Patterico's Pontifications

4/9/2013

Mitch McConnell’s Office Bugged

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:03 pm

And he was caught — steel yourself — planning to campaign against Ashley Judd!!

He even discussed her possible weaknesses and ways to exploit them!!!

Meanwhile, after all the manufactured angst over James O’Keefe (not really) planning to bug a U.S. Senator, we now have someone who . . . actually did bug a U.S. Senator.

Cue the lefty outrage.

Because of the principles!

UPDATE: It is, of course, possible that McConnell was not bugged by the opposition, but that someone on his team (perhaps illegally) recorded the conversation. Hopefully the FBI can get to the bottom of it.

Comments (34)

34 Responses to “Mitch McConnell’s Office Bugged”

Jeez.
Patterico (9c670f) — 4/9/2013 @ 7:04 pm
‘they called it, the other Operation’
narciso (3fec35) — 4/9/2013 @ 7:05 pm
Cue the “Bush did it too” crowd in 3….2….1….

These people, and those that voted them in, make me sick. Fools every man Jack of ’em! Ptui!
PatriotRider (72dd92) — 4/9/2013 @ 7:14 pm
Those dirty, foul rethuglicans! How dare they discuss using publicly available information about Ashley Judd against her.

They should take the high road like Obama. And used what’s sealed in her private records against her.

http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2012-08-01.html

One month before the 2004 Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, Obama was down in the polls, about to lose to Blair Hull, a multimillionaire securities trader. But then the Chicago Tribune leaked the claim that Hull’s second ex-wife, Brenda Sexton, had sought an order of protection against him during their 1998 divorce proceedings.

Those records were under seal, but as The New York Times noted: “The Tribune reporter who wrote the original piece later acknowledged in print that the Obama camp had ‘worked aggressively behind the scenes’ to push the story.” Many people said Axelrod had “an even more significant role — that he leaked the initial story.”

As luck would have it, Obama’s opponent in the general election had also been divorced! school on the South Side of Chicago.

…Ryan would have walloped Obama in the Senate race. But at the request of — again — the Chicago Tribune, California Judge Robert Schnider unsealed the custody papers in Ryan’s divorce five years earlier from Hollywood starlet Jeri Lynn Ryan, the bombshell Borg on “Star Trek: Voyager.”

Jack Ryan had released his tax records. He had released his divorce records. But both he and his ex-wife sought to keep the custody records under seal to protect their son.

See? That’s how you run an ethical campaign, you GOP guttersnakes.
Steve57 (be3310) — 4/9/2013 @ 7:20 pm
if we threaten to put the LAPD swatter squad on the case maybe the bugger will just turn himself in
happyfeet (8ce051) — 4/9/2013 @ 7:28 pm
Corn, is the same fellow behind the ‘47%’ tape, and was in large part the architect behind the whole Plame brouhaha/
narciso (3fec35) — 4/9/2013 @ 7:31 pm
It probably wouldn’t even matter if the person who planted a bug was high ranking among the staff working to re-elect the President.

In one way the snarking is kind of funny, but in another way this is just a coping mechanism for something that is very, very wrong.

Justice for All or No Justice at All was the old saying.
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 4/9/2013 @ 7:32 pm
was in large part the architect behind the whole Plame brouhaha/
Comment by narciso (3fec35) — 4/9/2013 @ 7:31 pm

Really? In other words not just a partisan pain but a genuine enemy of the state who has disrupted the governing of the country and the conducting of war.
I’ll make sure never to buy another issue of Mother Jones.
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 4/9/2013 @ 7:36 pm
Yes, he was the one who said that Plame was a NOC, rather then an analyst, commuting to Langley, after having been burned by Aldrich Ames a decade before.
narciso (3fec35) — 4/9/2013 @ 7:38 pm
Just as Rush predicted, the MSM reporting has been about the horrible politicians plotting political things against a political opponent rather than the actual potential crime.

As if Ashley Judd was a serious…You know what? Neither do I. There is no point anymore. Our betters are so “smart” that they have finally figured out how to stop discussion or debate. You can’t argue with stupid.

