The arrest of James O’Keefe (UPDATED WITH CLARIFICATION)

I can’t really add much more to what Michelle Malkin has said about the arrest of James O’Keefe, one half of the ACORN-exposing tag team, who – along with three other alleged “conservative activists” – was arrested yesterday on charges of attempting to wiretap [NOTE: See clarification below] Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office.

I fully believe in the concept of innocent until proven guilty, but the case against O’Keefe is pretty damning and all around it’s just a sad, disappointing story. Not only is it (obviously) wrong to try and wiretap someone’s office (that is, unless you’re an Islamofascist with known ties to terrorist outfits hell-bent on killing westerners), but of course the left and the MSM will try and probably be successful at using this story to detract from the real issues O’Keefe’s stings of the various ACORN offices brought to light. Nevermind the fact that we have a sitting Democrat US Congressman who proudly admitted to leaking a private, taped 1996 telephone call between then-Congressman Newt Gingrich and other House leaders to MSM reporters. That story was barely a blip on the radar. This one has already made national headlines because it involves conservatives targeting a Democrat office and that, apparently, is the only time a story on wiretapping a politician is worthy of wall to wall, round the clock coverage.

That said, it doesn’t change the substance and seriousness of both the story and the charges themselves. If these conservative activists are truly guilty for what they are charged, let justice be served.

Update – 10:56 AM: Multiple readers have emailed to point out that O’Keefe and the others who were arrested haven’t been charged with “attempting to wiretap” but rather entering the office “for the purpose of interfering with the office’s telephone system” – as Andrew Breitbart points out here. Still doesn’t sound good, but the actual charges are now noted for the record.

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