Interesting. And, they spent the least amount of time covering the ACORN story. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

This article would have been a good opportunity for Mediaite to retract allegations of bugging. Aren’t you folks embarrassed at spreading charges that don’t exist?

If I were Mediaite, I wouldn’t retract anything, yet. It does look like the original investigation involved allegations of bugging, in which case Mediaite was on target. It also looks as if this story has broader wings than we thought a couple of days ago. I also beginning to question the authenticity of the original ACORN story. It seemed pretty thinly sourced to begin with, and with the size of the criminal conspiracy now unfolding, who knows who it will trap? Could be, as it now appears, the loathsome MSNBC may just be out in front of this story. We need to wait for any retractions, and we need to let O’Keefegate percolate a bit.

This guy seems so guilty from all that I have read. He has a ridiculous attitude,. He thinks he can do anything he wants regardless of the law. I hope they make an excuse out of this fool. It just shows that anyone can have their 10 minutes of fame depending on how much you are willing to pay for it. I think a few years in jail will teach him a lesson.

You know, I don’t believe ACORN personnel really fell for the pimp persona. It’s too ridiculous. I wonder if Senator Vitter used some of his firsthand knowledge to advise O’Keefe?

Did he have bugging equipment on him or did anyone with his crew have any bugging equipment? That would be damning, otherwise – he’s just an idiot who walked into a public building wearing a phone company uniform. Not sure there is anything against unlawful about that. What are the charges? If there is something that was against the law, then lock the idiot up.

Conspiracy. Fraudulent entry. Intent to vandalize.

Thanks. those all sound like big charges, but I think most of them are hard to convict. Should be fun to watch. All of those charges seem to be based on ‘intent’ which can be hard to prove without physical evidence. They will most likely get them for Fraudulent Entry, but the other two could be tuff to prove. Like I said, should be interesting to watch.

I’ve seen this kid interviewed and he seems like an arrogant jerk. He does however make for good tv, kinda like Bob Beckel (sp).

After the ACORN attack with spliced, manipulated video and now this latest example of conservative vigalante activist “journalism”, perhaps the exposure will serve to educate the public the extent to which some Republicans are willing to go to smear their opponents and shape public opinion.

After all, helping poor people is an offense only to those who’s goal is to create more of them, preferably with no vote at the ballot box.

Jim R. blah, blah, blah, talking point, talking point, talking point, talking point, blah, blah, blah,… way to add to the conversation.

I think they are missing you over at Huff Post.

When you have nothing new to add to the conversation you jump in with the same tired bullshit. Go away!

Those Acorn women were brilliant actresses. All of them pretended to go along with the gag, as if Acorn would actually do anything fraudulent. Coming up on Rachel: The truth about the lies about O’Keefe.

And Fox only airs the O’Keefe denials – so what else is new? I hope this nasty little fascist fries.

That’s because after fox goaded the rest of the media into covering the ACORN story they got burned when ACORN was found to have not committed any crimes and their funding was restored. Remember, not one staffers from ACORN, even the 2 idiots they fired for giving O’Keefe and Giles possible ways to circumvent the system didn’t fill out and file any paper work from these 2. No fraud there. Which is why they were fired but NOT ARRESTED. O’Keefe, however was arrested and will face jail time. Think Oz! The prisoners are going to just love this guy! (See the movie American Me). Oh, and Keith and Rachel covered the original ACORN story. The difference was that they covered the facts but, fox didn’t. Which is why they now have egg on their faces. By the way, did they cut away from O’Keefe before he fininshed his interview? Oh, and felixw, the NY Post also referred to it as bugging. I assume you know that News Corp which owns fox also owns that rag, the NY Post so, did O’Keefe as for an apology from Ailes or Murdoch?

I’m sure MSNBC thought they’d learn that the whole scheme was financed by Richard Mellon Scaife through a Dubai holding company, which also has ties to Palestinian terrorists and that everything was put together by Dick Cheney via a secret phone inside his man-sized safe… or something that could be worth more than a brief mention by a legitimate news agency.

Hannity had O’Keefe on. Fox news did report on the arrest and the charges. MSNBC only covered Acorn after every other outlet in the country was doing it. Not quite the same.

I strongly suspect that a few of you have, like MSNBC, convicted these young men without benefit of evidence to support the allegations. I have not seen any evidence of a criminal conspiracy as of yet. Mostly, it appears as if these guys, in their youthful exuberance went about their efforts to expose Senatorial incompetence may have done a poor job of planing the actions.
In your exuberance to convict all things conservative, you may have chosen not to let facts get in the way.
Do you all work for MSNBC?
Young people have been doing stupid things to trip up “the man” for generations. It reminds me of our time in the 60′s and 70′s battling the establishment against all things perceived by us as evil.
RIGHT ON BROTHERS!!!!!!! POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!!!!!!

Yes, just like fox convicted ACORN. But, they weren’t charged with ANYTHING! And O’keefe is now “Young People”? This MAN tweeted in late December to “get ready for something big”. What do you suppose he was talking about? Exposing that Landrieu’s phones weren’t working? They were. As Keith said, when someone says phone lines are jammed, that doesn’t mean their broken. It means they’re being flooded with calls. Where’s the big story? It’s the ARREST OF THIS CLOWN!

Does it have to be mutually exclusive? Isn’t it possible that Acorn is corrupt, and that O’Keefe was in the wrong this time?

