Just one day after the New York Time’s Public Editor Clark Hoyt finally admitted that both he and his paper were “wrong” in the way, for the last six months, they unskeptically and inaccurately covered the Rightwing hoaxsters who released doctored-up, heavily-overdubbed, secretly-taped hit videos targeting the national community organization ACORN, largely for their work in legally registering hundreds of thousands of low-income voters so they could have their voice heard in their own democracy, the group is announcing that it will be “bringing its operations to a close”.
We should take the time to note here, since the corporate mainstream media likely will not, that there is no evidence that any vote has ever been cast illegally in any election vis a vis an improper registration by an ACORN worker. Of the very few ACORN workers found to have submitted illegal registrations, almost every one of them was turned in to officials by ACORN themselves. Again: no voter ever registered improperly by an ACORN worker has ever cast a single vote in any election.
The following statement has just been sent to The BRAD BLOG by ACORN spokesperson Kevin Whelan concerning the group’s plan to shut down:
The ACORN Association Board met on Sunday March 21 and approved a set of steps to responsibly manage the process of bringing its operations to a close over the coming months. These include:
- Closing ACORN’s remaining state affiliates and field offices by April 1st; and
- Developing a plan to resolve all outstanding debts, obligations and other issues.
ACORN’s members have a great deal to be proud of–from promoting to homeownership to helping rebuild New Orleans, from raising wages to winning safer streets, from training community leaders to promoting voter participation — ACORN members have worked hard to create stronger communities, a more inclusive democracy, and a more just nation.
Neither Andrew Breitbart nor James O’Keefe, the partisan propagandists who created and published the scam videos which ultimately helped to destroy the valuable community group, could be reached for comment to learn whether or not they planned to target widows’ and orphans’ groups next.
ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis, however, issued the following statement over the weekend as a reminder of the group’s successes, in light of the now-successful years-long Rightwing hit job intended to cripple the organization for having the temerity to be one of those thousand points of light you’ve heard about, helping the neglected and the poor in our society — more than 400,000 low-income families in 75 cities — the folks who need such help the most…
For Immediate Release: March 20, 2010
Contact: Kevin Whelan, kwhelan@acorn.org
ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis said in statement released on Saturday, March 20th:
For 40 years ACORN has been committed to fighting for its members and improving the lives of the most vulnerable Americans. The ACORN Association Board is meeting (by phone) this weekend will be making some very tough decisions about the future of their organization.
ACORN has faced a series of well-orchestrated, relentless, well-funded right wing attacks that are unprecedented since the McCarthy era. Our effective work empowering African American and low-income voters made us a target. The videos were a manufactured, sensational story that led to rush to judgment and an unconstitutional act by Congress.
For ACORN as a national organization, our vindication on the facts doesn’t necessarily pay the bills. I know that ACORN’s dedicated community members will continue to speak out for justice and organize in their communities.
Background:
ACORN, a national network of community organizations has conducted campaigns to win living wages for low income workers; an end to predatory financial practices and foreclosures; decent and affordable housing, for first time homebuyers and tenants; better public schools; voting rights; a path to citizenship for new immigrants to this country; and an equitable response to natural disasters such as Katrina.
The organization came under attack from Republicans after it helped millions of mostly minority and low-income citizens apply to register to vote in recent years. The attacks escalated in September, 2009 after a video sting operation by conservative activists led to a Congressional vote to “defund” the group. The controversy sapped the organization’s resources and hampered its fundraising. On March 1, 2010 Brooklyn prosecutors on Monday cleared ACORN of criminal wrongdoing after a four-month probe triggered by the films produced by undercover conservative activists. “They edited the tape to meet their agenda,” a source in the District Attorney’s office told the New York Daily News.
On March 10th Federal judge Nina Gershon again declared unconstitutional the federal law which blacklisted ACORN and allied organizations. The judge ordered government to make it clear the funding isn’t blocked. Last year an independent report by former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger examining the undercover videos filmed in offices of the national anti-poverty group ACORN states the employees portrayed in the videos did not engage in any illegal activity. Another study by the Congressional Research Service (http://judiciary.house.gov/news/091222.htm) cleared the group of charges leveled by right wing activist hostile to its voter registration work and stated that there were no instances were identified in which ACORN “violated the terms of federal funding in the last five years.”
