Told you that you can find good deals on Alienware machines.

Once again, you are right…

Or are you lying about this too and since you are writing with such authority I’m just going along with it?

This story is being misreported on a key fact. Did you catch this from Dan Riehl at Rielh World View:

Patterico points out the same thing I said to Melissa Clouthier on an earlier podcast. While we mostly assumed there was an intent to bug Landrieu’s offices, so far the documentation doesn’t support that charge. Of course, the other ting I said is, Flanagan appears to be keeping his distance from the rest. While it’s impossible to know what’s what for now, that at least suggests there may be some wheeling and dealing going on. Given Flanagan’s Father’s position, I’d be surprised if there wasn’t at least an attempt to cut a deal on his behalf. Time will tell.

When I first read a news story about this yesterday, it sounded to me like O’Keefe and company were being accused of an attempt to wiretap or bug Landrieu’s phones. Indeed, that’s the way I characterized the Government’s claim in my post based on a news story. But now I have had a chance to review the affidavit. And it doesn’t say that.

The link to the affidavit is here. I challenge you to find me the language that accuses Keefe et al. of a “plot to bug” Landrieu’s office, or an “alleged wiretap scheme.”

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And this is a plausible idea as to what O’Keefe and pals were up to.

The O’Keefe Stunt [John Hood]

Like many folks, I’ve been following the story of the arrest of James O’Keefe and three other young men on federal charges relating to their visit to the New Orleans office of Sen. Mary Landrieu. They reportedly pretended to be telephone repairmen and were recording themselves pretending to check out the office phones for problems.

There’s lot of speculation now about the nature of the incident and the intentions of the conservative activists involved, but not a lot of details from the authorities. Many on the Left are trying to turn the case into Watergate Jr. Some on the Right are reflexively defending O’Keefe because of the earlier ACORN exposé.

Here’s my initial reaction. First, given the facts of the case as reported so far, I doubt the kids were trying to install some kind of wiretap on the senator’s office phone system. I doubt they would even have the expertise to pull that off. What I think they were really doing was recording video (and audio, thus the reported use of listening equipment by one of the kids outside the building) of a fake repair visit in order to create a piece ridiculing Landrieu for voting for Obamacare despite the legions of phone calls from constituents against the bill. “Why didn’t she listen to the voters?” the gist of the stunt might be. “Were her phones not working?”

This isn’t a defense of them. Far from it. They might well still be guilty of some kind of offense for misrepresenting themselves in an attempt to gain entry and access to phone equipment in a federal office.

In fact, let me go further. Whatever you think of these kinds of publicity stunts, they do not constitute investigative journalism. The earlier ACORN videos weren’t pieces of investigative journalism, either. It does the growing ranks of investigative journalists at conservative organizations a great disservice to invite a comparison of such publicity stunts with the hard, meticulous, and often boring work of exposing government waste and corruption.

There’s a place for creating video parodies and the like. Good for a laugh, make a point, okay. But let’s make the right distinctions — and call out foolish behavior regardless of the intent.

01/27 10:10 AM

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And the prostitute is already (and rightly) distancing herself:

‘Shocked’ [NRO Staff]

From Hannah Giles, in regard to news coverage of James O’Keefe’s arrest in Louisiana:

I am shocked by the reports of this behavior. I am well aware that following the law is an integral part of being a good investigative journalist. I take that responsibility and accountability very seriously. I certainly hope these reports are untrue.

01/27 12:55 PM

Would the 22 year old have been aware of the woo being pitched?

You were always quite subtle.

Smallholder - good question. As I recall her, she was actively looking for a marrigable man. If I had been a Jew she might have come after me.

Speaking of the Whiskey Rebellion brings to mind Peej O’Rourke’s comment that it resulted in Washington establishing the first federal agricultural policy, namely to shoot farmers.

I don’t believe I’ve ever read that bit by PJ. It makes me laugh. I’m not sure that agricultural policy has progressed too much since the Washington Administration…