In a “breaking news” article posted online last night, American Spectator editor Patrick Howley admitted to having infiltrated the Action Committee protest and being a key participant, and perhaps instigator, of the group that tried to gain entry into the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum yesterday afternoon. Howley, pictured right, recounts his foray into group, having started the day before and ending with a face full of pepper spray. “But as far as anyone knew I was part of this cause — a cause that I had infiltrated the day before — and I wasn’t giving up before I had my story,” wrote Howley as to his reasons for going as far as he did.
According to Howley, the protest march of roughly 100, traveling from Freedom Plaza towards the Air and Space Museum, had lost much of its steam once the crowd reached its doors. At that point the group split into two, the vast majority of “lefties” staying behind, while approximately ten continued forward to rush the entrance and try to hang banners inside. Howley purports that he was the only protester who reached the inner sanctum, before being pepper sprayed and chased outside. He was not detained or arrested.
Although it is unclear if he directly propelled the group to charge the museum entrance, several editorial outlets have labeled him as an “instigator” and “agent provocateur” of the incident.
Despite assertions that he had purely “journalistic purposes” behind his actions and article, one can’t help but be disappointed by the badge of honor he claims from being being sprayed and closing down a museum:
As I scrambled away from the scene of my crime, a police officer outside the museum gates pointed at my eyes, puffed out his chest, and shouted: “Yeah, that’s right. That’s right.” He was proud that I had been pepper-sprayed, and, oddly, so was I. I deserved to get a face full of high-grade pepper, and the guards who sprayed me acted with more courage than I saw from any of the protesters. If you’re looking for something to commend these days in America, start with those guards.
