The suspect was reportedly a disgruntled progressive activist employed by Russ Carnahan. An unnamed source familiar with the case released the information. Suspect Chris Powers reportedly was upset because he did not get paid so he firebombed the Carnahan finance offices at 2 in the morning.
What a complete shock.
Here’s alleged suspect and Chris Powers raising Cain at Carnahan’s infamous August 2009 townhall:
He’s said to also blog anonymously at Talking Points Memo and described himself as a former journalist. Sources say that Powers has allegedly denied the charges and that the FBI were/are involved. I really hope, for Powers’ sake, that it really is as a listener suggested: just a case of a Carnahan staffer having a bong mishap.
Did the Carnahan camp know this possible truth and consent by silence to the media’s attempt to trump this up as a tea party incident? If this is true, doesn’t this make the fourth incident in which people associated with the Carnahan campaign have run afoul of the law and have engaged in illegal behavior? Why didn’t the Russ Carnahan campaign correct the narrative of the local alternative weekly and Jake Wagman’s subtle suggestion that it was a tea partier? Because he’s in the campaign of his life and is desperate for anything, even the sympathy vote?
The alternative weekly’s heinously irresponsible “blogger” – who once admitted, in print, his inability to vet his posts because he lacked the skills to write ten posts a day and be accurate – and the daily’s Jake Wagman need to issue retractions and clarifications, respectively, and the Russ Carnahan campaign needs to issue an apology for allowing this charade to be pinned on the very people whom he seeks to represent.
Following this story and will update as it develops.
*Adam Sharp has video of his asking Rep. Carnahan about Chris Powers:
and more footage of the infamous August 2009 townhall.
*On further thought – if this is all true I hope Powers gets the help and assistance he needs to not be used in such a manner by a political campaign.
Police have released a man taken into custody Tuesday in connection with a firebombing at the campaign office of U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan.
The man, whose name was not made public, was let go after the prosecutor’s office declined to immediately issue charges. The case was “taken under advisement” by the prosecutor, a step that can mean more evidence is needed before a case can be made.
Does reporter Jake Wagman know what a “firebomb” is? From what I’ve seen of the carefully controlled photos in circulation, this looks nothing like the damage caused by such incendiary devices.
When I went by the building this morning I got a weird vibe. I saw a campaign worker coming out of the back of the office with big Bread Company to-go bags. I jokingly said, “Are you with Bread Company or the Carnahan campaign?” He said, “Bread Company,” then tossed the bags in the dumpster and went to the front of the building, presumably back in the office. Weird.
(I talked to a reporter at another station who worked on this story who told me when she was there, she met a campaign worker outside the building who also denied being associated with the campaign. When she went inside to talk to a spokesperson, she saw that person who denied being with the campaign IN Carnahan’s office.)
Firefighters responded after witnesses called about hearing broken glass and later smelling smoke at the office in the 7000 block of Chippewa Street in south St. Louis.
… that sounds infinity times more massive than what we see in the photos.
Who put out the fire? The fire department? Who reported the witness? Was he apprehended at home, where was he taken into custody? I wish we had these thing called journalists to report these facts.
Russ Carnahan may be a bad congressman, but he’s our bad congressman and if someone is bombing offices of elected officials in St. Louis then I want to see a federal investigation and that person shipped off to jail. No joke. In fact, I think an investigation is warranted considering it’s a FEDERAL OFFENSE to do such a thing to the office of an elected official.
*Aimee writes: Either his staff spilled their bong and are trying to cover it up or his team is stupid enough to think they can bait James O’Keefe types to dig through his dumpster. Someone give them their own reality show.
Police have arrested a 50-year-old man in connection with what appears to be a firebombing that caused minor damage at the campaign headquarters of U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-St. Louis.
Firefighters responded after witnesses called about hearing broken glass and later smelling smoke at the office in the 7000 block of Chippewa Street in south St. Louis.
Carnahan’s Republican contender condemned the attack. Excerpt from a press release:
“I was disheartened to hear reports tonight of a suspected arson attack at Congressman Carnahan’s campaign headquarters. While there is obviously a lot of angst and frustration among voters – violence is never the answer! We must all work together to establish a peaceful and prosperous political process. I’m glad to learn police already have a suspect in custody,” said congressional candidate Ed Martin.
The daily reports that a motive is not clear at this time. I’d like to hear what was. A sad story.
