With the right it really is deja vu all over again. Tuesday federal officials charged four men with plotting to tamper with the phone system of Louisiana Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu. Conservative filmmaker James O'Keefe was one of the men charged in the break-in.
You may remember O'Keefe. He reached a level of notoriety after dressing as a pimp and secretly recording members of the community group ACORN as he asked for advice on how to set up a brothel. While some employees took the bait (and were promptly fired by ACORN once the incident was brought to their attention), despite the public fury the group was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing. However, that didn't stop 31 House Republicans from signing a resolution in O'Keefe's honor in connection with the ACORN stunt stating that O'Keefe and his partner "displayed exemplary actions as government watchdogs and young journalists" and "are owed a debt of gratitude by the people of the United States. Seriously.
If this sounds familiar, it should. The Watergate scandal was the result of a break-in into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington D.C. As news of the scandal broke, Watergate veteran and MSNBC contributor Pat Buchanan brushed the incident off as a youthful prank.
No, Buchanan. This is not a youthful prank. It's a felony. A couple of them, actually.
Buchanan's response, and the O'Keefe's earlier embrace by Republican lawmakers illustrates a disturbing and dangerous trend by the right-- the use and defense of blatant lawlessness as a means to a political ends.
As of yet those 31 Republicans have yet condemn this crime or pull their support for their resolution lauding O'Keefe. This is simply unacceptable, unless of course they stand by those kinds of actions and in fact endorse this kind of behavior. Let's find out for sure. Sign the Care2 petition and demand they withdraw their support for their resolution and condemn the crimes in no uncertain terms.
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Republicans would be screaming out loud if the shoe were on the other foot.
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