New ACORN Video: Undercover Videographers Release Tape Of Philly Visit

WASHINGTON — Two conservative activists released a new undercover video targeting the community organizing group ACORN on Wednesday, an attempt to reignite a simmering political controversy surrounding the Democratic-leaning organization.

The new videotape shows filmmakers Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe, posing as a prostitute and her boyfriend, soliciting advice about a possible housing loan from workers in the Philadelphia office of ACORN Housing Corp.

Previous videos showed the same pair, also posing as a prostitute and her boyfriend, visiting ACORN offices in other cities.

The Philadelphia visit is significant because of a dispute over statements ACORN has made defending what took place when Giles and O'Keefe visited the Philadelphia office last summer.

Supporters of O'Keefe and Giles said ACORN has lied about whether the two were thrown out of the Philadelphia office, how much time they spent there and whether they explicitly told ACORN workers that Giles was a prostitute.

At a Washington news conference, O'Keefe went through an edited version of what he said was a 32-minute visit to the Philadelphia office.

"At no point were we kicked out, at no time were we asked to leave," O'Keefe says on the tape of the Philadelphia visit.

Neil Herrmann, ACORN's lead organizer in Philadelphia, was quoted in news accounts last month as saying that an employee at the office had asked O'Keefe and Giles to leave. On the edited tape released Wednesday, the couple were not asked to leave.

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ACORN spokesman Brian Kettenring said in an e-mailed statement: "We've always been clear about Philadelphia. We got them out of the office as quickly as possible, and filed a police report on them within minutes."

Kettenring said that ACORN's political enemies are trying to keep the controversy alive.

"In this era of journalism-lite, plenty media are willing to oblige," said Kettenring.

In the video, the voice of the ACORN employee was muted. Later in the day, O'Keefe called on ACORN to state publicly that it has no objection to the public release of any its employees' oral statements on the tape.

ACORN has repeatedly asked that O'Keefe release all of the tapes he possesses unedited.

Some of the previously released videos show ACORN employees giving O'Keefe and Giles advice on how to disguise the source of their income to get housing aid.

At the news conference, Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, spoke out on behalf of O'Keefe and Giles, saying that ACORN is a corrupt criminal enterprise and that he has been trying for four or five years to get Congress to stop funding it.

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On the Net:

http://biggovernment.com/2009/10/21/acorn-video-prostitution-scandal-in-philadelphia-pa-part-i/

Comments

[CommunistUtopia]

Too bad it was proven that the woman in the interview lied like a rug. It rather ruins the credibility from anything from ACORN and the Democrats.

[CommunistUtopia]

It is good to see cracking acorns. This corrupt, wicked group needs to be crushed, not just cracked.

[goodtomeetyou]

Brave New Films - ACORN Edition

FOX News Isn't News. It's a Political Operation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2a4MEAoxko

[Usedtobe]

Found an interesting fact: The police report that was filed 'within minutes' by ACORN, has the name "James O'Keefe" listed as the offender. And yet, James used an alias during his visits to ACORN. There would have been no way of the ACORN employee knowing James' true name to give to the police. Makes me think that there's been some doctored paperwork going on...

[BlueFloyd]

"As you can see on the tapes, at no point were we asked to leave."
"At no point were the police called, as you can plainly see."

THESE ARE EDITED TAPES!!! TYPICAL NONSENSE beign sucked up by the media and the haighters who are depserate for something to get them their country back, which was taken by......by....whom? ....and how did they lose it all?

[PureGun]

And you my fellow responder, would not know the truth if it flew a plane into your tower....

[TS]

After viewing the videotape, your comment seems kind of, well, dumb. The voice of the Acorn employee is rarely heard at all. Every piece of alleged information implicating Acorn comes out of the mouth of the narrator. There is absolutely no way that the piece shown here evenly remotely provides evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Acorn. It offers nothing more than unverifiable allegations by voice over, all heavily edited. There is no way to tell from this what was said by whom, and whether you like it or not, that is the reality of it

That doesn't mean Acorn is necessarily wholly innocent of using poor judgment or any other wrongdoing, but this particular heavily (and poorly edited) piece proves absolutely nothing. If this is the best O'Keefe can come up with after visiting 24 offices, there's nothing here. Unless O'Keefe has something significantly more substantive, and if he does, he'd better dump the shoddy editing and commentary and just stick to the content of his recording, otherwise this is nothing more than poorly produced propaganda.

[GeorgeP922]

Thank God Mike Stark called OKeefe and Giles what they are, proud racists.

[CommunistUtopia]

Using the race card is 1st play in the Democrat Playbook. You will want to think about using the second which is to try and scare senior citizens on medicare. Please be a little more original.

[cybexg]

Won't release the unedited tapes....
There are reports that the edited version is longer than the unedited content (?????)
ACORN is able to produce a police report to back their claims...

Seems to me that Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe are presenting nothing but lies

[BlueFloyd]

well, they are neocons, after all. what did you expect to come of this anyway?

