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October 10, 2011 04:50 PM UTC

Yet Another Agent Provocateur

  • 21 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

It doesn’t directly pertain to Colorado politics, but this story at the Washington Post has to be one of the most appalling incidents by a young conservative “activist” we’ve ever read.

And with the Occupy (Your Town Here) protests ramping up around the country, people should be paying very close attention to this kind of thing:

A conservative journalist has admitted to infiltrating the group of protesters who clashed with security at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum on Saturday – and he openly claims to have instigated the events that prompted the museum to close.

Patrick Howley, an assistant editor at the American Spectator, says that he joined the group under the pretense that he was a demonstrator. “As far as anyone knew I was part of this cause – a cause that I had infiltrated the day before in order to mock and undermine in the pages of The American Spectator,” Howley wrote…

Howley was determined to escalate the protest further. “I wasn’t giving up before I had my story,” he writes, describing how he continued to rush past security into the museum itself. “I strained to glance behind me at the dozens of protesters I was sure were backing me up, and then I got hit again, this time with a cold realization: I was the only one who had made it through the doors….So I was surprised to find myself a fugitive Saturday afternoon, stumbling around aircraft displays with just enough vision to keep tabs on my uniformed pursuers. ‘The museum is now closed!'”

Howley, in fact, chides the protesters for not taking his lead and rushing into the museum after being pepper-sprayed. “In the absence of ideological uniformity, these protesters have no political power. Their only chance, as I saw it, was to push the envelope and go bold. But, if today’s demonstration was any indicator, they don’t have what it takes to even do that.”

At the same time, Howley criticizes the movement as being “disruptive,” even as he personally helped catalyzed the shutdown of a national museum…

So, young Patrick Howley of the American Spectator couldn’t convince protesters outside the National Air and Space Museum to “go bold,” by which he meant charging the security at the museum and trespassing inside. So he did it himself. As the only “protester” who made it past museum security, Howley is the reason that the museum was forced to close.

None of which appeared in Sunday’s nationwide coverage of the shutdown of the Air and Space Museum–the story of Howley’s incitement and solo trespassing was in the next news cycle.

But now that the facts have come out, Howley’s story about his actions is circulating with a very different reception. Although he was evidently proud of what he had done, it’s pretty easy to understand why most people, even fellow conservatives, are horrified. Much like fellow young conservative “gotcha” artist James O’Keefe, Howley seems perfectly fine fabricating an embarrassment if he doesn’t stumble on one where he expects to. This is well beyond merely outrageous, this was a deliberate attempt to incite lawlessness where none existed.

Anyway, folks, if you find yourself at the Occupy Denver encampment (or anywhere else for that matter), and some well-dressed preppy white kid tells you to do something you know is wrong, for God’s sake, start asking questions and taking photos. A good place to start comparing photos would be the Facebook page of the Colorado Federation of College Republicans.

At least you can’t say you were not warned now. These people are out there, and they can be expected to step up this activity in proportion–or disproportion–to the success of the protests.

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21 thoughts on “Yet Another Agent Provocateur”

  1. Brilliant:

    “…some well-dressed preppy white kid starts telling you to do something you know is wrong, for God’s sake, start asking questions and taking photos…”

    Checking out the pics on the College Republicans’ Facebook page is priceless!

    The so-called conservatives who pull these pranks stain otherwise decent people who share some of the same beliefs. My daughter and I argue constantly (and on some occasions, on the topic) that not all republicans are hate-filled, lying scum, but we rarely find any contemporary prominent examples.

    Thanks for reporting on this here!

  3. Next news flash:  Earth revolves around sun! Back in 2004 when my then college kid was working on Kerry campaign they (the Dems) spent most of their time cleaning up after Young Repubs dirty tricks, including massive leaving of flyers giving out wrong info for polling place, dates etc. to Dems and Dem leaning demos. Incidents of similar attempted dirty tricks on same campus by young Dems?  Zero.  

  5. Krugman op-ed in today’s New York Times.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10…

    Panic of the Plutocrats

    It remains to be seen whether the Occupy Wall Street protests will change America’s direction. Yet the protests have already elicited a remarkably hysterical reaction from Wall Street, the super-rich in general, and politicians and pundits who reliably serve the interests of the wealthiest hundredth of a percent.

