Entrapping ACORN
ACORN, an umbrella organization of community groups that serves poor people in major cities across the country through housing, legal advocacy, family services, and higher wages, has lost all federal funding, after decades of working for low-income, disadvantaged Americans.
That the House of Representatives has moved swiftly on anything is stunning in and of itself. More stunning, this is in response to a single independent report by conservative activists, with no follow-up investigation, no hearings, not even being provided a copy of the full, unedited video tapes shot by conservative activists James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles at a couple of ACORN offices.
This is serious stuff here. This is not a game of gotcha, of cheap political points, of practical jokes -- not when this is money that helps in many real ways in impoverished communities around our country.
It is vital to assess how this backlash was accepted so quickly in light of videos that were from someone whose films are funded by conservative backers, videos that misrepresented ACORN through editing and not disclosing other failed attempts at their desired response, which may well have been dubbed over, if O'Keefe would dare to release the unedited tapes in their real context to prove otherwise.
A significant reason that this ACORN backlash has moved through Congress like Montezuma's Revenge is that this particular hidden camera stunt had the ring of "child prostitution" in it, which most politicians of either party would run from rather than dispute its irrelevance. "Anyone defending ACORN is for child prostitution" is an immediate fallacious meme. It's not like we're talking about the Catholic Church here, who still gets federal funding.
Noteworthy is that there have not been any previous allegations between child prostitution and ACORN. In this weekend's LA Times, O'Keefe himself asserts that this ruse had nothing to do with prostitution, importing underage sex workers, or tax help for starting up a business.
"Politicians are getting elected single-handedly due to this organization," he said. "No one was holding this organization accountable. No one in the media is putting pressure on them. We wanted to do a stunt and see what we could find."
That's what this is really about: the elections, and the threat that has been hyped tirelessly that ACORN is in some way stealing your vote.
Before I digress into the long campaign to smear ACORN because of its successful voter registration, I don't want to be accused of changing the subject to the elections. O'Keefe clearly stated that is what these stunts were about from the beginning.
There is much to dispute in O'Keefe's quote. There is no evidence whatsoever that politicians are getting elected "single-handedly" by ACORN, and it is a wild exaggeration. Many claims of voter fraud are made, few instances ever occur.
What has been distorted is that these allegations surround voter registrations, not actual votes, and that ACORN has regularly flagged forms that were incomplete, duplicate, or unverifiable. By law, anyone collecting voter registration forms has to turn in all that are used, even if they know the forms will not be processed.
Far-fetched is the idea that no one in the media has been putting pressure on ACORN. That O'Keefe would even think ACORN could elect politicians single-handedly is because of FOX News' rampant coverage and conflation of ACORN conspiracies and allegations, to the extent that John McCain worked it into his stump speech by the end of the 2008 presidential election.
The red herring of voter fraud as an excuse to deny others the right to vote is a well-worn claim. Voter suppression, specifically using the fear of "voter fraud" to advance voter suppression, is a topic I have explored and documented in-depth in my documentary Free For All! which you can see online for free right now. I also produced a video about ACORN with Video the Vote focusing on the fraud of voter fraud.
David Iglesias, a Republican U.S. Prosecutor for New Mexico, investigated allegations of voter fraud throughout the state at the urging of Republican leaders, and when he found no evidence and would not prosecute falsely, he was fired, as asserted by David Iglesias in his testimony before Congress and emails recently declassified from Karl Rove.
But again, I don't want to be accused of dodging the issue -- I am just looking to rebut the persistent falsehood which directly affected this kid's motivation to punk a community organization into losing millions of dollars to help the poor.
O'Keefe is comparable to the FBI informant who brought down the Bronx terrorist plot -- only that there would not have been any actual plot were it not for this FBI informant actively recruiting mentally challenged Muslims from mosques for this plot, which apparently involved entrapping people who were dumb enough to listen to him.
O'Keefe could well have actually attempted to show something about ACORN's voting registration controversies -- by speaking to registrants who admitted falsifying voter registration forms, or following up on who registered and who voted, or even interviewing ACORN directly. But none of those would have involved a minister's daughter dressing slutty, so you can't really blame him.
