The Left’s Attempt to Rewrite the ACORN Story
At Big Journalism, Larry O’Connor explains how the left has attempted to rationalize the misbehavior of ACORN employees:
At first, the behavior of the ACORN employees was written off as isolated to a small handful of offices and merely a couple of low-level employees. Then the angle was that James and Hannah had broken state laws to acquire their reports, so therefore the content should be ignored. Then they even attempted to claim that nothing was wrong because James and Hannah were lying about their prostitution business, so no actual laws were broken. Now, the latest distraction is that the videos are too heavily edited to be relied upon and James only wore that ridiculous pimp costume in the title sequences, not in the offices, so the whole story is misleading.
Of course, all of these half-arsed attempts to explain away the laissez-faire attitudes of the ACORN employees neglect to persuade because, much to the chagrin of ACORN and their left-wing defenders, the American people are not nearly as stupid as the left would like them to be. We have seen the videos, we have read the full transcripts and listened to the full audios, which have been available at Big Government from the moment each new city in the ACORN investigation was released. And we know what we see, we know what we read and we know what we hear. We see a disturbing nonchalance from employee after employee hearing all about prostitution and sexual exploitation of minors . . .
Why do I post about this again and again? Because some on the left have used James O’Keefe’s arrest to mount a new attack on the credibility of the ACORN videos. Their propaganda machine tirelessly churns out a set of lies that starts with a nugget of truth (O’Keefe posed as Giles’s boyfriend trying to rescue her from an abusive pimp) and then boldly attempts to write out of the history books the second half of the story (O’Keefe’s “rescue” contemplates setting up a house where Giles and underage girls can turn tricks and give the proceeds to O’Keefe for a Congressional campaign).
When folks like myself try to point out the second half of the story, we are assailed with a flurry of ad hominem attacks, impotent attempts at intimidation, misrepresentations of our position, and unashamed repetition of wholesale lies. Our attempts to cite facts are airily dismissed as “out of context” and our corrections to our opponents’ numerous falsehoods are ignored. Meanwhile, they maintain the steady drumbeat: “O’Keefe never posed as a pimp.” Even though he did. The proof is in the unedited audio that the left refuses to listen to, and the lengthy unedited portions of video that they attempt to spin.
I have more to come on the lies being churned out by these charlatans. I won’t allow them to reframe the narrative and rewrite history. Larry O’Connor is standing up to them too. Good for him.
Part of me (OK, most of me) suspects that this is a useless enterprize. These people and their followers are not rational and will tune out arguments that go against what they want to be believed. Ad hominem is a way of life for them.
But the lies tend to seep out to the masses via the media these idiots control.
So thanks and keep up the good fight, targeting the link between the kooks and the magaphones. Every time they bring this up ought to be another time we can remind them of specific irrefutable ACORN employee statements and the implications thereof.
Eventually they will learn not to go there any more as the better propagandists already have.
Amphipolis (b120ce) — 3/8/2010 @ 8:38 amPat,
At this point you should put the chronic liars like imdw on notice that there will be severe sanctions if they continue to post lies here. Don’t give them the bandwidth to continue their desperate obfuscations.
PCD (1d8b6d) — 3/8/2010 @ 8:43 amOh, I don’t mind trolls but it can get annoying when everyone tries to reason with them. They are helpful to show us what the left is thinking (using the term loosely) and what they think is important.
It’s interesting that Washington Monthly has banned me and couple of others from posting comments and their comment volume is way down since. Maybe even lefties tire of lame arguments with no rebuttal. I was banned during a debate about health reform in which I tried to explain the difference between the French system, which has market mechanisms to cut utilization, and what Obama wants. THey couldn’t see the difference and got mad at me because I wouldn’t support Obamacare. They just don’t know what a market is and why it works.
Steve Benen is really not very intelligent. Kevin Drum was really good.
Mike K (2cf494) — 3/8/2010 @ 8:49 amThey don’t know what a market is because they resolutely refuse to be educated on something that will cause them severe cognitive dissonance. As long as the government keeps filling their till with goodies extracted from other’s efforts they’re ok, until the money eventually runs out.
Dmac (ca1d8c) — 3/8/2010 @ 9:04 am“market mechanisms to cut utilization”
– Mike K
Not to derail the thread, but could you elaborate? It seems like such mechanisms would be necessary for a government-run system to function, and I’ve spent some time wondering what might be done to limit consumption of healthcare under a hypothetical govt. system in the US (copays, maybe?) – what do the French use?
Again, sorry to go off topic.
