hiring at the Obama White House.
I don’t buy tje “slap on the wrist” meme, but afterall warrentless wiretapping is now de riguer here in these United States.
The investigation into the doctored Acorn tapes found.
“Last month, facts exonerating ACORN began to emerge. On December 7 an independent report by Scott Harshbarger, the former Massachusetts Attorney General and former president of Common Cause, cleared ACORN of any illegal conduct. The report stated, “While some of the advice and counsel given by ACORN employees and volunteers was clearly inappropriate and unprofessional, we did not find a pattern of intentional, illegal conduct by ACORN staff; in fact, there is no evidence that action, illegal or otherwise, was taken by any ACORN employee on behalf of the videographers.” His report also noted that the videos were doctored and misleading.
“The videos that have been released appear to have been edited, in some cases substantially, including the insertion of a substitute voice-over for significant portions of Mr. O’Keefe’s and Ms. Giles’s comments, which makes it difficult to determine the questions to which ACORN employees are responding. A comparison of the publicly available transcripts to the released videos confirms that large portions of the original video have been omitted from the released versions”
Scott Harshbarger, Democrat-MA
Hired by ACORN to 1) exonerate ACORN and 2) restore federal funding for ACORN. Wow, he calls it “independent investigation”?
How independent can one get? Sort of like having the UN hire Paul Adolph Volcker to “investigate” Saddam Hussein’s Food for Fuel voucher program. leanr nothing was wrong and then learn that Paul’s pals were making a bundle off the vouchers.
Gotta love that Culture of Corruption on the Left.
We can now add Scott Harshbarger to the list of criminally corrupted Democrats. Didn’t the Harvard trained Harshbarger lose the Governor’s race to conservative, anti-tax GOPer Paul Cellucci in ’98? In Massachusetts, no less? The stronghold of Democrats and liberals? Wow.
Crime is crime, shouldn’t matter who committed it. Intentions are used is case law to determine the severity of a crime (such as premeditation, or acting based on a racial bias). The only way we will ever clean the government if all sides abide to the same laws and pundits on both sides quit getting away with the spin and damage control that has become a highly paid art form in DC.
But all of those on here professing that the “right” will shrug this off are probably correct (once again referring to the art of spin). But then I hope they were as vocal when Palin’s email was hacked. If we really want CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN than all of us have got to get a backbone and hold those in office accountable at the ballot box both in primaries and in general elections. Ultimately we hold the power to affect the outcome and change the game.
Mr. Frum,
May I respectfully disagree with your prediction.
First, in real journalism school, Mr. O’Keefe and his merry band of pranksters would have learned that it is legally necessary to inform another person you are taping a conversation, a lesson that would have served him well before he undertook his ACORN “interviews” for which he is now being sued by multiple offices. Why? Because he broke the law. To be honest, I blame the conservatives who encouraged and lionized his ACORN actions; their response emboldened him by sending the dangerous message that the ends justify the means. I truly believe that had 31 members of the House not praised him — which required them to also overlook the fact that he broke the law — he would have been less likely to take his aspirations up a notch. Then again, he knew about the lawsuits when he switched to a federal venue and went ahead with this plan anyway, so maybe the moral is more serious: that he has simply become a man on a mission, and men on missions need big audiences to applaud.
Mr. O’Keefe is not a journalist; he is a performance artist who creates the news he covers, he does not report on facts that do not involve him as the central character. I never thought I’d use a word choice of Sarah Palin, but how is he not a domestic terrorist? What is the difference between his goals and those of the Chinese who we fear are hacking into our government files? Is it only a difference of degree and supposed motivation?
Which brings me to my next point and my own prediction. I am guessing that they were charged with a “felony” for two reasons: one, because of the listening device the FBI found two blocks away in the car of the fourth member of their cadre and because I suspect that this immature posse of poseurs was not there to wiretap the senator’s phones primarily, but were there rather to hack the senator’s email (the wires they were trying to get to are the same wires); after all, wiretapping is so passe to this generation.
