"Baghdad Bob Spinning Like A Top Award": Salt Lake County GOP Cancels Keynote Address After New Orleans Arrest

OOPS!.. SL County GOP Chair is suddenly "scrambling" to find a substitute speaker

By Curmudgeon

This month, the covetedBaghdad Bob Spinning Like A Top Award goes to Salt Lake County Republican Party Chairman Thomas Wright. Mr. Wright and his party were, until this morning, proudly announcing that James O'Keefe [who went undercover playing a pimp to catch some ACORN folk giving illegal advice to him about tax dodging] would be the keynote speaker at the County's Lincoln Day Dinner [donations of $4000 or more got you time to schmooze with Mr. O'Keefe at a VIP reception, plus dinner and the speech.] Mr. Wright said Mr. O'Keefe would "inspire our party's passion for a grassroots comeback."

He's not saying that anymore. Yesterday, Mr. O'Keefe and three other conservative activists were arrested by the FBI while trying to bug the phones of Sen. Mary Landrieu inside a federal building in New Orleans [that's a felony charge, folks].

Mr. Wright announced this morning that Mr. O'Keefe will not be giving the keynote speech at the Lincoln Day Dinner after all. [The SL Trib says the SL County Chair is "scrambling" to find a substitute speaker. I'll just bet he is.] And Mr. Wright now says of Mr. O'Keefe [currently out on bail], who as recently as yesterday Wright described as a man who would help lead the Republican Party's grassroots resurgence, that "He doesn't necessarily represent the Republican Party."

We will present Mr. Wright with his Baghdad Bob Spin Award as soon as he stops rotating. It may take a while....

The story of Mr. O'Keefe's arrest and Mr. Wright's keynote speaker problems can be found in today's SL Trib here and here.