Details on the victories and important work the group has accomplished over the last decade — work they won’t be there to do any more, so perhaps the government will be forced to pick up that slack instead? — are included in this PDF, also sent by ACORN.
The mainstream media ought to hang their heads in shame tonight. The BRAD BLOG will continue our efforts to see that they do and that someone is finally held accountable for their unforgivable failings to this nation.
Mission accomplished.
What happened to progressive nutroots narrative promoted by Media Matters and their ilk(Brad Blog) that the wingnut attacks on ACORN had FAILED FAILED FAILED !!!!
You know the following talking point pushed by this blog.
Harshburger’s “independent” investigation.
Brooklyn DA declaring ACORN did nothing criminal.
Teabugger James O’Keefe arrest from wiretapping.
Paul L. said:
I’m unaware of that “narrative”. You wouldn’t just be making stuff up again, would you? Just the way you guys made up your phony attacks on ACORN?
Since you said we’ve promoted that narrative, I’m sure you’ll have no problem pointing me to such a promotion here.
If not, consider this your warning that, as per the few rules we have for commenting here on The BRAD BLOG, the posting of knowing disinformation is a bannable offense. In lieu of such evidence to back up your charge, you now know that allegation is disinformation. Do it again, and you’ll not be posting here for long (whether I agree with your points is irrelevant, btw, and has nothing to do with our rules for posting here.)
Thank you.
Your wish is my command
Breaking: Another ACORN Court Victory; Federal Judge Strikes Down Funding Ban as Unconstitutional
I’m no lawyer, but doesn’t it seem that ACORN has a very clear-cut case against the NYT for defamation?
Paul L, congratulations.
You have pwned brad. You were correct when you stated that he was wrong about ” the wingnut attacks on ACORN”.The right has successfully destroyed an organization that was :
A)proven innocent of all crimes it has been accused of
B)slandered by the media, print, televised,etc
C)tasked with helping empower and assist the wretched of the earth.
Congratulations in your sides success, in overcoming such obstacles as decency,truth, compassion, empathy…
The libelous right wing vendetta against ACORN has succeeded, and thus cost thousands of poor people future assistance in achieving suffrage, living wages, decent housing, and job assistance.
This has ensured that it will be easier in the future for right wing suckers like you to elect cruel reactionaries who will continue to rob your ass blind, send your friends and family off to die in some godforsaken hellhole with lovely natural resources.
The right has won….as usual
But because they are incapable of acknowledging the implications of such a thing and truly taking any responsibility for their actions, they will continue to insist that people are poor due to immorality or laziness (not due to the only groups helping them being de-funded and de-famed), the wars they wage are going badly due to the magical power of liberal actors to inflict defeat on “the troops”
and that their own problems are all due to minorities, taxes, big guvmint, atheists, immigrants, etc.
Bravo sir
P.S
……..You Chump
The wingnut attacks on ACORN were a failure, Paul L, and only serves to prove that a lie makes it around the world before the truth can ever get its shoes on. That’s hardly something to be proud of.
Paul you didn’t prove what you claimed “What happened to progressive nutroots narrative promoted by Media Matters and their ilk(Brad Blog) that the wingnut attacks on ACORN had FAILED FAILED FAILED !!!!”
Where exactly in what you quoted is Brad claiming the rightwing attacks on ACORN failed? What you posted doesn’t prove your point.
It doesn’t show that Brad had claimed that. Actually just the opposite, the complaint is that the NYTimes and crew ate the shit that was shoveled to them unquestioningly just as they ate the shit sandwich served up in lead up to the Iraq War. The right wing attack worked nevermind that it wasn’t based on truth.
That’s how McCain lost in 2000 with the SC black child smear. How Dukakis got smeared. Its the Lee Atwater school of marketing.
Please don’t ban Paul L. This is exactly the kind of place Paul needs to come to. Here he will get a loving and caring education in truth, honesty and integrity.
And then we’ll kick the living shit out of his douchebaggery with facts.
PS, do NOT click on his link. You are guaranteed to loose some IQ
Paul L –
You have FAILED. As suspected, like your liar brethren, you simply make shit up.
I’m sorry you chose to toss in with liars and con artists instead of calling on them — and yourself — to tell the truth. But party politics before nation, eh, Paul?