So it came to pass that in this effort to dispute voter registration that Giles and O'Keefe conceived of the worst sounding scandal they could invoke, and traveled the country to ACORN offices across the country to find someone to take their time to humor them in the improv game of "Yes, and."
And they eventually found some clueless ACORN employees, people far too eager to offer good customer service than employ any common sense. A couple of workers comply with O'Keefe's outlandish inquiry for underage brothels in dispensing tax advice.
The well-publicized clips are shocking enough, and have been exploited as much as any couple of minutes of video can be. Glenn Beck taunted other networks for not covering it. Even Jon Stewart bunted on it, as if his guest interview were Sistah Souljah. As a potent testament to Stewart's "Most Trusted Newsman" gatekeeper status, the House next day voted to cut all federal funding for ACORN.
It is worth noting here that what transpired on O'Keefe's videotape were conversations about hypothetical situations -- not actual prostitution, no actual crime, and not proof of an agency-wide policy or program involving prostitution or illegal immigrants. In fact, O'Keefe's experiment proves this -- that several other ACORN offices would not be ensnared by their absurd scenario, and turned away these provocateurs. One office in Philadelphia filed a police report because they were alarmed by the pair.
Ironically, the only thing illegal in some of these tapes is that O'Keefe is filming illegally. States like California and Maryland have strict consent laws about surreptitious recording, which is why the news and entertainment industries have long figured out workarounds for hidden cameras. (Hint: Vegas.)
As the crankosphere raves over how the Media didn't uncover this, it is worth pointing out that not only are the tactics against the standard of journalism, the lack of disclosure and misrepresentation pushes this expose well out of the range of journalism and in to the realm of entrapment.
As it was, O'Keefe had to misrepresent a conversation where a woman stated up front that their inquiry was illegal, but played along because she figured it was a gag. Another misrepresentation by FOX was the breathless uproar about a woman who joked that she had killed her husband -- well after it was established that her husband was alive, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and others kept repeating the ridiculous claim for another day, demanding an investigation, since they obviously didn't have the resources as a major news network to confirm that this guy was alive.
Nor is this O'Keefe's first foray into being the Tucker Max of conservative hacks. He pulled a stunt on Planned Parenthood entrapping receptionists and donation reps into conversations where he said he wanted to kill off black people, while his compatriot Lila Rose called and claimed to be underage to see if the clinics would report statutory rape. (Lila Rose just recently called for abortions to be held in public squares to create the mass gross-out that would therefore make them all illegal.)
In a detailed response from Bertha Lewis and Steven Kest :
O'Keefe has a sordid history of preying on receptionists and other front-line service workers for respected organizations. In 2008 he pulled a similar stunt on Planned Parenthood when he and another female colleague secretly recorded phone conversations with staff who handle fundraising calls at a few of the organization's affiliates. During the calls, O'Keefe pretended to be interested in setting up funds for low-income women in need of health care. Once the conversation hit a comfortable stride, O'Keefe would change his tune and explain, in explicit language, that his real intent was to target women of color in an effort to control minority populations. The audio recordings were edited in an attempt to make it appear that Planned Parenthood was complicit in accepting donations for racist purposes. O'Keefe's intent then, as it is now, was to entrap an organization whose mission he is ideologically opposed to, and masquerade his efforts as investigative journalism rather than the propaganda videos they are.And in college, O'Keefe showed women their place with his video wit, as reported by Media Matters:
As a Rutgers University undergraduate, O'Keefe videotaped a classmate distributing to a Women in Culture and Society lecture a handout that emphasized that a "good wife always knows her place."
And most tastefully of all, O'Keefe drove around posing as a Publisher's Clearing House van offering big checks to people, only to taunt them that the money is what was going to bank bailouts. Black people sure are suckers for that one!
Do not-so-subtly racist or sexist stunts count as courts of law? Shouldn't there be a requirement that they at least be funny, besides mean for the sake of mean?
Is this same adolescent accountability accepted by defense contractors, when Blackwater and its owner Erik Prince are implicated in murder? He just keeps getting contracts. Rep. Darrel Issa from San Diego sent out a letter bragging of cutting ACORN's money for all of us, then asked us to give him money. San Diego has had political scandals that have led to actual convictions, not simply recordings of speculative conversations. Isn't it time to slash San Diego's federal funding? All of this is not to get off subject, though. Whatever angry conservatives want to insist the subject is.