Maybe it’s time we stopped.
Ag80 (f872ce) — 4/9/2013 @ 7:42 pm
Well, if he knows all about the spy industry maybe he planted it himself, hmmm?
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 4/9/2013 @ 7:42 pm
Comment by Ag80 (f872ce) — 4/9/2013 @ 7:42 pm

If they wanted to “just take their ball and go home” we could let them, in a hurry, even.
But they want to take our ball, and our home too.
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 4/9/2013 @ 7:45 pm
Lee Atwater Lee Atwater Lee Atwater…

Sorry, looks like I got Kman’s talking points by mistake…
SPQR (768505) — 4/9/2013 @ 7:45 pm
How was using info from her own book newsworthy? The fact she is scared of Mis-matched cereal boxes and pink fuzzy socks was hysterical.
JD (b63a52) — 4/9/2013 @ 7:57 pm
Mitch McConnell is boring plus he has too many chins and he looks like wilted oldpeople on television
happyfeet (8ce051) — 4/9/2013 @ 8:02 pm
That may be true, happy, but at least he’s not Harry Reid.
Ag80 (f872ce) — 4/9/2013 @ 8:06 pm
i like it that ashles is going back to being fluffy hollywood lint again

i really really liked Ruby in Paradise
happyfeet (8ce051) — 4/9/2013 @ 8:16 pm
Was it a staffer who recorded the meeting? Ithough I saw it on drudge
E.PWJ (1cedce) — 4/9/2013 @ 8:17 pm
Daniel Foster over at National Review Online spoofs this whole manufactured controversy.
JVW (4826a9) — 4/9/2013 @ 8:18 pm
I thought I saw on drudge it could have been a staffer from some group that recorded it..

or was it an episode of veep I get confused..

I agree with JD – how is her very public problems that are widely known considered not newsworthy or being mentioned in a campaign.

Have we had a naked senator besides Ted?
E.PWJ (1cedce) — 4/9/2013 @ 8:20 pm
Guys, you’re missing the point. It’s just more evidence that the angry, mean old white men of the GOP are still waging the “war on lady parts.”
Steve57 (be3310) — 4/9/2013 @ 8:20 pm
I don’t think I’m missing the point.
Ag80 (f872ce) — 4/9/2013 @ 8:21 pm
The trick, the Dems subcontract this out to the Journolist, or some deniable staffer, like the one who stole Steele’s credit report.
narciso (3fec35) — 4/9/2013 @ 8:23 pm
22.I don’t think I’m missing the point.

Comment by Ag80 (f872ce) — 4/9/2013 @ 8:21 pm

Then you realize the only thing Sen. McConnell and his aides should have been discussing in that strategy session was how best to congratulate Sen. Judd.

Because opposition to the Democratic party and its leftist agenda is always horrible, as in this case sexist, racist, homophobic, and really ought to be illegal.

As HHS Secretary Sebelius observed:

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/292531-sebelius-obamacare-rollout-more-complicated-than-anticipated

Speaking to students at the Harvard School of Public Health, Sebelius said implementation had been hampered both by the law’s slow roll out and red-state governors and legislators who have rejected state-run insurance exchanges.

“It is very difficult when people live in a state where there is a daily declaration, ‘We will not participate in the law,’ for them to figure out whether they are going to benefit,” Sebelius said.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/292531-sebelius-obamacare-rollout-more-complicated-than-anticipated#ixzz2Q1nb8yeO
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook

We have on tape more evidence of the evil reich wing refusing to “participate” in the law and support Judd for Senate.
Steve57 (be3310) — 4/9/2013 @ 8:36 pm
Yes, Steve57, I understand that completely.

I also understand the recording private conversations may be iffy in some jurisdictions.

I also understand that breaking and entering is different.

Have I entered some Bizarro Patterico world?
Ag80 (f872ce) — 4/9/2013 @ 8:43 pm
It’s not a Bizarro Patterico world. It’s just a bizzaro world.

http://thegeebus.blogspot.com/2007/05/david-corn-dramatic-testimony-did-white.html

David Corn: Dramatic Testimony: Did the White House Break the Law?

This David Corn chap once had a big problem with warrantless wiretapping.