You’re a helluva “patriot”.
The myth lives on. NPR’s “All Things Considered” delivered AP’s version: “Scandal enveloped the organization six months ago when video footage emerged showing ACORN workers giving tax tips to conservative activists posing as a pimp and prostitute.”
The right has a lot to crow about today! They proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the national media can be easily manipulated into promoting a false story. In the process they accomplished their goal of disenfranchising poor Americans to preserve their undemocratic grip on power in this country.
In the process the also proved beyond a shadow of doubt that they do not care for the poor of this country or have any concern for the daily suffering of their fellow Americans who were not born with a silver spoon in their mouths.
Nice Job Breitbart et al. Sleep well tonight knowing that thousands of your fellow countrymen, women and children are now effectively cut off from aid and out of participating in electoral process.
Your parents must be proud!
Unbelievable! To think all this happened just because the New York Times would not issue a simple correction about the minor point they got wrong in a couple of stories about the clothing O’Keefe was wearing when he visited the ACORN offices.
Where is one attorney to take down the pigs who slandered ACORN and to have after The New York Times for there shoddy reporting of lies?
There must be culpability on this issue.
This is not America.
This is just so sickening. In effect the entire national political class came together to destroy Acorn.
And why?
I’m guessing it’s because most of those people didn’t want any smelly poor black people messing up their social scene while openly organizing voter registration drives in black areas of big cities. How embarrassing to be associated with that kind of crowd!
What happens to the Defund ACORN Act, if ACORN doesn’t exist? It sort of makes congress look like a bunch of idiots.
Barbara Glassman:
The Associated Press doesn’t have any more credibility then the NYT, especially in regards to election integrity.
In a recent AP article about the death of Peter Graves, they listed one of his first movies as “Beginning of the World.” A simple Google search could have given them the actual name of the movie. “Beginning of the End.”
Have some respect for the dead!
Obviously, NPR should stop relying on the Associated Press also.
I blogged about ACORN in 2008, now I regret I didn’t do more although I was very busy with other election issues.
#1 ACORN DOESN’T REGISTER VOTERS, ELECTION OFFICIALS DO.
Now here’s excerpt from my interview with Mike Ashe, Director of Durham Co BOE about ACORN:
Daleyrocks, this all happened because they made that dirtbag video mash-up, and presented it as some sort of truthful journalism when it was obviously an intentionally misleading hack video and audio edit job. What you saw in the video was manufactured, and was not representative of what actually occurred. It was a hit job on ACORN. And now the innocent wounded ACORN has finally bled to death.
A proud day indeed for all republicans. Stupid, self-centered, selfish, misinformed republicans.
I swear they need some sort of penalty or fine for promoting known untruths in media. People honestly can’t tell what is true and what is not anymore because of misinformation warehouses like Fox News, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, etcetera. People honestly do not even know they are misinformed by these sources. After all, they saw it on TV! They heard it on the radio! They saw five blogs with information about it! (e.g. Patterico) How could it not be true? And yet it is not true. Where is all this bullshit coming from? Oh yeah, they saw it in the video!
While the bullshit video indirectly caused the NYTimes issue, not the other way around (daleyrocks), I would agree that it is indicative of the preexisting and much larger problem of LYING IN THE MEDIA, AND MEDIA UNTRUTHS, and their influence on not only political discourse in America, but political outcomes due to intentionally misinformed voters making bad decisions based on some information that is misleading, if not outright lies.
Apparently ACORN HAD to be destroyed because it was effective (progressive people and organizations are not targeted unless they present an ACTUAL threat to the establishment powers: then they are attacked relentlessly until marginalized or otherwise rendered ineffective.) So our voter registration efforts need to be redoubled. What organizations can take up the slack?
When liberal icon Walter Cronkite said America was an ignorant nation in 2005 and that a majority was essentially too dumb to vote, who was he talking about? He wanted to go back to the liberal vision of a ruling elite telling people what to do because they are too stupid to know themselves, much like the attitude of the current administration.
Daleyrocks, where in the world did that come from? I had no idea there was a “liberal vision of a ruling elite telling people what to do…” What a bunch of paranoid BS. I’m afraid that particular vision is conjured up by the right wing echo chamber to set up a straw man for you to fight with. Do you actually believe everything those idiots say about so called “liberals?” When is it going to occur to you that *they* are the ones lying to you?