Aparently there is no ‘High Ground’ when it comes to the news

Absolutely writer. It would be nice to see the evidence presented in all of these cases. I strongly suspect that there will be no solid federal investigations of ACORN during this administration, but we may just see O’Keefe and friends get hammered by the feds.
I have ordered up plenty of pop corn and buttah in anticipation of some interesting entertainment.

Your point is reasonable, Writer. The fact that O’Keefe, now without the slimmest thread of credibility, “exposed” ACORN does tend to suggest that O’Keefe may have “exposed” very little as is so often the case with boisterous bad boys.

Pretzels with sea salt would have been a healthier alternative, Chuck, unless, of course you are given to choking on them.

I’m agreeing with you, Royal. Those Acorn women were brilliant actresses, deserving of an Oscar. The way they pretended to be corrupt, knowing they were being filmed, should be taught in film schools throughout the country. They didn’t even look into the camera. You can’t teach stuff like that. You have to be born with it.

Check you facts. No phone was bugged. No phone was tampered with. No phone was broken. No phone was destroyed. No wiretapping equipment was brought on site. NOTHING WAS DONE TO A PHONE. To spread these charges, when even the law enforcement official deny them is reprehensible and a gross disregard of journalistic ethics.

The only thing O’Keefe did was mislead a Senator. If that is a crime, what about when Senators mislead us? We would need 100 new jail cells immediately.

MSNBC is in complete meltdown. Olbermann’s obsession with O’Keefe is laughable since he hardly (if at all?) covered the ACORN corruption. Schuster convicting O’Keefe with his standard set of lies and over-the-top rhetoric. And now, this:

Chris Matthews Compares Conservative Republicans to Murderous Khmer Rouge Regime

And David Schuster today claims that most republicans are birthers.

And Giffin is just fine with this level of hatred on his air. Pathetic.

I have to say, Writer, you are affable and clever. Why don’t you call Beck and find out the location of Obama’s Re-Education Camp closest to you. I can probably arrange a tuition grant.

[Actually, I'd miss reasonable and calm input from the wrong side. It is so rare.]

My sincerity was genuine. I always dismiss things I see with my own eyes.

Not a Shuster claim, TfT. Polling data. http://www.dailykos.com/statepoll/2010/1/31/US/437

I tried being a liberal once, but couldn’t remember all the rules. Which groups can be stereotyped, which ones can’t. (I think white southerners are always a safe bet) Which religions can be mocked and which ones can’t. (Christianity is always safe. Maybe Jews, but only if you’re Jesse Jackson or Louis Farrakhan) And I’ll admit to a certain envy for Bill Maher and Arianna Huffington. I too would like to sympathize with all of those poor people from my mansion in Beverly Hills. Maybe I’ll try again when the rules come out in paperback.

TRRK,

Doesn’t your Kos poll state most republicans believe Pres. Obama was born in US? with 22 not sure meaning Shuster can’t be sure?

Or reading wrong?

First off, Razor’s Edge, don’t get snippy with me. It’s not my KOS poll, it’s an R2K poll. Secondly, anyone who reads poll results, particularly non-candidate poll results, without a high degree of skepticism is a fool. Answers to most of the questions in this poll would indicate trends, only. Thirdly, surely, the more appropriate means of describing the results would have been to say, “Of the Republicans polled who had an opinion ….” It would have been fine with me to have done so, but I know that is what the poll is saying without that crutch. Fourthly, the pool of people who identify themselves as Republicans is very shallow these days. I’m not sure how you could get a large enough sample to be representative of much. Lastly, it is a fair and accurate reading of these results, if you assign accuracy to the results, to say that Republicans tend towards political extremism. That means Republicans tend towards views not held by mainstream Americans. Not all Republicans, to be sure, but the evolution to the extreme continues.

So, in answer to your question, Shuster can fairly claim that of the identified Republicans who answered the residency question, most said Obama was not born in the US.

How is that different than a typical US election with low turnout. Most people in most elections have no opinion, but from the pool that had an opinion most people voted for Coolidge, not Davis.

A BBC reporter would probably have framed the question properly, but most Americans would have found the report laborious and tedious. I don’t. Shuster gave the News on a Bumper Sticker version, which most Americans seem to adore and find fault only when trying to squirm out of unwelcome bit of news.

TRRK,

Hahaha…snippy huh? Think you’re being too defensive. And I didn’t provide the R2K poll, you introduced it as evidence towards TFT.

So I looked at it. Which is why I assumed you linked it because you wanted us to.
I agree with a couple things you stated:

[anyone who reads poll results, particularly non-candidate poll results, without a high degree of skepticism is a fool]

and earlier you described Shuster as a journalist of which you also stated you don’t have particularly high regard for. But you defended Shuster.

So we agree that we at times should be highly skeptical of poll results and Shuster is a journalist and as a journalist that he should approach polls the same way. Even with more skeptisim because he’s a journalist and we’re not. (at least not me). If Shuster doesn’t take that approach, then he becomes just one of the many on FOx that you claim assume or distort facts.

I didn’t defend Shuster. I objected to the manner of the attack against him. I can agree with you, as well, Shuster can be too akin in style to FOX people.

ChickaBOOMer — MSNBC: The Place For Polemics
http://chickaboomer.blogspot.com/2010/02/msnbc-place-for-polemics.html

The media should be covering this more and we should be having congressional investigations now. If a democratic operative had been caught doing the same thing the republicans would be screaming treason or worse. Haul them before congress. One of them worked for a congressman so he should be familiar with the locale. I’m sure his old boss would be pleased to catch up.

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