Leviticus (ab52f1) — 3/8/2010 @ 9:21 amPatterico misinformed:
“When folks like myself try to point out the second half of the story, we are assailed with a flurry of ad hominem attacks”
Oh, the irony. YOU’RE assailed with a flurry of ad hominem attacks?! Have you bothered to go back and examine your OWN articles here in which you’ve called me a liar, a “liberal stooge”, an oaf, and even suggested I support child prostitution?
Methinks you’ve blown ALL of your credibility (f you ever had any) on this point, Patty.
“The proof is in the unedited audio that the left refuses to listen to, and the lengthy unedited portions of video that they attempt to spin.”
I have asked you again and again and again, and you refuse to answer the question: Since you keep referring to the “unedited audio”, what have you, as a Deputy D.A. who knows what constitutes legitimate evidence, done to authenticate the audio to determine that it is, indeed, “unedited audio”?
It’s a VERY simple question, and an appropriate one since you’ve relied, over and over and over again, on it to “prove” this point or that, or serve as “evidence” for this or that.
So what have you done to responsibly authenticate the “unedited audio” that you continuously rely on to make your cast, Patrick???
Thanks for answering this time.
Brad Friedman (25f727) — 3/8/2010 @ 9:46 am“They don’t know what a market is because they resolutely refuse to be educated on something that will cause them severe cognitive dissonance. As long as the government keeps filling their till with goodies extracted from other’s efforts they’re ok, until the money eventually runs out.”
Yeah I can totally see why the washington monthly doesnt’ want to promote a positive view of the french health care system.
[note: fished from spam filter. –Stashiu]
imdw (143649) — 3/8/2010 @ 9:46 amBTW, in the article you link to, Larry O’Connor constantly refers to Media Matters as having labeled James O’Keefe a racist. He does so at least 4 times, but fails to cite any evidence to back it up.
Do YOU have any? Or are you just passing on his allegations without evidence? (Akin to your contention that the audio posted by O’Keefe and Breitbart is “unedited audio” without explaining what you’ve done to authenticate that point)
Thanks again for your answer to these questions.
Brad Friedman (25f727) — 3/8/2010 @ 9:49 amComment by Leviticus — 3/8/2010 @ 9:21 am
I would think that most of what Mike K has posted could be found by clicking on the “Healthcare” link in the right margin, or by going to his website.
AD - RtR/OS! (3a472f) — 3/8/2010 @ 10:09 amI got the heave-ho from Mediaite (founded by former MSNBCer Dan Abrams and staffed by a bunch of Mediabistro/Air America types) when I brought too much evidence to my comments. I think they don’t want facts to conflict with their propaganda because it makes their heads hurt.
L.N. Smithee (b048eb) — 3/8/2010 @ 10:27 amHistory is made not be the people who lived it, but by the people who write it. Keep repeating the lie long enough, outlast the people with memories, and the lie becomes the truth. Whatever the hell that is.
Chuck Roast (ed1c94) — 3/8/2010 @ 10:57 amSomeone should go after Colbert too!
He did a whole bit where he made of Hannity and O’Keefe! It struck me as hilarious and insightful, so it will apparently strike you guys the opposite. Maybe that alpaca thing can attract Colbert’s grill
timb (449046) — 3/8/2010 @ 11:12 amPat,
Add timb to your list of liars.
PCD (1d8b6d) — 3/8/2010 @ 11:22 amHaven’t you and imadouche gotten the cheap motel yet? Quick, make haste while your passion still burns!
Not to derail the thread, but could you elaborate?
Leviticus, as AD mentioned previously, Mike K. has many detailed explanations regarding the French healthcare system and why it’s probably the best model going forward for the US. But the left and the Dems don’t like to discuss it, since it has a private component model, and we can’t have any of that.
Dmac (ca1d8c) — 3/8/2010 @ 11:22 amHey, dumbass, I’m not lying. Colbert DID do a whole bit making fun of Hannity and O’Keefe’s editing skillz; I DID laugh about it; and I AM guessing tools like you will not find it funny.
Wow, PCD you’re not just my inferior in political knowledge and all around smarts, but you’ve also proved you can’t read. I guess the only thing you do excel at is vitriol toward the libs.
Seriously, you’re like a rabid dog.
Here’s a hint: just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t mean he is lying.
timb (449046) — 3/8/2010 @ 11:31 am“. . .what might be done to limit consumption of healthcare under a hypothetical government system in the US”
Don’t pass government health care in the first place. That will work.