It is natural for many to shirk away from defending ACORN in light of this footage. But this particular exchange is not just cherry-picked -- it was planted, nurtured, and harvested, the latest to take down an organization that empowers the numbers that vote Republicans out of office.
Follow John Wellington Ennis on Twitter: www.twitter.com/johnennis
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
What's frightening is that congress now bases its politics on youtube videos.
I think if Acorn can be held accountable for discussing hypothetical, then O'keefe and Giles should be held accountable for their hypothetical john-dom. Seriously, congress can make decisions however they want. While major players are pardoned by congress the supreme courts will punish Marion Jones. They don't need sound judgment so why would they need evidence to make decisions. Only the courts make seemingly sound judgments, so only the courts need evidence.
I can't wait until dems the stop feeling guilty for scaring white republicans and accept that they elected a president with a decent majority (in recent comparison), and that they need to stop making concessions to a party that would have never made concessions to the dems.
It seems to me that he could clear all of this up if he would just release the original tape, instead of the edited copies he's given the media. Why won't he release the original? What is he hiding?
"videos that misrepresented ACORN through editing and not disclosing other failed attempts at their desired response, which may well have been dubbed over, if O'Keefe would dare to release the unedited tapes in their real context to prove otherwise.
There's definitely some drama-thru-editing going on here. Even with the edited videos, if you take the time to watch them you get a VERY different impression. I've watched two of them -- San Diego and NYC -- and there's NO illegal activity going on at all:
http://www
Those are good write-ups of the video, and they speak to the absurd pretext of entrapment presented by these two. It is unfair for Juan Carlos Vera to lose his job over this.
Nothing racist about that.
Bush and the GOP ruined "this great nation" to such an extent that it could take decades to undo the damage.
Entrapment goes both ways. This could be fun..
Ok guys,
Who is in for dressing up as a Faux News reporters - Glenn Beck mask and Coulter lookalike - and "entrap" O'Keefe in to admitting he was acting illegally? No need to ask for links - just post it on Youtube
O'keefe (canadian ale) stated repeatedly that he takes his fight to "the enemy". he repeatedly calls liberals and community activists, "the enemy".
Excuse me, but our REAL enemies attacked us 8 years ago, or perhaps he has forgotten that WE ARE AT WAR.
Why does he haight America, that very same America so beloved by liberals and dems, why does he haight the United States so much???
I don't think he does hate America. At least not the one that used to exist. How can you say you love America when liberals like you are screaming to change the exact things that have made us great? When you speak of hating this great nation, look in the mirror so you can get an idea of who you are talking about.
The things that made us great--like avoiding illegal wars, refusing to torture, living be the rule of law, adhering to the 4th Ammendment--those liberal things?
It is the neocons who trashed this country's soul, and the progressives that are working to rebuild it. Until that soul is rebuilt, our economy will fail as well. The neocons destroyed this country!
I understand that this filmmaker did some illegal things. but Acorn is just as bad. I think if they are going to sue people (i.e. Fox news). they need to clean house first. my feeling is two wrongs don't make a right. Glenn Beck jumped on this because he thinks Acorn is part of a conspiracy mixed with Labor unions, GE, Wal-Mart, Leftist Political Groups, and The Obama Administration. To Rip up the Constitution and turn the United states into a communist country. But like I said Acorn needs to clean house, and suing people won't help fix there problems. If they are going to sue fix things on the inside first.
"As it was, O'Keefe had to misrepresent a conversation where a woman stated up front that their inquiry was illegal, but played along because she figured it was a gag."
Mr. Ennis, can I get a link for this please? I've had my suspicions about this story from the start, it's just too convenient that the Rightwing's favorite Enemy Organization du jour should also turn out to be open to helping set up whorehouses for underage immigrant girls. I've seen the backstory on the San Bernardino tape, and heard people suggest that the tapes were edited before they appeared on Fox. But the misrepresentation above, I had not heard about before. Where can I get the full story?
I agree that there is something not right about all of this..(wel
All "right", yes.