[bluejoni2525]

Why won't he release all the UNedited tapes that are in his possession ?????? Until he does this is highly suspect !!

[PureGun]

If they released the full unedited tape, Acorn would be able to formulate a lie that people would believe. This way, Acorn is able to be caught in their lies and they can't formulate a believable because more video comes out to prove that they are telling some big giant lies.

[DocSkull]

So then this video doesn't show that ACORN employees have lied? How can you continue to support the kids since they claim the video proves that the Philadelphia office isn't telling the truth? If you don't believe that, then you must believe that the kids are lying.

[voteblue4evr]

So all I hear is a defense of the illegal activities of ACORN, and a criticism of the 'Illegal' activities of the GOP? So when we do the same thing to conservative institutions it's all ok and we can joke about it. I get it.

[smileatfear]

Nobody has defended any "illegal" activities that any ACORN empolyees engaged in. Those employees who gave these two illegal advice have been fired and it has come to light that several offices where these two jokers showed up asked them to leave and called the police. The p*imp and wh*ore seen on the video didn't turn those tapes over, however, and were acting illegally also, only their crime was a felony.

People here are asking why ACORN is being treated so much more severely than, say Halliburton/KBR and Blackwater - two companies that have actually killed American soldiers and innocent civilians and then tried to cover up the circumstances. Why do you think that is, voteblue?

[DocSkull]

I don't see anything illegal about the ACORN employee's behavior. At best the duo managed to trick do-gooders to placing themselves in ethical danger in order to help them.

[Elbrando]

If I were ACORN I would sue these people for defamation of character.

[JulieSA]

They are suing, even though ACORN has been caught lying at every point in this whole saga.

[rubygreen]

Brietbarts words, not yours. Do you have an original thought Julie? Of course you don't.

[DocSkull]

For example? Because your "at every point" is obviously not true. The Philadelphia office said they contacted the police and have a report to prove it. Their accusers evidence is a heavily edited film and an absurd claim that they captured audio on a dead battery.

[avshanbh]

Yeah..according to the con artists Breitbart and O'Keefe who refuse to release the full unedited video. These people will destroy the videos before they'll release the full unedited undoctored version.

[czs5056]

it's nice to hear that the "unedited" video is a lot shorter than the video and that there are pieces of missing audio

[Donns]

Ok so is this GOP girl in fact a Ho? I think she is telling the truth about what she does when she says she's a Ho

[smileatfear]

Yep, she's telling the truth.

[leatherneck1971]

These two folks are in proverbial hot water, its a felony to illegally wire tap someone without their permission and consent unless your law enforcement and even they have to get a court order, where these two messed up is they failed to do due dilegence in researching the laws related to what they were going to do, they blindly decided to pull this scam for profit and notoriety and result will be they will find themselves in some prison garb since husbands and wives have ran afoul of the law doing just such activities as they committed! Laws are quite plain on what is illegal wire tapping and what is not!

[DI-1957]

Acorn, if guilty, should suffer no consequences! Blackwater Haliburton actually procured child prostitutes, gun down civilians, electocute our military personnel, and do this in our name for what? 3 4 5 times the money we pay a National Guardsman who shouldn't even be outside the country because they are meant for the defense and assistance of the citizens of their respective States.

[JulieSA]

But, but... Halliburton! The all-purpose get-out-of jail card for leftist criminals

[squeezed]

You sound like a joke when you dismiss the actual crimes of a military contractor preferring to wage crusades against community organizers who have been officially charged with nothing.

[rubygreen]

And ACORN is always an easy target for you righties who can't stand the fact that they do great work for the poor.

Haliburton is a criminal organization along with their leader D@rth.

[cybexg]

So, you are in effect supporting a company that procured child prostitutes, gun down civilians, electocute our military personnel,...

You should review your bible and seek some guidance..­.something about being known by the company you keep

[PainTrain614]

>> ACORN has repeatedly asked that O'Keefe release all of the tapes he possesses unedited.

I hope they do. And after they do, maybe someone can ask Michael Moore to release all of the video he took which didn't make it into his one-sided "documentaries".

[publanski]

What these two did is closer to what Sacha Baron Cohen does, only with less integrity.

[Young for Love]

Like what... the full video of Bush playing golf which would have included the evidence, which doesn't exist, of Iraq having nuclear weapons.

That's a joke comment. Michael Moore's films are one sided, but the "full verions" of his tapes would probably only incriminate the people he interviewed more. The rebuttals to his videos are a question of principal. For example: if you hate Muslims, you probably think Farenheit 911 was one-sided. Or if you have great health care and have never made a claim on it, then you probably think "Sicko" is one sided. Finally, if you like guns, disagree that they cause the ridiculously high murder rate in this country, or just think that Columbine tragedy is justifiable under the rights of the Second Amendment, then you probably think "Bowling for Columbine" is one sided.

[DocSkull]

Because he filmed with proper consent and no one has claimed he selectively edited to misrepresent their viewpoint?

[smileatfear]

Shhhh... The truth always hurts those neocons so much. Why do you think they avoid it like the plague?