Apparently he got over it.
Steve57 (be3310) — 4/9/2013 @ 9:21 pm
We don’t know that they recorded this illegally.
JD (b63a52) — 4/9/2013 @ 9:35 pm
27.We don’t know that they recorded this illegally.
Comment by JD (b63a52) — 4/9/2013 @ 9:35 pm

true, but as I heard McConnell’s office asked the FBI to look into it there is some question as to how it came to be

probably some child in a cookie monster suit suffering from Baader-Meinhof phenomenon who was just trying to find the site of the Congressional spelling bee
that was cancelled because of the sequestration
which is another Baader-meinhof thingy
yes, goodnight john boy
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 4/9/2013 @ 9:40 pm
gingrich was followed by a car full of democrat operatives and staffers from a Democrat rep in florida leaving a republican house retreat and recorded illegally during the 90’s thery were caught red handed

nothing happened
E.PWJ (1cedce) — 4/10/2013 @ 6:52 am
The comments at Mother Jones and HuffandBlow are surreal.
JD (b63a52) — 4/10/2013 @ 7:27 am
This is probably connected with the same group that secretly recorded Romeny in Florida because it became public the same way.

And it probably is more a double agent than a bug, even though abug can be planted by an insider. With a bug you have to make sure it is not detected and goes on automatically and so on.
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 4/10/2013 @ 1:44 pm
If they were to round up the usual suspects, Jim McDermott of Seattle would be asked to take a short ride to headquarters for a brief conversation. Baghdad Jim has made a career of wire-tapping activities, dating back to his days as a state legislator and senator in the 1970’s. Michelle Malkin had a summary of his monetary difficulties following his conviction for releasing Newt’s phone conversation in the late 1990’s. But this ended up being a minor inconvenience since he was a Democrat happily splashing in the Seattle cesspool where donors abound for those who “patriotically” harass opponents. So move along, there’s nothing to see here. And besides, there’s nothing we can do now anyway, right?
bobathome (c0c2b5) — 4/10/2013 @ 8:56 pm
It appears that things are evolving a mile a minute on this now, though who knows what will end up being the truth:

http://riehlworldview.com/2013/04/bombshell-progress-kentucky-super-pac-behind-mcconnell-bugging.html
http://riehlworldview.com/2013/04/the-vast-left-wing-conspiracy-from-zero-to-smearing-mitch-mcconnell-in-60-seconds.html

“Here’s the thing:”
In one way this should be easy by now. If there is any question as to what “they” are doing, read Alinsky.
Make an attack, double down on it, spread it into the cultural virtual atmosphere, do pre-emptive attacks on any counter-strike.
People who don’t bother thinking will believe it, people who do think will not follow it up because they’re tired of it and they have better things to do, but will be subconsciously biased anyway, at least to be less enthusiastic.

Resources focused on a few individuals or regions at a time, once marginalized and discredited, move on.

Whatever they are accusing a conservative of, know they are doing it first and to a much greater degree-
“They said something mean” is a pre-emptive cover for something libelous.

Though easy to figure it out, harder to combat, since it feeds into the human psyche’s worse elements to begin with.
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 4/11/2013 @ 12:20 pm
somebody came forward because otherwise the investigation would have been targeting the Democratic Party.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/12/us/politics/leaked-recording-of-mitch-mcconnell-about-ashley-judd-is-linked-to-pac.html?_r=0

…But on Thursday, Mr. McConnell’s suspicion seemed to be confirmed. A Democratic official in Kentucky said two activists had told him of secretly recording the meeting while in a hallway of Mr. McConnell’s re-election headquarters in Louisville.

“Apparently the gentlemen overheard the conversation and decided to record it with a phone or recording device they had in their pocket,” Jacob Conway, a Democratic Party county executive, told the NPR News station in Louisville.

Mr. Conway identified the activists as members of Progress Kentucky, a political action committee unaffiliated with a candidate. He told Fox News he was coming forward to protect the Democratic Party, after the Federal Bureau of Investigation began looking into the recording….
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 4/12/2013 @ 11:06 am

4/9/2013

Mitch McConnell’s Office Bugged

34 Responses to “Mitch McConnell’s Office Bugged”

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