I think what made me skeptical about this story was that it went for so long with only Fox covering it. Fox has a reputation for covering a lot of fluff and smear campaigns instead of real news (this drama about Bank of America and the flags on the lawn being a good example).
http://aco
Excerpt:
"They were not believable", said Ms. Kaelke of the two actors. "Somewhat entertaining, but they weren't even good actors. I didn't know what to make of them. They were clearly playing with me. I decided to shock them as much as they were shocking me. Like Stephen Colbert does – saying the most outrageous things with a straightfa
For example, in response to the set-up by the filmmakers in which they say they are trying get the young woman away from her abusive pimp, she responds that she was abused by her former husband as well (true) and that she shot and killed him (false). He is very much alive and living near Barstow, CA.
However, this is taken as the gospel truth, not just in the film itself, but also by several "news" personalit
Further, as the actors repeatedly noted how nice she was being, Ms Kaelke responded, also repeatedly, that her"niceness" was just her, not ACORN. "My supervisor would shoot this down like faster than a bat out of hell."
Better link paste: http://bit
OK, let's be real blunt here - conservative Republicans have been hating on ACORN for the same reasons that they hate ANY organization that helps poor people and people of color. If it helps ANYONE other than straight, white, conservative, Republican Christians, they dismiss it as socialist, communist,
and evil incarnate. I've noticed for years, for example, that Republican governors have obsessively tried to close down nearly all county hopstials in their state, especially in urban centers.
This is the WHY behind most of the conservative backlash during the Clinton administration, and especially the Obama administration. The Rethugs have been desperate to create a hybrid of a "Christian" theocracy and a corporate oligarchy, and they have come damn close to succeeding. The racism behind most of the attacks on Obama are also fueled by their utter hatred and contempt for most of the country and most of the human race. Do not delude yourself into thinking that it is any more complicated than that. Their greed, hypocrisy, arrogance and sense of entitlement is all part of their mind-set. They have played their hand too many times to dismiss it for any other set of reasons.
It also oddly makes sense why they keep harping on the America of the founding fathers. Are they hoping to go back to a system where only land owning white males can vote? It makes sense to me.
We all know who Acorn's target audience is. It has nothing to do with age, sex, race or ethnicity. It is strictly based on political alliance. If these poor people have the resources to find a way to an acorn office, they surely have the resources to get to a post office to register to vote.
We all know what targeting the poor to get into a house at the expense of government regulation has done to the economy. It does not work. It hurts the country as a whole.
Acorn is corrupt from top to bottom although there are a lot of people at the lower levels that have their heart in the right place. They are strictly paid pawns doing overt acts to make Acorn look good to the public. What is taking place down in the bowels of the organization wreaks with corruption and has for as many years as the organization has been around.
You are obviously targeting the Community Reinvestment Act. Actually, statistics indicate houses bought under the CRA have no greater incidence of foreclosure than the housing market taken as a whole. If this is true, then your statement is merely an indication that you are intolerant of the notion of poor people owning their own home.
You should simply come out and say "poor people do not deserve a home." You show your ignorance of the facts and economics when you perpetuate the lie that the CRA has hurt the economy.
Sigh...Onc
And sayin' it just makes it so, right?
Repeat it enough times, it becomes accepted as "truth", right?
"Acorn is corrupt from top to bottom..." you say. With no basis in FACT.
I've seen scam videos, with "suggested context" and creatively edited to support the suggestion, equally with no basis in reality or fact.
You sir, have been duped.
And that's a "Fact"....
BEFORE the revelations around the country,,, ACORN is under criminal felony investigations in 17 states ......
Give a link?
Er, sorry to burst your bubble or point out your little fib, here. ACORN (the organization) is not under investigation in 17 states. Ex-ACORN employees are under investigation, and guess who turned them in?
That's right, ACORN (the organization).
Misrepresent!!
ACORN is reinforcing its' organization as a result of this "adolescent" nonsense. It becomes a stronger force for change, even as it might lose some funding. There's a warm spot in my tummy for the upcoming prosecution of O'Keefe and his partner.
I really hope this "pimp" gets his due.
I'm more excited to know that ACORN has gotten their due. Next is the Democratic Party in 2010! Then a new president in 2012! I just hope you guys don't ruin this great nation before then.
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
