Was C-Span Caller A Prankster -- And Has He Done It Before?

How about a Golden Duke Award for the best prankster of the year? I nominate this guy. I think the most important story, however, is that Senator Barrasso didn't step up to the plate and say it is unconscionable to pray for someone to die.

Too funny, I suspect a British background for that guy. It's so Monty Python.

"Our small tea bag group"?

Did anyone think this wasn't a hoax?

Pretty funny.

What is amazing is that the Guest on the program is told by a caller that they just prayed for the death of someone who is an elected representative and one of their colleagues and the gust ignores this basic barbaric information. Imagine someone calls in to work and says that about a colleagues and one just ignore it. Astounding.
Sen. Barrasso should really be questioned regarding his basic civility.
Regardless of party, this is just unbelievable that the Senator does not say anything regarding a colleague in that situation. And is just astounding that the C-SPAN host does not comment or follow up on this point. It's really irrelevant if is a hoax or not. That is not the important story here TPM.

Just an aside, they did not seem totally the same voice. There is a very slight difference in tone and regional accent. Maybe those who are less familiar with the South would not notice as easily. But of course the same person could change tone/accept slightly, etc., or someone not too familiar with the accents would not be as consistent in their reproductions. Who knows...

I love this guy - Brooks was so flustered - Genius.

Though I don't live in the South, my parents are both from there and I've spent a lot of time there. I don't think these two calls are from the same person. It's possible but they actually have different cadence and delivery.

That aside, I can't believe Barrasso didn't deny that they were praying for a Dem member to die. He just went on to explain why Inhofe wasn't there. Had a real deer in the headlights look too. It was hillarious!!

Reminds me of the guys from Red State Update. They were big hits on youtube during the campaign.

Pretty obvious that it was a hilarious prank for the political junkie crowd. On the other hand, TPM ran a piece recently about how Tea Party groups were "taking back" the phrase "teabagger."

If it is two people, we could be seeing the beginning of a Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.

(*giggles*)

The real Bruno.

It's not the same voice. The aural qualities of the voice are different. The Jekyll Island caller had a gravelly quality. The Waycross caller didn't. It doesn't take a Georgia native, which I am, to detect the difference.

As a point of fact, Jekyll Island and Waycross are in the same southeast corner of Georgia.

The Waycross caller is pretty definitely hoaxing. Clue one is that he refers to his "teabag group." These people generally refer to themselves as "Tea Party" chapters as a tribute to the Boston Tea Party. Hint two is that prayer-is-power folks would never consider the suseppossibility of a "back firing" prayer vigil. They are positive that the omnipotent and all powerful force that they worship doesn't make "mistakes."

BINGO! I also remember a call wherein a codger sounding like a well-heeled, aged, Georgia 'cracker' said he was calling from the 'Georgia Club' which is a fairly elite business club atop one of the buildings in the 'Galleria Complex' in Cobb County just outside the northwestern city limits of Atlanta (very near where I live). I think it was just after the election and he said that he and his pals up "they-ah" in the 'Georgia Club' were trying to figure out "what could be done to remedy the situation"(paraphrasing from memory). I don't think there was a guest but rather just the C-Span morning viewer call-in. I believe the host was Steve Sculley. I can still see the 'studied' expressionlessness on his face. Very memorable. The 'perp' (assuming it was a hoax) was pretty damn good.

Gotta love the way politicians have NO IDEA what to do with the Teabaggers. Just like the way Jane Norton this week just sat there as locals called Obama a Muslim and other names ...

funny.but not the same guy.

This should be easy. Somebody reading this should have software to compare the spectrographs of the callers saying the same words.

I'm pretty sure this is the same guy calling in to Alexander Cockburn: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6yUUay11PY

I sent it to TPM, but they didn't post it.

He's surely a prankster, with an admirable ability to stay in the prank. An Ali G for the present moment. It's testimony to how nutty the GOP/tea partier folks are that the recipients of the pranks have to hem and haw as they navigate a response -- after all, it might really be a constituent or supporter

FYI my wife is a singer and quite good at picking out voices and inflections etc. For what it is worth she says that is the same man. She is almost never wrong.

She wouldn't look at the pictures and just had me replay the spool from one then another call in show. She says the timbre in his voice and the resonance are the same voice, even if he pitches it higher or lower.

Also it says so much about the times we live in that people believed it at first!

MD IV

same guy, and racists to the core. why does he have to mention that it is a club for millionaires? nobody would say that that actually belonged to a rich man's club. and why bring up the race issue. the man is mental.

Love it. When you speak with a southern drawl it lulls people into believing you're kind of simple and stupid.

I think I agree it's the same person. The pacing of his speech is pretty individual even if the accent varies. Happens to me when I visit New Orleans.

In his defense, it appeared to me that Barasso was so stunned he couldn't get his thoughts together (went off into repeating talking points). There are two times when he really looks like he's trying to say something about it but can't come up with anything. But I suspect the main reason he couldn't respond is because he is part of that wingnut fundamentalist "Christian" hate machine that actually does pray for people to die. How much you wanna bet he did pray hard for his colleague's death the night before? That's what those people do. (I'm in the Bible belt. I've seen it.)

The great thing about the David Brooks call is his whole existence is based upon keeping rich white men rich and getting richer but he pretends he's looking out for everyone's best interests. The caller brings him face to face with the people his life's work protects and the reality of who they are. All of us non-millionaires are the "coloreds" these days and we are definitely not allowed in the club.