No Runny Eggs

You’ve probably heard about the arrest of James O’Keefe of ACORN scandal fame.  He and several associates were arrested at Senator Mary Landrieu’s office.  Several of the original reports suggested that O’Keefe and his companions were attempting to bug or wire tap Landrieu’s phones.  It turns out that reporting wasn’t exactly accurate.

According to Patterico, the affidavit filed said nothing about bugging, intercepting or wire tapping.  It did talk about an allegation that they attempted to access the phone equipment closet.

Patterico guesses:

I believe they pretended to try to access the telephone closet, to tape the reaction of officials: “Why? It’s not like there’s a problem with the phones in Sen. Landrieu’s office!”

I think Patterico is on to something. 

With Landrieu getting the “Louisiana Purchase” and the heat of the placebocare debate, there is no doubt that Landrieu’s office was being swamped with phone calls.  My personal experience with Senators that didn’t have the profile of Landrieu is that for the several weeks prior to Scott Brown’s election, your odds of getting someone to answer your call were slimmer than getting to talk to Rush Limbaugh. 

Thinking about O’Keefe’s warped sense of humor I think they had been working to see how many times they could get through to Landrieu’s office.  Finding that the number was only fractionally above zero, they set up the scenario in Landrieu’s office where they would feign working on the phone system under the guise of numerous reports from constituents that the phone system was broken.  I’m sure they would have gotten responses on tape denying any malfunction of the phone system and O’Keefe would have his “gotcha” moment.

Hey, I didn’t claimed it was great theatre but I think I’m on the right track.  I’m hoping for O’Keefe’s sake that it is that simple.  It would be good to have a quick end to this for O’Keefe.

Update:  I’m so damn smart!  From Hotair.com

The government has now confirmed what has always been clear: No one tried to wiretap or bug Senator Landrieu’s office. Nor did we try to cut or shut down her phone lines. Reports to this effect over the past 48 hours are inaccurate and false. …
I learned from a number of sources that many of Senator Landrieu’s constituents were having trouble getting through to her office to tell her that they didn’t want her taking millions of federal dollars in exchange for her vote on the healthcare bill. When asked about this, Senator Landrieu’s explanation was that, “Our lines have been jammed for weeks.” I decided to investigate why a representative of the people would be out of touch with her constituents for “weeks” because her phones were broken. In investigating this matter, we decided to visit Senator Landrieu’s district office – the people’s office – to ask the staff if their phones were working.