Official Internet Data Office (40c230) — 3/8/2010 @ 11:32 amOn the topic of pathologic liars who should be revealed as such, there is this evolving story of a democratic Congressman spilling all kinds of interesting stuff over the weekend about the health care bill process, etc., after being pushed off the playing field by a “made-up” ethics charges. Someone today referred to this as the political equivalent of the US and USSR unloading their nuclear warheads at each other in a “MAD” scenario. Looking forward into ya’lls take on that.
Meanwhile, grown people in positions of responsibility can’t stand to tell the truth. I wonder how many have mothers that are ashamed of them.
MD in Philly (70a1ba) — 3/8/2010 @ 11:49 am“Leviticus, as AD mentioned previously, Mike K. has many detailed explanations regarding the French healthcare system and why it’s probably the best model going forward for the US. But the left and the Dems don’t like to discuss it, since it has a private component model, and we can’t have any of that.”
I’ll take French care. You think the GOP will run on that?
imdw (15129e) — 3/8/2010 @ 12:21 pmI think you might be surprised to what the GOP may endorse.
AD - RtR/OS! (3a472f) — 3/8/2010 @ 12:28 pmBut then, a lot of life is a surprise to you.
Have fun in France.
Icy Texan (b3eb37) — 3/8/2010 @ 12:34 pmHere’s a hint: just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t mean he is lying.
— Too true. Some people do come by their dumbness honestly.
Icy Texan (b3eb37) — 3/8/2010 @ 12:37 pmtimb, you have been caught countless times lying here. You are just too arrogant and stupid to recognize the regular b***hslapping you get here by most of the regulars.
If you don’t like being known as an abject liar, then stop lying. It is that simple.
PCD (1d8b6d) — 3/8/2010 @ 12:51 pm“I think you might be surprised to what the GOP may endorse.”
No not at all. I firmly believe the description of obamacare/romneycare as rather centrist.
imdw (8f8ead) — 3/8/2010 @ 12:59 pmThis is at least the second time a leftist has attempted to use a the Colbert comedy show to dismiss the actions of ACORN, which offered advice on how to setup a child prostitution ring.
This seems to be a new talking point and if true, then it is indicative of how bankrupt of intellectual capital the defenders of ACORN have become. Unable to argue on a factual basis and in a morally consistent and rational manner, these two have turned to a comedy show as evidence of their convictions.
A comedy show will not erase what ACORN did, nor will it hide what its defenders and allies are attempting to do.
Pons Asinorum (1f16cc) — 3/8/2010 @ 1:09 pmtimb works on the theory that if he links an article that does not state what he claims for it, so long as he did not actually read it, he’s not lying.
And that makes sense … in a trolls world.
SPQR (159590) — 3/8/2010 @ 1:12 pmtimb wrote:
Dude — the Dems can’t even agree on the bill they passed, and you think they’ll agree to a plan that ISN’T designed to eventually destroy the private health insurance industry?
I think you have been taking medication prescribed you by John Patrick Bedell’s “doctor.”
L.N. Smithee (b048eb) — 3/8/2010 @ 1:18 pmImdw thinks that BarckyCare is centrist. That should tell you all you need to know about it.
JD (1b5388) — 3/8/2010 @ 1:19 pmWell, it certainly tells us all we need to know about Imadickwad.
AD - RtR/OS! (3a472f) — 3/8/2010 @ 1:23 pmLN – I believe dimwit wrote what you quoted above.
JD (1b5388) — 3/8/2010 @ 1:23 pmBy the way, this story will destroy another set of themes of the ACORN defenders.
SPQR (159590) — 3/8/2010 @ 1:30 pmComment by SPQR — 3/8/2010 @ 1:30 pm
Couldn’t be happening to a nicer bunch of fellah’s.
AD - RtR/OS! (3a472f) — 3/8/2010 @ 1:39 pm“By the way, this story will destroy another set of themes of the ACORN defenders.”
Why? We’ve known that ACORN has been defrauded by people it hired to register voters. This is the same thing as that, only adding that a supervisor was also defrauding ACORN.
[note: fished from spam filter. –Stashiu]
imdw (be9ecc) — 3/8/2010 @ 1:45 pmWatching the left on ACORN reminds me of that Monty Python skit, What have the Romans ever done for us?
“All right, I’ll grant you this particular instance of wrongdoing. And those other 99 instances you already cited. But, apart from those 100 examples, what evidence is there that there’s anything wrong with ACORN?”
