This page was last updated on February 2, 2010.
Extreme makeover; Editorial; Beaver County Times; February 2, 2010.
Please do not interpret any of the following to be a defense of James O’Keefe and his partners. I don’t have sufficient info I can trust to make a call either way. My only point is to illustrate once again that Times statements of fact cannot be trusted.
The editorial leads off with “Phone-tap attempt shows how far true believers will go” and reinforces the statement later in the piece. The problem is the accused were not accused of bugging or wiretapping. Indeed, according to MSNBC, an unnamed (I’m not big on unnamed sources.) “law enforcement official says the four men arrested for attempting to tamper with the phones in the New Orleans office of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) were not trying to intercept or wiretap the calls.” The affidavit submitted by the FBI charges these guys with planning to interfere with the phone system. It made no claims of bugging or wiretapping. Further, there were no reports of these guys possessing bugging or wiretapping equipment or having the requisite skills.
Who knows, perhaps these guys will eventually be charged with a “phone-tap attempt” depending on the results of the investigation, but so far law enforcement hasn’t made that accusation.
The Times is getting better at covering Mr. O’Keefe, though. Last summer when Mr. O’Keefe broke the ACORN story, it took the Times 10 days to address the issue. This time it took only six days.
© 2004-2010 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.