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Remember all the slanderous things you heard about ACORN in 2008 and 2009? Republicans accused the group of "massive voter fraud," kicking off what literally seemed like a million headlines along the lines of "More Acorn Fraud Comes to Light" and "Bill O'Reilly Asks if ACORN Voter Fraud Got Al Franken Elected." Eventually, the drumbeat of scandal got so bad that Congress pulled ACORN's funding.
Well, heading into 2010, the Congressional Research Service has — surprise, surprise! — issued a report saying that it found "no evidence of fraudulent voting or of violations of federal financing rules by the group in the past five years" ...
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And ACORN raised — ironically, given the anti-Wall Street passions of the ACORN-hating tea partiers — an early alarm against the big banks and real-estate moguls who blew the big bubble. "We were the ones on the front line howling about predatory lending and sub-prime mortgages at the very beginning," Lewis says, "but we couldn't get anyone to listen to us."
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Still, there remains a larger lesson to take away from this story, and that is the political ramifications of the human tendency to double down on a bad act. After all, the only real crime surrounding ACORN was committed by the Bush administration when Karl Rove told the Justice Department to find ways to prosecute it. When several U.S. attorneys refused that order, Alberto Gonzales fired them and turned the United States Justice Department into an instrument of partisan political warfare. That is one of the most shocking episodes in American political history — one that Gonzales told me he wishes he could do over, and that one of the attorneys fumed over to Esquire last year. And that is the real reason Fox News and the rest of the right-wing hacks can't back down — for the Republicans to have clean hands, ACORN has to be guilty.
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The most surreal moment, in her words, were the infamous "pimp and prostitute" videotapes. Although the videotapes do show ACORN employees giving tax and housing advice to people who seem to be flagrant criminals, Lewis insists that the videotape doesn't show all that happened. "Our folks did say, 'Do you want us to get the police, how can we help you?' But when you look at it, the tapes are so clearly edited that the voiceover questions you hear are not what our folks are responding to."
Wow, very informative. Some true irony there as well, considering all the Repubs to is blame the "poor people" for the housing downturn and subsequently the economic collapse. It's about time somebody wrote an article addressing the fabrications put forth by right wing media outlets, blogs, am radio etc in regards to this group.
The article also said: "It does seem significant that the filmmakers have refused to release the raw footage, and unfair to condemn the entire organization based on the stupid behavior of a handful of low-level employees. (Imagine if the same standards were applied to Congress or the Catholic Church, much less a poverty group that relies on low-paid employees.)"
I find that very telling about the film crew. If they really didn't selectively edit the tapes to be misleading then why did they not give them up to authorities to view unedited?
I find that very telling about the film crew. If they really didn't selectively edit the tapes to be misleading then why did they not give them up to authorities to view unedited?
Right, what would be the big deal? Obviously they are hiding something.
During his opening statement, Sampson said the decision about the firings were "properly made but poorly explained." He said the process -- which has led to a firestorm on Capitol Hill and a standoff over the testimony of White House aides -- was "badly mishandled." (Read the full statement - PDF)
I think it's worth repeating - considering all the ACORN threads in this forum - that ACORN broke no laws according to a report by the Congressional Research Service.
Here are some direct quotes from the report:
"A search of reports of federal agency inspectors general did not identify instances in which ACORN violated the terms of federal funding in the last five years."
And
" ... a NEXIS search of the ALL NEWS file did not identify any reported instances of individuals who were improperly registered by ACORN attempting to vote at the polls."
Indeed, when it comes to breaking the law, it appears that those who were (and no doubt remain) determined to eliminate ACORN may have broken the law in at least two states:
" ... the laws of Maryland and California appear to ban private recording of face to face conversations, absent the consent of all of the participants."
bertha would never lie, right? and you do realize acorn and acorn housing are legally two different entities, right? This is one of the easiest ways to tell a lie, because you technically aren't. You are speaking of one thing while allowing a person to believe you are talking about something else. People fall for it most of the time too. go figure
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Originally Posted by Freedom Fry
Wow, very informative. Some true irony there as well, considering all the Repubs to is blame the "poor people" for the housing downturn and subsequently the economic collapse. It's about time somebody wrote an article addressing the fabrications put forth by right wing media outlets, blogs, am radio etc in regards to this group.
When you learn about the Constitution from the likes of Glenn Beck....
coming from someone that constanty quotes media matters.. I love irony, though
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