Subotai (589715) — 3/8/2010 @ 1:48 pmHere is an example of the profound honesty that timb exemplifies …
http://serr8d.blogspot.com/2010/03/hi-timmah.html
JD (8b8f03) — 3/8/2010 @ 1:54 pmImagine what an undercover African American team could get from ACORN in Detroit…
SteveG (909b57) — 3/8/2010 @ 2:02 pmI’ll take French care. You think the GOP will run on that?
If you paid any attention to Paul Ryan’s many statements on this issue, you’d know that he thinks the French plan has many features to recommend it. But of course you don’t pay attention or actually read anything to the contrary, you just spew out your rhetorical pablum ad infinitum.
Christ, but you’re a tiresome hack.
Dmac (ca1d8c) — 3/8/2010 @ 2:41 pmThat would be some seriously awesome footage. Mother beautiful footage.
Vivian Louise (643333) — 3/8/2010 @ 3:04 pmHey JD, that link had a great clip on internet trolls. ILMAO — it really captured their essence well.
Pons Asinorum (1f16cc) — 3/8/2010 @ 3:09 pm(@33 SteveG) Imagine what an undercover African American team could get from ACORN in Detroit…
Yeah not too mention some serious coin and fame…
Pons Asinorum (1f16cc) — 3/8/2010 @ 3:11 pmAgain, precious. The idiots don’t even read the link, which details ACORN docking pay for unmet quotas and sexual favors for ACORN superiors by the hires.
The left doesn’t care about poor people. Unless they’re fucking them.
Apogee (e2dc9b) — 3/8/2010 @ 3:20 pm“If you paid any attention to Paul Ryan’s many statements on this issue, you’d know that he thinks the French plan has many features to recommend it. But of course you don’t pay attention or actually read anything to the contrary, you just spew out your rhetorical pablum ad infinitum.”
I have time and time again said that the GOP should spend more time promoting Paul Ryan’s plan.
imdw (842182) — 3/8/2010 @ 3:49 pmOnly because you find them easy to lie and distort, iamadickwad. Not because you find them to have any merit.
JD (8b8f03) — 3/8/2010 @ 3:58 pmFunniest thing about that response is that Obama’s been running away like a scared little girl when asked about Ryan’s plan. His face when Ryan tore apart his lies during his healthcare (aka set up the GOP) summit was priceless. And rather than respond to it, he kept right on lying. Witness the “townhall meeting” he just held today, which was closed to the public (of course).
Dmac (ca1d8c) — 3/8/2010 @ 4:06 pmimd-dumbass, The Wisconsin AG is prosecuting your ACORN on FELONY charges for VOTE FRAUD. YOU and timb are abject liars, and damn poor ones at it.
PCD (955d37) — 3/8/2010 @ 5:24 pm“Funniest thing about that response is that Obama’s been running away like a scared little girl when asked about Ryan’s plan”
Like when? I know the GOP leadership hasn’t been keen on it.
“His face when Ryan tore apart his lies during his healthcare (aka set up the GOP) summit was priceless. And rather than respond to it, he kept right on lying.”
See I liked that moment. I’ve been saying a good compromise would be to have votes on both plans.
imdw (017d51) — 3/8/2010 @ 5:36 pmOthers have been saying you are a mendoucheous asshat. Up or down vote?
JD (1910a1) — 3/8/2010 @ 5:41 pm“imd-dumbass, The Wisconsin AG is prosecuting your ACORN on FELONY charges for VOTE FRAUD. YOU and timb are abject liars, and damn poor ones at it.”
I read the link. It doesn’t look like he’s prosecuting the entity ACORN. It looks like he’s prosecuting two individuals for falsely registering people. And those two — and their supervisor, were cheating their bosses too. Maybe they were desperate for work, but I don’t feel much sympathy for them.
imdw (8222e7) — 3/8/2010 @ 6:28 pmJd, I’d be careful believing what Serr8d tells you. And, I’d be real careful about thinking you can out others and then bitch about others knowing things about you. Hypocrite.
timb (8f04c0) — 3/8/2010 @ 6:47 pmCool, now timb is flexing his muscles with some threats.
That’s the kind of behavior we expect from timb.
SPQR (26be8b) — 3/8/2010 @ 6:48 pmYes, by calling jdizzle a hypocrite I was threatening him! My insults are SO powerful.
SPQR = tool
timb (8f04c0) — 3/8/2010 @ 6:55 pmI don’t want anyone to get shot…. but it’d be gold eh?
I’ve got family in the greater(?) general? Flint area that won’t go into Flint or Detroit without a gun.
SteveG (909b57) — 3/8/2010 @ 6:56 pmWho did I out? The fact that it focuses its hatey hate on me is far more of a concern than its not-so-veiled threats.
