The Spectacle Blog
O'Keefe's ACORN Expose' Moves to DC
Glenn Beck is extremely angry (so am I) over the formerly mainstream media's complicity in ACORN's widespread lawlessness.
Glenn Beck is extremely angry (so am I) over the formerly mainstream media's complicity in ACORN's widespread lawlessness. After yesterday's revelations of the group's willingness to facilitate prostitution, child trafficking, tax evasion, etc., etc. in Baltimore, the lackeys for the community organizer-in-chief made the story about Fox News and conservatives in an uproar. Starting with the Baltimore Sun:
ACORN, which provides services to the needy, emerged as a target of Republicans during the 2008 presidential campaign, when it was accused of submitting fraudulent voter registration cards in several states. Although officially nonpartisan, the organization tends to serve poor and minority communities that traditionally vote Democratic.
Posted online Thursday, the video made waves, particularly in conservative circles. Although it first appeared on a Web site called Big Hollywood (actually Big Government), (ACORN-Maryland lead organizer Stuart) Katzenberg said it was part of a "coordinated" campaign by FOX News to damage ACORN. He could not offer evidence to support his claim, and a spokeswoman for FOX News said the allegations were without merit.
CNN Sucks casts doubt about the veracity of the Big Government videos and that not every ACORN chapter supports prostitution and trafficking:
The video footage -- which has been edited and goes to black in some areas -- was recorded and posted online Thursday by James O'Keefe, a conservative activist. He was joined on the video by another conservative, Hannah Giles, who posed as the prostitute in the filmmakers' undercover sting....
Scott Levenson, a spokesman at ACORN's national offices said, "The portrayal is false and defamatory and an attempt at 'gotcha journalism.'
"This film crew tried to pull this sham at other offices and failed. ACORN wants to see the full video before commenting further," Levenson said.
The conservative filmmakers unsuccessfully attempted similar ruses at the group's offices in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Los Angeles, California, and New York, Levenson said.
Since when do news organizations that follow AP style fully spell out state names after major cities? Looks to me like they want O'Keefe's and Giles's efforts to look like they failed in five places, not three -- if indeed that's what happened. The Stylebook calls for Philly and L.A. to be identified alone -- after all, everyone (except for those in Jay Leno's "Jaywalkers" segments) knows what states they are in.
As for the New York Times and Washington Post, they both failed to devote any reporting resources to the story and instead ran limited AP versions. All outlets (as far as I can tell) other than Fox News and conservative talk radio largely ignored the story for a full day (a lifetime in Webville) and when they did cover it, they made the story as much about O'Keefe and Giles as it was about ACORN. It all gives the impression of the left-media being dragged into yet another story it didn't want to cover.
And today, here we go again. O'Keefe and Giles traveled down to DC and found more ACORN trafficking and prostitution enablers. Sick.
And for you in the formerly mainstream media, that's Baltimore, Maryland, and Washington, District of Columbia. We'll check out what you have to say in the a.m.
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Pete| 9.11.09 @ 12:54PM
Just a few bad apples...in every office, in every state where they operate. As corrupt as the master they serve, these clowns. Keep hammering on this and maybe, just maybe, some of their billions in federal funding will get pulled. Of course the sick joke in all of this is that they are using taxpayer money to fight off all of the criminal charges they face in court.
Dixie Pixie| 9.11.09 @ 12:55PM
OH Goody. Just because a video is edited means the resulting story is false. Is it just me or is MSM trying to confess to putting out propaganda as news stories.
J. Starr| 9.11.09 @ 1:25PM
The full (unedited) videos and transcripts of the Baltimore visits are on the Big Government site. ACORN got pwnd, deservedly so.
michelle| 9.11.09 @ 1:27PM
Bush did some crazy things abroad but not so much at home and everything bush did he was trying to protect us.
Obama on the other hand is trying to screw us on every front including our home front. This will go down in history as the worst and most damaging administration in the history of our country. The scary part is the news everyone reads is not reporting any of this.
dog| 9.11.09 @ 1:40PM
do you like the idea of your tax money going to support people who conducted widespread voter fraud and were happy to help set up a child prostitution ring?
Gotta wonder if this is what Hussein had in mind when he taught them how to organize...
wbfrank| 9.11.09 @ 1:51PM
I would like to see all the Dems who think this is a sick sham to call, e-mail, fax their Representative and Senators. I would like them to tell those people in D.C. that they will ALL be replaced in 2010 and 2012 if they do nothing about this.
Then we should all fax, e-mail etc the major networks who do not report fairly and let them know. And the sponsors of these programs and their CEO's. Let's get active!
Marc Jeric| 9.11.09 @ 1:59PM
Translation: community organizations = system of local soviets or block committees as known in the communist countries; White House policy coordinators or czars = komissars in actual control of federal departments policies.