Sidenote: I take issue with this in Jake Wagman’s reporting:
Carnahan is weathering a tumultuous political environment. A year ago, several people were arrested at a Carnahan town hall forum after a fracas broke out between protesters and Carnahan supporters.
No. Protesters were harassed by people who identified themselves as Carnahan volunteers and people not even of the 3rd district, OFA bussed people in who were loud and disruptive at the meeting (I know, because they assumed me and the veteran who attended the townhall with me were with OFA and snuck us through the side door), and Carnahan supporters attacked a man they profiled as being a conservative. I and others have endless video and photographic footage of the evening. The “fracas” came from Carnahan supporters and there isn’t a police report or eyewitness that has stated otherwise. To report otherwise is disingenuous and the omission of the above implies that those targeted at the townhall contributed to the “fracas” and whether Wagman intended it or not, further implies that the “fracas” could be linked to the firebombing and that the perpetrator could be a tea partier. Also not cool.
“… has been dragged through the mud and has had to prove she’s not a racist. This can happen to anyone and it’s not right. Imagine it happening to you.”
… House Democratic leaders took a different tack: One senior aide has been circulating a document to the media that debunks the effort as one driven by corporate lobbyists and attended by neo-Nazis…
In addition, the tea parties are “not really all about average citizens,” the document continues, saying neo-Nazis, militias, secessionists and racists are attending them.
Oh. Right. The left believes freedom is only found on the Democrat plantation, it doesn’t fit the media’s narrative.
As I said on King last night, apparently, I’m one of few who’s actually read the original post, watched the original video, and watched the entire 45-minute-15-second video in its entirety. Some points.
– People need to get out a dictionary and look up “exculpatory.”
– The original post and video was to highlight the applause of discrimination towards a white farmer. It was given in context.
– The original video was not “doctored” nor “out of context,” and the irony is that those making such statements are actually taking the context away from its original presentation. Sherrod was building to a lesson in her speech – but went on later in her speech to talk about how people who support HCR are racist, essentially. It’s at 23:53 in. Look, I did your homework for you.
Transcript:
“I Haven’t seen such mean-spirited people as I’ve seen lately over this issue of health care. Some of this racism we thought was buried didn’t it surface?” Now we endured eight years of the Bushes and we didn’t do the stuff that these Republicans are doing because you have a black president.”
Um … soooo people who wanted to make their own medical decisions over their own bodies were doing it because they were racist?
While I’m continuing to do your homework and critical thinking for you, check this at 25:00 in:
“I couldn’t say 45-years ago, I couldn’t stand here and say what I will say to you tonight … God helped me to see that it’s not just about black people, it’s about poor people.”
Why can’t it just be about PEOPLE? PEOPLE, PERIOD?
Sherrod is using race to stoke class warfare and promote Marxist principles. The dude from the Daily Beast on last night’s panel committed a massive facepalm when he tried to deny this in defense of Sherrod but went on to parrot her remarks as a way to push the need for economic equality.
You don’t achieve equality by tearing everyone down equally. You promote equality by giving people the opportunity to exercise their free will and make of themselves what they will. You promote equality by not killing school choice by way of vouchers, or killing small business with penalties via health control.
This began because the left is losing in the arena of public opinion.
They’re losing because people now see the full scope of their policies:
So they double-down on race and make an already hyper-paranoid state of racial awareness even crazier. In a rock-throwing fight in a climate they created, they took out one of their political own. The White House, the USDA fired Sherrod, not Andrew Breitbart, not Fox News, not anyone else.
Liberals, unable to hold a government in which they’ve invested the entirety of their credibility, deflect and attack conservatives for holding the story up – not their own ideology which tried to spear a movement which now encompasses half the country and has gone mainstream – so they don’t have to implicate their own rhetoric. Doing so would mean they have to back down and debate their policies on merit, and, as you can see from the accumulating public opinion, you’re not going to convince folks to support big government and wasteful spending.
It also shows the litmus test of the left: they’re only willing to come to the aid of a black American if that American shares their liberal ideology. Obama didn’t call Kenneth Gladney after he was beaten, he didn’t call Cedra Crenshaw when the Chicago machine got scared of a conservative black woman entering their ring and tried to run her (unsuccessfully) off the ballot.
The grassroots movement shares more in common with the communities that the left tries to exploit than the left shares with them. All of this is smoke and mirrors to obfuscate the truth.
That’s not empowering, liberating, freeing, nor choice.
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