Granted, these four gentlemen are a poor man’s version of the Watergate plumbers, but they are descendants ideologically in the most worrisome way. The philosopher Santayana defined a fanatic as a person who redoubles his effort when he’s lost his aim. In my opinion, all four of them are fanatics who operate, as the original plumbers did, on the belief that the ends justify the means. If they are not prosecuted, I fear for us all.
That said, I feel sadness for their families who sound so nice and sad for the four of them who have made such a serious mistake at such a tender age; I do not think the young men are evil — just dangerous if they are not stopped. It is necessary in a successful democracy that people follow the law.
Respectfully yours,
Marcia Smilack
“Crime is crime, shouldn’t matter who committed it”.
In the perfect world, that’s a great goal. Unfortunately, it matters very much who committed what crime depending on what the prosecution team wants to make of it all… America’s history on federal prosecutors is rife with legendary ego maniacs who pursued people, not the crime, to send a message, not seek justice. Rudy Giuliani, Patrick Fitzgerald, et al. Just ask Scooter Libby about the over-reach of politically motivated, struggling for air federal prosecutors.
Under the Obama White House and Eric Holder’s DOJ, it’s not only the terrorists who get off easy, it’s the Democrat-connected defendants too. Madoff, a huge supporter of Senate Democrats, got busted because the case was nearly finished before Holder could intervene and wrestle control from the professional, backbenching federal attorneys handling the case.
Off topic, but if you’d like to comment on this article David, I’d be interested in your thoughts.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-brown/funding-public-health-car_b_434239.html
Before ya’ll convict and string up Mr.OKieth read Patterico site.He has read the affidavit and says there is no mention of “bugging”the Senators office.Patterico is lawyer and should know what he is reading unlike the reporter who splashed the headline
Naturally, some on the left are already trying to use this to discredit the ACORN videos.
Well, the ACORN videos sort of discredit themselves – we know that O’Keefe “venue shopped”, in that they went to many many ACORN videos and only presented the few outcomes of fools who played along (at least one of whom, btw, also reported O’Keefe to authorities afterwards). We also have plenty of evidence that O’Keefe , as pointed out above, edited the videos in ways to further call into question their value in indicting the organization.
It will be amusing to see the contention that they didn’t really intend to bug the offices. Here’s the indictment:
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/us/20100127-landrieu-affidavit.pdf
“for the purpose of interfering with the office’s telephone system”
Sure. Maybe they just wanted to cut the wires, right?
Note to Black people and Arab-Americans. Do NOT try this with your Senator. Only College Republicans are allowed to do this stuff.
Balconesfault contends: “Well, the ACORN videos sort of discredit themselves”…
Only if you’re a hardline Left apologist, a Democrat activist or an idiot. ACORN sort of discredited itself… and then Scott Harshbarger4Hire discredited himself with an outrageous claim of “independent investigation”.
BTW, it’s been more than a year and Eric Holder’s DOJ hasn’t seen fit to investigate the widespread corruption of FannieMae and FreddieMac by Democrats, the sweetheart mortgage deals handed out by pro-Democrat housing finance fatcats, the illegal campaign contributions to Obama’s team, the special favors & funds provided to the First Family by indicted Chicago fatcat felons… but there’s loads of time for Holder to plan how to ferry terrorists to NYC for a show trial, call Americans cowards for “avoiding” racism even though a mixed-race American was just elected president and start calling terrorists “political prisoners”.
Yep, the high-school drama club quality highjinks of some wanna-be journalists trumps all of that. I guess when the Democrats engage in criminality, like with the Democrat activist hacker(s) who broke at least 4 federal laws breaking into Governor Sarah Plain’s email account, it’s acceptable because the ends justify the means.
Let’s keep our eye on the ball here. These wanna-be journalists are no more sophisticated than some of the writers for FrumForum… and, in many cases, a few years older.