Thomas M. Evans| 9.11.09 @ 2:31PM
I guess Mr. O'Keefe and Ms. Miles "lied" because of edited video which confirmed the corrupt nature of ACORN. Don't hold your breath that Mr. Holder will go after ACORN on RICO grounds. What a shame! When will this country wake up to this Marxist Administration and demand fealty to our Constitution.
Mark| 9.11.09 @ 2:48PM
Its time to have a closer look at every deal they closed across every state they operate in. Are these the same group that the government awarded them the 2010 census contract? God help America
Pingback| 9.11.09 @ 3:26PM
Twitter Trackbacks for The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : O'Keefe's ACORN Expose' links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 9.11.09 @ 4:55PM
More ACORN Support for Trafficking « Man in God's Image links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
jr| 9.11.09 @ 6:09PM
Thanks to the two (or more) who had the guts to do this. Isn't it amazing that two numbnuts with spunk can flip the bird at the "community organizers" with homemade thoughts and camera. And jerks like those at ABCNBCCNNCBSNPRLATNYTMSNBC make millions peddling their cr*p, love, tingles, and devotion to the Zero, Empty Suit, One, and Messiah? Did I last 10 years too long to see this destruction? Someone please tell me about the last days that Obama has planned for those over 60. Far too much money is spent on Medicare isn't it -- even though that is what it was for. Second thoughts LBJ?
Sami Liberal| 9.11.09 @ 6:20PM
Ever hear of entrapment, and splicing? LOL
Nobama| 9.11.09 @ 6:39PM
Unless we fight Sami and other liberals like him/her, we will lose our freedom. "Sami" is as much of a threat to our nation as terrorists.
K| 9.11.09 @ 7:02PM
Republican propaganda at its finest
Id like to see these videos without all the editing
Republicans work for the wealthy, and hate the poor, that is why they win because they blame all of Americas problems on the poor people
And the black people, we know all the Republicans are racist, if it was 2 white people instructing these people you know it wouldn't have the same outrage
Republicans are the scum of the earth
Pete| 9.11.09 @ 9:20PM
Ah, the race card, the first and only refuge of the liberally retarded. Yes, indeed, Republicans would have been thrilled if two white people had willingly given advice on how to run a tax-exempt underage sex ring. What is the matter with you?
LindaB| 9.11.09 @ 9:49PM
No more tax money to ACORN. That has to be the end result of the great investigative reporting done by those two brilliant young people. Chant with me now: No more tax money to ACORN No more tax money to ACORN No more tax money to ACORN No more tax money to ACORN...do you see a bumper sticker here?
John| 9.11.09 @ 10:25PM
I wish I had filmed the 3 times I went undercover at crisis pregnancy centers. I could have gotten them all shut down for fraud, but my motivation was to keep them busy so they couldn't interfere with women going into clinics for abortions.
Jeremy| 9.11.09 @ 10:27PM
Pete, re: your "race card" response. Is that anything like the Christer card many Christians play when they are the poor, poor, pitiful me victim?
Nobama| 9.12.09 @ 2:42AM
Silly libtard; we don't blame everything on poor people--we blame everything on you godless fascist liberals! Get your facts straight, moron.
Jeremy, stop your whining. Grow a pair!
Tim| 9.12.09 @ 2:54PM
I believe the most telling line in the video was the comment "stop saying you're a prostitute, you're a performance artist".
I had the opportunity to review more of this video on the Big Government website before it oddly went down overnight. I find it hard to fathom that anyone would seriously believe that this couple was actually a ...let me get this straight....a pimp and a prostitute who were seeking housing to harbor kidnapped 13 year old sex slaves from El Salvador (was it) so that the pimp could use the brothel procedes to run for congress.
Ask yourself, would you believe this outlandish story coming from these very fresh looking young kids dressed in almost comicly stereotypical pimp garb? Let's pretend for a moment that you did and you wanted to help them......you'd have to be awfully criminally minded yourself......don't you think you'd want a cut before casually giving them (well let's admit it was pretty bad advice) your in depth knowledge on how to evade taxes and keep their clandestine operation off the radar of the authorities. We're talking some serious jail time for conspiracy to comment a felony here........if we are to believe this is true.
Smitty| 9.12.09 @ 3:38PM
It's ironic that Black Americans are promoting slavery. Hellacious hypocrisy.
Nick| 9.12.09 @ 4:12PM
Smitty,
Ha-Ha!
I had not thought of it that way.
Excellent!
GhostOfLife| 9.13.09 @ 1:43AM
You people do know that Tim has said the only sensible thing so far. It isn't hard to suspect those women were waiting for some celebrity to jump out from behind a filing cabinet or something to tell them they'd been tricked by their (soon to be ex-) BFF.
No one dresses like Huggy Bear anymore. However, O'Keefe is a whore for the right, so he got that part sort of right. Look at some of his other "work" and you will see a pattern of entrapment and creative editing to suit the RNC agenda.
