Patterico's Pontifications

10/21/2009

ACORN-Philadelphia Video

Filed under: Media Bias,Politics — DRJ @ 3:48 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles have posted an edited video entitled ACORN Philadelphia Prostitution Investigation Part I:

Andrew Breitbart’s Big Hollywood website explains why the ACORN employee’s statements are muted:

“**UPDATE 2:24 PM EST** We muted the audio of the ACORN employees on the video released today due to ACORN’s legal attack upon us. We call upon ACORN to state publicly now that it has no objection to the public release of any its employees oral statements to us. If they are interested in the truth, why wouldn’t they do so?”

Fox News reported ACORN’s response [emphasis supplied]:

“Scott Levenson, a spokesman for ACORN, reiterated a Sept. 14 statement issued by Carol Hemingway, the president of ACORN’s Philadelphia chapter, saying O’Keefe and Giles were asked to leave the office and that a police report was subsequently filed.

“This is another example of Fox Entertainment treating concocted video as if it’s actually news,” Levenson told Foxnews.com. “The police report we filed contemporaneously proves our clear understanding of this scam that was being portrayed.

Levenson declined further comment.”

Note the use of “Fox Entertainment” instead of “Fox News.” ACORN got the White House talking points that Fox News isn’t real media, didn’t it?

— DRJ

17 Responses to “ACORN-Philadelphia Video”

  1. This one is quite damning, given the pubic statements from ACORN and the media about what happened in Philly. The footage, even edited, appears to directly contradict the stated positions of ACORN and the MSM sycophants. I will give Philly a little credit, she was not as gung-ho and eager as the folks on the other videos.

    JD (b93fb4)

  2. But they lied like a Turkish rug. I wonder what else they have lied about, don’t you?

    Eric Blair (0b61b2)

  3. I’m quite curious about that police report. A scan of the receipt can be found on the Media Matters website.
    It identifies Mr. O’Keefe by name even though we have been told that they used assumed names for their “sting”. So in this case they didn’t? Or he was unmasked immediately afterwards?
    Also, he was accuse of causing a disturbance during the “few minutes” that they were there (according to ACORN) although there is continuous video of them in the office for around a half-hour, and continuous audio for their whole visit, both showing no disturbance (according to Big Government).
    I don’t think the unedited continuous video has been released yet, and we won’t get the audio until their MD case is resolved or ACORN gives post-hoc permission.
    So is the “police report” a photoshop work of art? Is it evidence that a false report was made? What use could the illegal audio be for further investigation or charges of a false report?

    Douglas2 (62fec6)

  4. “I wonder what else they have lied about, don’t you?”

    Eric – You cue is when their lips are moving.

    daleyrocks (718861)

  5. A scan of the receipt can be found on the Media Matters website.
    It identifies Mr. O’Keefe by name even though we have been told that they used assumed names for their “sting”.

    They were making a big deal out of this over in comments at HA (and would have loved them to be tripping over this) but IIRC James said – tucked into one of the sting videos – that Hannah used a pseudonym (Eden in at least one video) while he used his real name.

    no ione you know (1ebbb1)

  6. I should add that can’t remember whether or not he gave his last name, but he was certainly James in all the videos where we saw him give it. And supposedly they made an appointment to come back so they’d ask for last names.

    no ione you know (1ebbb1)

  7. And this is my real, um, pseudonym.

    no one you know (1ebbb1)

  8. Bertha Lewis should be thanking Hannah and James for these videos instead of suing them. After all, hasn’t she publicly said she is committed to cleaning up the organization so that it can continue on with its important mission free from questions? The release of the video today just exposes a bunch more liars in the ACORN organization for her to get rid of, nevermind that she helped coverup Wade Rathke’s embezzlement for eight years herself. This video should be viewed as a good thing by Bertha and the left. They should stop whining.

    daleyrocks (718861)

  9. Acorn lied? Say it ain’t so, Joe!

    Scott Levenson and Bertha Lewis are so credible every time I’ve seen them on tv.