BTW, it’s been more than a year and Eric Holder’s DOJ hasn’t seen fit to investigate the widespread corruption of FannieMae and FreddieMac by Democrats, the sweetheart mortgage deals handed out by pro-Democrat housing finance fatcats, the illegal campaign contributions to Obama’s team, the special favors & funds provided to the First Family by indicted Chicago fatcat felons… but there’s loads of time for Holder to plan how to ferry terrorists to NYC for a show trial, call Americans cowards for “avoiding” racism even though a mixed-race American was just elected president and start calling terrorists “political prisoners”.
Do you need to use a spray gun to throw that much stuff against the wall at once?
Let’s keep our eye on the ball here.
With you, that’s like trying to watch amateur hour at the driving range.
Only 100 hours of community service? Wouldn’t that set a nice precedent. How many leftist amateur “journalists” would risk 100 hours of community service to tap:
-Cheney’s home phone
-Palin’s cell phone
-Bachmann’s direct line to Nutland
-Beck’s red phone to nowhere
If it’s 100 hours of community service for tapping the office lines of a sitting US Senator … your Palin, Cheney, and Beck examples above should require you to pick up a few gum wrappers on your next walk across a parking lot.
Bachmann is still an elected official, and since it seems she uses her official line to contact Nutland that should also be a more serious offense.
Hot Air » Blog Archive » Fox News: Sources close to O’Keefe say it’s “not a case of wiretapping” // Jan 27, 2010 at 5:19 pm
[...] O’Keefe guilty and sentenced him to prison. What’s left to report? Exit quotation from Frum: “I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict: the James O’Keefe/Landrieu phone [...]
How is that “about right”? If he is convicted of wiretapping (or maliciously interfering with communications lines, or whatever the official federal crime is), he should serve a sentence in accordance with his role in the act. He has cost our government thousands of dollars, and compromised the security of a congressional office.
I can understand probation and a fine (my prediction), but a clean criminal record?
“Well, the ACORN videos sort of discredit themselves ”
No. What you are arguing is that the context discredits the videos. The context, in this case, is that only 10% of ACORN offices are staffed by people willing to commit outrageous crimes, while 5% were willing to call the cops. I can’t imagine anyone changing their minds about ACORN based on that particular information.
The context, in this case, is that only 10% of ACORN offices are staffed by people willing to commit outrageous crimes
Except that there’s no evidence that these people were willing to commit outrageous crimes, is there?
“Do you need to use a spray gun to throw that much stuff against the wall at once?”
Nope, just the truth. Unlike Obama and you, balconesfault, I don’t need to run from the truth. ACORN discredits ACORN. Harshbarger, an ACORN hireling and Democrat toad, discredits himself in trying to advance his defense of ACORN as an “independent investigation”.
That’s like saying Obama is a uniter, not a divider. Oooops, my bad.
It will turn out that these guys did nothing of a serious criminal nature. Stupid? Sure. But that’s how they got the even stupider ACORN goons to go on record advising how to engage in tax fraud, criminal prostitution, child endangerment, etc.
It was so discredited that Congress yanked their funding. Too bad Bush didn’t do it sooner with some indictments.
OK let’s just look at reality: four adults (21+ years old) allegedly enter a FEDERAL building under false pretenses and (according to the indictment) “tampered” with the US Government owned phone system. ALL these actions are considered crimes.
I like to play a game when people start “defending” any alleged perpetrators. Its called change one fact: change “Sen Landrieu’s Office” to “Michael Steele’s Office”. Still feel the same way ?
Liberal, left leaning media or not; any way you slice it its a crime.
…even stupider ACORN goons to go on record advising how to engage in tax fraud, criminal prostitution, child endangerment, etc.
This sounds like libel to me. Are these established facts? ACORN actually advised (filled out forms, filed something, etc). My understanding is, a few low level employees said something. But without the unedited tapes, I guess we’ll never know what that something was.