John is correct about the crisis centers. Those places are fronts for anti-choice religious fanatics to assail vulnerable women into staying pregnant while promising all sorts of help--help which never actually is provided once the baby is born. Sometimes the women end up signing away their rights without counsel or neutral parties present. Many "abortion" clinics are just OB/GYN offices which provide abortion services and the anti-choice crowd cannot differentiate between those coming to prevent pregnancy and those wanting to take action on an existing one (and that means more than having an abortion, BTW).
Nick| 9.13.09 @ 2:17AM
DemonOfLife,
Your quite correct.
And Marilyn Monroe was on the grassy knoll. She wanted to stop JFK from causing 9/11 in the future, which she knew thanks to time-traveling technology given to her by the aliens.
Go tighten up your tinfoil hat, you pro-death twit.
SoCon| 9.13.09 @ 2:44AM
Nick, Hahahah!
Hey, Ghost; there were whores in that video alright , but they weren't O'Keefe or Giles. Liberals like you are Satan's whores.
Smitty| 9.13.09 @ 2:47AM
Ghost knows a lot about pimps and whores and how they dress these days. Makes sense--liberals prostitute themselves for power every day.
Johnno| 9.13.09 @ 2:49AM
John, did you go into crisis pregnancy centers as a pregnant woman? Figures. Beta boy.
margoo| 9.13.09 @ 12:49PM
after viewing this clip, I am beginning to believe our enemies were successful on 9/11. our economy is bankrupt and we are so demoralized we have elected in a degenerate government just because it didnt look like the bush adm. we are in hard times: economic depression, swine flu plague, homelessness and increasing societal tension.
Scottm| 9.13.09 @ 1:18PM
While you are playing the Race card you might want to pull your head out and study a little history. Lincoln was a Republican. The Democrats controlled the legislature in the 50's and the 60's they were the ones that held up Civil Rights.
Ignorance is the refuge of the stupid.
Pingback| 9.13.09 @ 8:11PM
First Baltimore, Now Washington DC: More ACORN Child Prostitution Support & Tax Frau links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
bcvanbelle| 9.14.09 @ 9:11AM
LindaB: ACORN does not get any of your tax money. It received grants that fund specific projects; housing counseling, lead remediation, etc. Keep yelling without listening.
Douglas| 9.23.09 @ 10:17PM
Where do you think the grants come from? TAXES you idiot. What are you an absolute moron? ACORN is funded completely by American taxpayers. If you don't pay, IRS will seize your house, bank accounts, cars, anything you have.
Mark Heath| 9.14.09 @ 1:30PM
Hey Tim and K! You are both total morons. What more proof is there of the Acorn criminality. Only a liberal would try to change the subject by suggesting that O'Keef and Giles were conducting a criminal operation that will result in a felony. That is rediculous and you know it. You are probably a scum bag lawyer too. I can tell you this. If law enforcement tries to go after this patriots, we will raise multi millions of dollars to defend them and we will win. As for K? You and your stupid comment that Republicans hate poor people is preposterous. Acorn is a criminal enterprise, and as a citizen I am going to do everything possible to shut them down. They are the scum, not Republicans. No more tax money for this scum bag criminals.
ermilo| 9.14.09 @ 6:29PM
Why is the acorn log on the lower left covering the timer on your camera. It's not because it says 2005 is it? just wondering.
Linda| 9.16.09 @ 7:23PM
There is no sick joke about individuals working in an office of a nonprofit agency, supported with taxpayer funding, and while on the job, co-conspiring to traffic minors for sexual purposes.
Slavery was outlawed in the United States during the past century. Laws have been passed to protect children from this type of eggregious activity. So far, four offices of Acorn's operations offered assistance to individuals claiming to desire to engage in trafficking children. Its reprehensible...its eggregious and its disgusting, but more disgusting is the Democrats writing on these boards are more interested in politics and justifying such actions, indicating such a criminal act is only serious if it is politically convenient.
God help our country, with these attitudes of the Democrats writing on the internet and thank God for people willing to stand up and expose those that could care less and value money over the freedom of human beings and the sexual exploitation of children.
Pingback| 10.2.09 @ 12:59PM
Well I was wrong about the IOC… « DaTechguy's Blog links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
afadfad| 12.7.09 @ 8:07AM
Are these the same group that the government awarded them the 2010 census contract? God help America
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really?| 1.27.10 @ 5:05PM
So what do you think of your boy O' Keefe now?
chuck| 3.9.11 @ 4:57PM
Okeefe, someone willing to go to any length for publicity. Yes, that includes creating fake stories through his edited videos. and the right wing loves him for it and doubles-down on his conclusions, despite the fact that it's all a deception--a lie.
feel outrage at the left? check your source.