"Minor break-in? Not this one!"

[pbrower2a]

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/01/acorn_gotcha_man_arrested_for.html

(from the New Orleans Times-Picayune):

Alleging a plot to tamper with phones in Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's office in the Hale Boggs Federal Building in downtown New Orleans, the FBI arrested four people Monday, including James O'Keefe, 25, a conservative filmmaker whose undercover videos at ACORN field offices severely damaged the advocacy group's credibility.

Also arrested were Joseph Basel, Stan Dai and Robert Flanagan, all 24. Flanagan is the son of William Flanagan, who is the acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, the office confirmed. All four were charged with entering federal property under false pretenses with the intent of committing a felony.

According to the FBI affidavit, Flanagan and Basel entered the federal building at 500 Poydras Street about 11 a.m. Monday, dressed as telephone company employees, wearing jeans,  fluorescent green vests, tool belts, and hard hats. When they arrived at Landrieu's 10th floor office, O'Keefe was already in the office and had told a staffer he was waiting for someone to arrive.

When Flanagan and Basel entered the office, they told the staffer they were there to fix phone problems. At that time, the staffer, referred to only as Witness 1 in the affadavit, observed O'Keefe positioning his cell phone in his hand to videotape the operation. O'Keefe later admitted to agents that he recorded the event.

After being asked, the staffer gave Basel access to the main phone at the reception desk. The staffer told investigators that Basel manipulated the handset. He also tried to call the main office phone using his cell phone, and said the main line wasn't working. Flanagan did the same.

They then told the staffer they needed to perform repair work on the main phone system and asked where the telephone closet was located. The staffer showed the men to the main General Services Administration office on the 10th floor, and Flanagan and Basel went in. There, a GSA employee asked for the men's credentials, after which they stated they left them in their vehicle.

The U.S. Marshal's Service apprehended all four men shortly thereafter.

(Senator Mary Landrieu says practically nothing about this, probably because she thinks the event best left to law enforcement.

It's burglary, folks -- and this one looks worse than Watergate. Let's hope that this one doesn't lead to the Republican National Committee.

[Joe Republic]

http://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=109685.0

It's burglary, folks -- and this one looks worse than Watergate.

Ha ha, nice try.

Let's hope that this one doesn't lead to the Republican National Committee.

Translation from pbrower2a to English:  "Let's hope that this one leads to the Republican National Committee."

[I left.]

LOL pbrower.

[Tender Branson]

This looks bad.  Apparently the GOP is trying to get a heads-up on Mary Landrieu's 2014 re-election strategy.  But the question is, what did President Bush know about this ... and when did he know it?

[pbrower2a]

Does anyone think that it could do harm to Senator David Vitter (R-LA, literal consort with whores, who is up for re-election in 2010?)

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Does anyone think that it could do harm to Senator David Vitter (R-LA, literal consort with whores, who is up for re-election in 2010?)

Vitter is a Republican Senator and not an ACORN employee, so no one cares about that.

[I left.]

Does anyone think that it could do harm to Senator David Vitter (R-LA, literal consort with whores, who is up for re-election in 2010?)

Only if the Age Wave kicks in.

[segwaystyle2012]

Damn it, who told this guy boards other than the 2012 one existed?

[pbrower2a]

Does anyone think that it could do harm to Senator David Vitter (R-LA, literal consort with whores, who is up for re-election in 2010?)

Vitter is a Republican Senator and not an ACORN employee, so no one cares about that.

Vitter had a role in the appointment in the hiring the father (a federal attorney) of one of the defendants. New Orleans may have lax standards on sex and political corruption, but the combination could be ugly.

Vitter could certainly not be elected in some very conservative states.

[Dallasfan65]

Does anyone think that it could do harm to Senator David Vitter (R-LA, literal consort with whores, who is up for re-election in 2010?)

Not if he lives near a major air hub.

[Tender Branson]

Does anyone think that it could do harm to Senator David Vitter (R-LA, literal consort with whores, who is up for re-election in 2010?)

Vitter is a Republican Senator and not an ACORN employee, so no one cares about that.

Vitter had a role in the appointment in the hiring the father (a federal attorney) of one of the defendants. New Orleans may have lax standards on sex and political corruption, but the combination could be ugly.

Vitter could certainly not be elected in some very conservative states.

What does the hiring of his father have to do with anything?  Is Vitter supposed to be clairvoyant or something?  You'd better hope that this scandal is worth about 20 points, because that's how much behind his nearest opponent is in the polls.

[nhmagic]

Im not so sure this wasn't a frameup and even if it wasn't - trying to discover corruption in the office of the senator who got the Louisiana Purchase now somehow = bad?.  Obama has wanted to get these people as soon as the ACORN news broke.  They were marked men.

[Sewer]

Let's hope that this one leads to the Republican National Committee.

fixed

[pbrower2a]

Im not so sure this wasn't a frameup and even if it wasn't - trying to discover corruption in the office of the senator who got the Louisiana Purchase now somehow = bad?.  Obama has wanted to get these people as soon as the ACORN news broke.  They were marked men.

You suggest entrapment, the only imaginable defense for the alleged burglars. I say, follow the money and we will find out where the crime leads.

Those fellows were not police officers, and the law is unambiguous about wiretaps: except as permitted by a court of law to law enforcement officials who have sworn the necessity and efficacy of wiretaps, wiretaps are illegal. Period. The burglars posed as telephone-company employees, and did something that the phone companies do not tolerate. "Good intentions" do not excuse a crime.

By committing what looks like a set of serious crimes, James O'Keefe has just discredited his exposure of ACORN. Because his filming is not of the sort that one associates with such types as Hitchcock, Kubrick, or Spielberg, his career as an "independent filmmaker" looks to have been ruined.  This looks like a Gigli of a crime.

[J. J.]

Does anyone think that it could do harm to Senator David Vitter (R-LA, literal consort with whores, who is up for re-election in 2010?)

Vitter is a Republican Senator and not an ACORN employee, so no one cares about that.

Vitter had a role in the appointment in the hiring the father (a federal attorney) of one of the defendants. New Orleans may have lax standards on sex and political corruption, but the combination could be ugly.

Vitter could certainly not be elected in some very conservative states.

Actually, it doesn't look like it.  The father is only the "acting" USA because the political appointee left, I think with the change in administrations.

[Former Moderate]

You guys totally made my day.