James O'Keefe and Crisis Management, Crisis Public Relations | Public Relations Firm PR Blog // Jan 28, 2010 at 12:09 pm
[...] has been accompanied by extreme helpings of gloating by many opponents, including ACORN itself. Quite a bit has been said about the stupid incident, but not so much about how the accused (or his lawyer) [...]
AndyDP, you may think it a crime… the rent-a-cops guarding the building may think it a crime… heck, even the swindler Senator “Louisiana Purchase” Landrieu may need it to be a crime for campaign purposes… but entering a federal building (or a federal office inside a federal building) during regular business hours is NOT a crime. Lifting up receivers to see if the phone lines are actually working and Sen Landrieu’s well documented attempt to avoid public scorn and take a few calls by claiming the lines are “overloaded”, “on the fritz”, “ringing off the hook” as she has claimed on LA radio call-in programs… it all seems rather innocently NOT a crime.
But then, if federal prosecutors decide to make a case against a high-school drama club quality journalism highjink, I’m guessing a crime or violation can be found, the language of the law stretched and an indictment brought forward. Innocent or not, under those conditions people are wise to cut their losses, plead, pay the fine and move on –even if innocent.
Like Scooter Libby did.
Or you can drag out the fight, have the Democrats hire you a high-paid Washington-insider law firm to drag out a case of say… oh… multiple indictments on hacking into Gov Palin’s private email account. Yeah, that’s the better way to go… especially if you’re counting on Eric Holder to spring you like he hopes to do for the Manhattan terrorists.
GOProud, No I don’t. Furthermore, I had never heard of them until GOP got a hard-on about them. But it seems to me, in order for someone to give illegal legal advice, they’d have to be legal advisers or at least some kind of executive. The whole organization was accused of giving illegal advice when as far as I know, it was a few low-paid, uninformed employees who said we-don’t-know-what.
LOL – newest news.
Judge sentences O’Keefe to live with his parents until his trial.
GOProud: The “rent a cops” at Federal Buildings are actually part of the Federal Protective Service – are licensed to carry firearms and are basically US “police”. In no way should they be equated with a “mall cop”.
YOU may not think its a crime but the US Attorney does. In speaking of this incident, Michelle Malkin “warned” would be reporters to “know their limits and the law”. Like I said, would you still think it was a high school level “journalism hijinks” if they had done the exact same thing in Mr Steele’s office ? (Actually, images of Inspector Cluseau asking to check your telephone come to mind)
As for lawyering up and delaying the outcomes. In case you forgot the Constitution, everyone has a right to a lawyer even Gov Palin’s alleged e-mail hacker and the alleged perpetrators of this “high school journalism hijinks”. You may want to ask yourself where the people involved (Gov Palin hacker/the HS Journalists) are getting the money to pay for the “Washington insider lawyers”.
If the Senator was avoiding talking to her constituents claiming phone troubles that’s her problem. She’s up for re election. If you don’t like the $ 300 million LA Purchase, just remember the $ 250 million bridge to nowhere money Gov Palin didn’t send back. In this case the $ 300 Mil was never received. I still have to ask: If President McCain had allocated the money would you still feel the same ? Would you still feel it was a “HS Journalism hijink” if it was Michael Steele’s office they were entering ?
O’Keefe Did Not Wiretap! « Fellowship of the Minds // Jan 28, 2010 at 7:37 pm
[...] journalist David Frum predicts that “the James O’Keefe/Landrieu phone interference case will be resolved with a [...]
For the record: the judge did not sentence O’Keefe to live with his parents — O’Keefe already lives with them — the document from which that erroneous report showed up on the internet derives from a document O’Keefe had to sign to get out of his red jail jumpsuit to be released from custody in New Orleans. In addition, he had to agree not to travel outside the country; not to converse with the other defendants (unless related to work); to be reachable by phone; and to adhere to the gag order. He violated the last order last night by tweeting about the case. Since that act alone can increase the legal charges against him and he is fully aware of that, I have to wonder if being rearrested is his aspiration. Perhaps he hopes to trade his humiliation for martyrdom.