    . . .

    What’s going on here? The answer, surely, is that Wall Street’s Masters of the Universe realize, deep down, how morally indefensible their position is. They’re not John Galt; they’re not even Steve Jobs. They’re people who got rich by peddling complex financial schemes that, far from delivering clear benefits to the American people, helped push us into a crisis whose aftereffects continue to blight the lives of tens of millions of their fellow citizens.

    Yet they have paid no price. Their institutions were bailed out by taxpayers, with few strings attached. They continue to benefit from explicit and implicit federal guarantees – basically, they’re still in a game of heads they win, tails taxpayers lose. And they benefit from tax loopholes that in many cases have people with multimillion-dollar incomes paying lower rates than middle-class families.

    This special treatment can’t bear close scrutiny – and therefore, as they see it, there must be no close scrutiny. Anyone who points out the obvious, no matter how calmly and moderately, must be demonized and driven from the stage.

    Waiting to hear from ArapaGOP about just how liberally slanted this county’s corpratist media is . . .  

    1. They’re Barack Obama.

      Despite his rhetorical attacks on Wall Street, a study by the Sunlight Foundation’s Influence Project shows that President Barack Obama has received more money from Wall Street than any other politician over the past 20 years, including former President George W. Bush.

    2. I think this exuberant youngster went a little too far and should be disciplined by his employer. This rabble doesn’t need to be set up to be discredited, they don’t have a message and don’t know what they stand for. Unlike the Tea Party, which has a focused agenda and message, “OWS” is all over the map.

      Having said that, I think this is being somewhat misrepresented by the left. From Howley’s blog:

      http://spectator.org/blog/2011…

      Roughly one hundred protesters marched on the Air and Space Museum Saturday, following a planned assembly held the night before in Freedom Plaza. At that assembly, the “Action Committee” for the protest movement organized by October2011.com suggested storming the museum in order to state their opposition to American militarism, which they perceive as a root cause of the federal deficit.

      It looks like the leftists and anarchists chickened out on their plans at the last minute, and this kid was blinded by pepper spray and unable to see that nobody was with him. This seems plausible to me, and while it does not fully excuse his behavior, it’s not fair to say that he was “leading” the protesters.

          1. That being validated by you is not my goal. If your intention is to lord one offhand remark for which I immediately apologized over me forever, it will quickly become tiresome to other readers and you will look quite petty.

            VoteVets is not a veterans organization, it is a Democrat political group masquerading as a veterans group to dodge accusations of partisanship. They call themselves a veterans group for the exact purpose of people like you putting on the mantle of veterans to deflect the rightful charge that VoteVets is a partisan political group, with the sole purpose of electing Democrats and attacking Republicans. Because of this, VoteVets does not have the credibility of the Veterans of Foreign Wars or other legitimate organizations.

            You will get no apology for that.

        1. Is pointing out his assertion that the idea to “storm” the National Air and Space Museum was not his. That was, according to him, the purpose of the march, and the liberals chickened out.

          You can take that however you want, but it should at least be responded to while you rage at his bad form. Which, please note, I agree was bad form.

          1. Wouldn’t your first thought be to doubt anything this guy is saying?  He singlehandedly storms the museum and causes it to close – don’t you think he’s still looking to pin this on the protesters somehow?  Especially since he admitted to being a provocateur in the first place?

      3. because this is full of all the official tripe.

        Republican lawbreaker is just “exuberant” – check.

        “No message/no agenda” talking point – check.

        Dehumanizing comment about liberals – check.

        Republican lawbreaker’s testimony is presented as worthy of inclusion, as though his lawlessness didn’t discredit him immediately – check.

        With the bingo square in the middle, I think I just won a prize.

  6. I assume American Spectator is a serious journal which aspires to be held to journalistic ethics.

    Journalists report news, they don’t make it, an this punk crossed the line.

    1. Either they fire him and apologize for his unauthorized behavior, assuming it was unauthorized, or they can no longer be considered a serious publication with even minimal standards. And, incidentally, Krugman is also exactly right.  

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