JD (60310b) — 3/8/2010 @ 7:13 pmtimb, what’s your lie about ACORN now? imd-lyingdonkey has shown his weak lie.
PCD (955d37) — 3/8/2010 @ 7:14 pm@46 timb — you used the term “I’d be careful” twice in your comment and then directed it at JD.
The information displayed was done by Serr8d, not JD. If you have a problem with Serr8d, take it up with him (and you may want to consider apologizing if you were in fact being dishonest). In the future, if you are honest, proud, and confident in what you write, then there is no need to resort to sock-puppetry (you may want to consider that as well).
Being nasty and caustic to people has a way of activating karma in a bad way (that includes dishonest behavior and veiled threats). Apologies have a way of setting things right.
Your choice.
Pons Asinorum (1f16cc) — 3/8/2010 @ 7:55 pmlegal question, Counselor, since IANAL….could the Brooklyn DA have secured a conviction if O’Keefe HAD NOT interleaved cutscenes of himself dressed as a pimp with the evidence video?
wheeler's cat (ce911d) — 3/9/2010 @ 6:55 amNishi is still flogging that strawman. SHOCKA
JD (2830cd) — 3/9/2010 @ 7:06 amIf the Brooklyn DA thought that the editing made a difference, he would have sought the unedited videos from O’Keefe. But he didn’t, so we can assume the editing wasn’t a factor in his decision.
Some chump (050674) — 3/9/2010 @ 7:10 amWheeler, an honest DA could have prosecuted a number of crimes against the Brooklyn ACORN, but being a member of their party and wholly beholden to them he took a powder.
PCD (1d8b6d) — 3/9/2010 @ 7:11 ambut….the prosecution did solict unedited tapes…and concluded the evidence wasn’t as clear in the unedited tape, and the edited tape show clear evidence of intent to push an agenda…..in a courtroom, Patterico, that counts….doesnt it?
wheeler's cat (ce911d) — 3/9/2010 @ 9:08 amO’Keefe sought to use catalepsis……i think that was a mistake.
Nishi is stuck in one of her own internal feedback loops.
JD (abe6ab) — 3/9/2010 @ 9:30 amwheeler’s cat, no an “intent to push an agenda” does not impeach the unedited tapes at all. You are just making stuff up again.
SPQR (26be8b) — 3/9/2010 @ 9:52 amTimb
Looks like your hero Colbert lied during his “pimp” bit.
Can you point to the charge of wiretapping in the affidavit?
Paul L. (f102db) — 3/9/2010 @ 10:55 amPaul – Truthiness is good enough for them.
JD (3b62be) — 3/9/2010 @ 10:58 amDid you lefties catch that? Colbert got it wrong.
imdw (9b1c40) — 3/9/2010 @ 12:36 pmSPQR said @ 30:
“By the way, this story will destroy another set of themes of the ACORN defenders.”
Which part? The part where Morrissey apologized for having reported the story inaccurately and appropriately issued a transparent correction which seems to be beyond the grasp of folks like Patrick “Patterico” Frey, the NYTimes and Andrew Breitbart?
Brad Friedman (25f727) — 3/9/2010 @ 3:48 pmShould have offered a link for help to you guys:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7734
You’re welcome.
Brad Friedman (25f727) — 3/9/2010 @ 3:49 pmSee, this is how it works.
Colbert gets to do the old clown nose on clown nose off bit.
It’s hailed as a great victory for the left when a leftist comedian uncritically accepts their talking points.
If he misstates the facts in the process, there is no complaining about it. He’s a comedian, after all.
If you watch the Colbert video, the gag is supposed to be: here are some true facts about James O’Keefe. Given those true facts, let’s hoist him on his own petard. The hoisting on the petard is the gag. The assumption of the gag is that the true facts are true.
But they weren’t. If you get to lie that way, and you can’t be criticized for it, that’s a very insidious situation. It’s a confidence game — a way to get people to swallow falsehoods, with a fail-safe fallback in case you’re caught: I WAS JUST KIDDING!
Patterico (c218bd) — 3/9/2010 @ 6:14 pmPatterico, I still think it says a lot about Democrats that they rely upon comedians for their heavy-lifting in terms of pushing their ideology.
SPQR (26be8b) — 3/9/2010 @ 6:35 pmThey’re forced to since with the death of Pat Moynihan, there isn’t a Liberal left who can think himself out of a paper bag – and Leftists are completely hopeless.
AD - RtR/OS! (12a74e) — 3/9/2010 @ 6:44 pm