Watergate redux

We all knew this was coming, well all of us except maybe the four 'morans'.

The phony filmmaker who doctored footage to make ACORN staffers look like criminals was guilty of criminal behavior then and lo and behold he is again.

This time the Federal Pen awaits.

From the New Orleans Times-Picayune:

Alleging a plot to tamper with phones in Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu's office in the Hale Boggs Federal building in downtown New Orleans, the FBI arrested four people Monday, including James O'Keefe, 25, a conservative filmmaker whose undercover videos at acorn field offices severely damaged the advocacy group's credibility.

Also arrested were Joseph Basel, Stan Dai and Robert Flanagan, all 24. Flanagan is the son of William Flanagan, who is the acting U.S. Attorney for the western district of Louisiana, the office confirmed. All four were charged with entering federal property under false pretenses with the intent of committing a felony.

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Here's some of the Twitter traffic on this:

There's a lot we still don't know about the four men implicated in the alleged attempt to bug sen. Mary Landrieu's phones yesterday, but a little-known organization called the Pelican Institute appears to be key to the story.

Located at 400 Poydras st. in downtown New Orleans -- half a block from Landrieu's office at 500 Poydras st. -- Pelican describes itself as a state policy think tank dedicated to advancing "sound policies based on the principles of free enterprise, individual liberty, and limited government."

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Another of the charged men, Robert Flanagan, works for Pelican, his attorney told the Times-Picayune. Flanagan allegedly dressed up a telephone repairman to infiltrate Landrieu's office.

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What appears to be his Linkedin profile says Flanagan was an intern for rep. Mary Fallin (r-OK) in Washington last year. Fallin spokeswoman Kathryn Bruns tells TPM that Flanagan was a "helpful guy." He attended Rhodes college in Memphis.

The Wall Street Journal opinion page published a glowing profile of Pelican and its leader, Kevin Kane, in August 2008[.]

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In yet another possible connection to the Landrieu case, Kane also blogs at Big Government, the Andrew Breitbart site.

Big Government is where O'Keefe's ACORN sting videos were posted, though Breitbart has said, "We have no knowledge about or connection to any alleged acts and events involving James O'Keefe at Senator Mary Landrieu's office."

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It gets better ...

A federal law-enforcement official said one of the suspects was picked up in a car a couple of blocks away with a listening device that could pick up transmission.

This is a flat out case of espionage against a member of Congress who sits on the Homeland Security Committee.

FBI affidavit against men who tried allegedly bug Senator Landrieu's office Read More......