    Wait until all those gullible media types that defended Acorn have to eat crow.

    Oh, silly me. Being liberal means never having to say your sorry (or wrong).

    MU789 (e19138)

  10. What strikes me as NOT ONE MSMers actually seemed to seek comment from the Young Couple to coroborate the story. They just reported it as true based on ACORN’s denials and fabrications.

    Thank god murder is not that easy.

    Accused: “I did not do it.”

    DA: “Oh, OK. They probably beat themselves to death.”

    HeavenSent (01a566)

  11. First Rule of Holes, violated again. Of course, there are a lot of ‘holes in ACORN.

    Kevin Murphy (805c5b)

  12. Sure hope the Philly DA files charges on this, ACORN won’t be able to suppress the audio from being played in open court in pre-trial.

    AD - RtR/OS! (748050)

  13. Just watch…now that ACORN has denied cooperating with the stingers, A.B. will release an unedited version and prove them liars once again. Good stuff.

    PNP, OP

    PNP, OP (dcc256)

  14. I’m amazed.

    Those defending ACORN at this point are exposing themselves as completely beyond fairness. ACORN has lied about these stings repeatedly. Their account here is distorted, and basically a he said she said, where O’Keefe, the guy who has told the truth so far, is asking you to trust him over ACORN, which has lied and sued and screamed for more of our hard earned money.

    Media Matters, MSNBC, and Gibbs can lie all day, complain about bias from those with a conservative perspective, and scoff at biggovernment.com by citing ACORN’s accusations as evidence the right has somehow mishandled the truth. But none of that makes any difference. ACORN is beyond common decency, and they need evidence, not their word alone, to prove only that they didn’t commit more felonies in Philly. Even if they didn’t, the organization has been proven corrupt in many other places.

    And yet, the left is full of people lining up to defend ACORN.

    Dustin (bb61e3)

  15. “And yet, the left is full of people lining up to defend ACORN.”

    … and many cocktail republicans lining up to defend the left.

    HeavenSent (01a566)

  16. Can we dispose of Acorn’s nonsense about the police report once and for all? The organization should be prosecuted for filing a false report, for the following reasons:

    (1) Katherine Conway Russell, the only apparent ACORN eyewitness to the incident, in her Media Matters video NEVER CLAIMED THAT SHE FILED A POLICE REPORT, even though she misleadingly waved one around.

    (2) Ms. Russell NEVER said she “kicked them out” because they asked for help with a prostitution ring, although she did falsely deny that they brought up prostitution. Rather, in the Media Matters video, she says that she told she had to go to a meeting and could therefore not answer any additional questions.

    (3) Russell didn’t call, and never claimed to call, the police while they were there. Rather, after they had already left, she called an ACORN official to ask why they had been referred to her office.

    (4) It was then that the ACORN official, Keith Crosby, first contacted the police. He filed a false police report, apparently claiming an emergency because the filmmakers were “causing a verbal disturbance with employees of ACORN.” But Crosby knew that the filmmakers had already left — and the report notes that the police advised him of this fact that he obviously knew.

    (5) In the Media Matters video, RUSSELL NEVER CLAIMED THERE WAS “VERBAL DISTURBANCE.” That was a LIE made up by other Acorn officials after the pair left, apparently because they realized they were being investigated (maybe by the FBI, in their minds) and wanted to “make a record.”

    Below is the full text of the police report. NOTHING IN IT IS CONFIRMED, AND ALL OF IT IS CONTRADICTED, BY THE VIDEO POSTED BY THE ONLY EYEWITNESS TO THE INCIDENT, KATHERINE CONWAY RUSSELL.

    The above compl[ainant][Crosby] called police, after the below man [O’Keefe] had come to
    the above loc[ation] to apply for low income housing and was causing a verbal disturbance with employees of ACORN. The below man was not on
    location and the compl[ainant] was so advised.

    Northeast Elizabeth (4f6d4a)


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