(“*they*” being the right wing echo chamber, that is)
What’s new? Corporate capitalism weeds out the good. ACORN was working for the common good, so it was weeded out. All good things come to an end, and with corporate plutocrats running the media and the economy, and to an ever increasing degree the government, that process accelerates.
I don’t see this press release anywhere on the ACORN website . . . what gives?
ACORN is being replaced by new nut groups – a SHOCKING story by SPN Headlines at:
http://stupidassnews.wordpress.com/2010/03/23/acorns-demise-may-benefit-other-nut-groups/
Keep smiling! 🙂
This is a sad, sad day for our nation, for democracy, truth, social justice; for all the people who worked so hard and volunteered their time to make ACORN a success- which, in the end, is exactly why the right wing made it a target to be taken down at all costs.
Thank you, Brad and Ernest and others who work with you on this blog for fighting so hard to get the truth out to the world about the viscious smear campaign which brought this organization down.
Congratulations, you tools of the rich and mighty, for being the stupidest f*cking people on the planet. Continue to do the bidding of the fascist corporations and their enablers in media and politics while wrapping yourselves in the flag and believing yourselves to be patriots.
If this were 1775, you would all be swearing loyalty to the king and calling our Founding Fathers radicals and terrorists. You are pawns of the forces of wealth and power, who now have just gained even more of an advantage to screw us all over. Yeah, you too.
I just hope that some group organizes to fill the void left by this tragedy, perhaps Bradblog can play a role in that. They may have won the battle, but the war is far from over.
#22 Landis, Maybe you know some people within your community 🙂 that are likewise minded and interested in setting up a similar non-profit with similar goals of helping those who need it the most. I hope something fills the void. I’m so disappointed that they derailed such a good organization, and unfairly demonized it in the process.
Daley 23 Cronkite didn’t say people were too dumb to vote. That’s you saying it. Cronkite was saying that voters are less informed about issues than they used to be. What he’s saying isn’t untrue. You have more single-value voters casting their ballots now.
Its funny though I’ve seen right wing squawkers like Coulter call voters idiots but You aren’t complaining there. You have a fair amount in the right saying stupid people voted Obama into office. They even created a poll to try to claim that using several questions that had a false premise.
The night after the bogus entrapment “pimp” videos went media viral, Micheal Moore was opening his movie “Capitalism”, appeared on Larry King Live. When asked about and shown the video, broadcast yet again to millions, Moore’s response:”I never use hidden cameras.” Period, not one word of support or ACORN, no “SOS For ACORN!” No one, Spike Lee, Sharpton, Jackson, Bono, for christ sake, called for people to get in motion, get in the streets. The largest working class, membership organization in the country, 500,000 people, who had registered 2 million to vote, who called the bank led predatory housing looting 2 YEARS before, now fucking dead. Good work bourgeois, selfish assholes. Now by doing nothing you have blooded, empowered the Beckian Tea Party proto fascists, wait for new attacks on demonstrators in the streets, like the brave guy on the ground, at Tea rally, holding a sign that stated he had Parkinsons..the white rightists throwing dollar bills on him..these pukes. Get ready folks, time to deal with fascism the old fashioned way, right up in their Know Nothing faces. Go to their meetings, signify our presence.
DaleyRocks @ 23 said:
Since you come from L.A. County Deputy D.A. Patrick “Patterico” Frey’s site, Daley, and are obviously used to selective quoting and misquoting, would you be kind enough to share a link to the actual quote you refer to above?
Thanks!
Why all the fuss?
Its just a re-branding ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now)
will be…
WALNUT
Whelan and Leftist Neolibs United Thuggery
or
PECAN
Political and Economic Communist Activism Now
or
CASHEW
Communist Agents and Shameless Hostile Elite Wannabees
Or
Just pick your favorite group of nuts.
#34 Ah good old crazy talk. Throw out the word communism as if you have any idea what it means. Tell me how does a small community organization group who helps poor people vote somehow change into people who want to have all property held in common by the community?
You did a great service to this country and we are going to miss you. But, who said the good guys always win? Guess we know better now.
Bob Ross #35
What if I just want common ownership of the means of production?