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Fox Speaks Up for Busted ACORN Pimp

US attorney's son among 'Louisiana Watergate' suspects

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 27, 2010 3:44 AM CST

(Newser) – Fox News has warned against jumping to conclusions after the man it would like to make a folk hero was busted for allegedly tampering with the phones in Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's offices. The arrest of James O'Keefe "probably needs a lot of context and a lot of looking into," Fox news editor Tim Gaughan cautioned. O'Keefe posed as a pimp last year to capture on film an ACORN worker giving financial advice to him and a cohort posing as a hooker. The film, heavily promoted on Fox, seriously damaged the activist group's reputation.

O'Keefe and three henchmen who arrived at Landrieu's New Orleans offices dressed as telephone repairmen were arrested on felony charges. O'Keefe's alleged accomplices include Robert Flanagan, son of the acting US attorney for the western district of Louisiana, Gawker notes. All four have written for conservative publications. O'Keefe spoke at the conservative Pelican Institute days before his arrest, AP reports.

[Images (3)]

[Videos (1)]

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James O'Keefe speaks with the media while getting into a taxi cab after being released from the St. Bernard Parish jail in Chalmette, La., yesterday. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Stan Dai, left, and James O'Keefe walk out of the St. Bernard Parish jail in Chalmette, La., yesterday. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Conservative activist Joseph Basel waits for a taxi cab after being released from the St. Bernard Parish jail in Chalmette, La., yesterday. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

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Local station WDSU-TV reports on the arrest of the four conservative activists. (WDSU-TV)

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Veritas. The truth shall set me free. - James O'Keefe, yesterday upon leaving jail

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 41 comments

atomick

Feb 1, 2010 9:09 AM CST

So, you want to play a little game of "Let's mock the convicted felon" . . . do you sidewinder? What makes you think that would be a good idea to stir that turd with your tiny little stick? No. I'm not a convicted felon. But I do know first hand what it's like to experience that first hand in this country, and I can't wait for this litte twit to get his turd stirred. . . . figuratively speaking, of course.

WHSteinlauf1

Jan 28, 2010 12:46 PM CST

Mr. O'Keefe deserves a Congressional Medal of Honor, a Purple Heart, a State Dinner, and the indivisible RESPECT of ALL True Americans! Period ~ !!!

riffran

Jan 28, 2010 5:58 AM CST

your source for those stats?...let me geuss Liberal News network, the STAR, ?

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Gawker (Source Grid »)
Associated Press (Source Grid »)

Politics • Crime & Courts • Media

Louisiana • Fox News • Mary Landrieu • Acorn • James O'Keefe • Robert Flanagan • Stan Dai • Joseph Basel • Acorn pimp • Landrieu bugging

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(NEWSER) - Sen. Mary Landrieu says the acting US attorney for western Louisiana should be "terribly disappointed" by his son's arrest in an alleged Watergate-style phone tampering plot at her New Orleans office. It's "very disconcerting" that Robert Flanagan, the son of a top federal official, is among the four men accused, she noted. “This isn’t a child; this is 24-year-old. I’m sure his parents are terribly disappointed—they most certainly should be,” Landrieu told Politico . More»

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4 Phone Plotters Tied to Conservative Campus Groups

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(USER SUBMITTED) - The men accused of trying to wiretap Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's phones share a common experience—writing for conservative publications. Federal authorities said the men posed as telephone workers when they walked into the senator’s office inside a federal building in New Orleans. James O'Keefe, already known for his sting operations at ACORN offices, and Joseph Basel both launched their own conservative publications in college. More»

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(NEWSER) - Onetime buddy Glenn Beck yesterday joined the ranks of conservatives distancing themselves from James O'Keefe, young right-wing hero turned suspected Watergate-style spy. O'Keefe, 25, and 3 cohorts were hit with felony telephone tampering charges when they were busted dressed as repairmen in Sen. Mary Landrieu's New Orleans offices earlier this week. "If they were doing that, it's Watergate," Beck said yesterday. More»

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Fox Speaks Up for Busted ACORN Pimp