The conservative activist duo are citing the new film as video-graphic evidence that ACORN lied about whether the two were thrown out of the Philadelphia office, how much time they spent there and whether they explicitly told ACORN workers that Giles was a prostitute. One wonders if it occurred to O’Keefe and Giles that releasing the full unedited video would make better evidence of their assertions, especially since they allegedly called the press conference to make that case.
At a Washington news conference, O’Keefe went through an edited version of what he said was a 32-minute visit to the Philadelphia office.
“At no point were we kicked out, at no time were we asked to leave,” O’Keefe says on the tape of the Philadelphia visit.
Neil Herrmann, ACORN’s lead organizer in Philadelphia, was quoted in news accounts last month as saying that an employee at the office had asked O’Keefe and Giles to leave. On the edited tape released Wednesday, the couple were not asked to leave.
ACORN spokesman Brian Kettenring said in an e-mailed statement: “We’ve always been clear about Philadelphia. We got them out of the office as quickly as possible, and filed a police report on them within minutes.“
ACORN Philadelphia Prostitution Investigation Part I
“Undercover investigation of Prostitution assistance at Philadelphia ACORN office.”
Kettenring said that ACORN’s political enemies are trying to keep the controversy alive.
“In this era of journalism-lite, plenty media are willing to oblige,” said Kettenring.
In the video, the voice of the ACORN employee was muted… [The filmmakers claim it was for legal reasons.] ACORN is suing O’Keefe and Giles and conservative columnist Andrew Breitbart, who posted the videos on his Web site.
After Tuesday’s news conference, O’Keefe called on ACORN to state publicly that it has no objection to the public release of any its employees’ oral statements on the latest tape.
ACORN has repeatedly asked that O’Keefe release all of the tapes he possesses unedited. link
Republican Congressmen Steve King and Thad McCotter, and Fox News were in attendance.
U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, called for congressional probes into ACORN and praised the young filmmakers for their “insight” and courage.
‘This is what happens in America when people stand up for what’s right,” he said. link
[The IRS and the Census Bureau severed] all ties to the organization, which bills itself as the nation’s largest grassroots organization of low- and moderate-income families. A criminal probe was launched by the Kings County District Attorney’s Office to investigate activities at ACORN’s Brooklyn office, and the Treasury Department’s inspector general agreed on Sept. 24 to conduct a review of ACORN, and IRS oversight of nonprofit organizations as a whole. Other probes into the group include investigations by the attorneys general of California and New York.
Lewis, ACORN’s chief organizer, announced on Sept. 16 that the organization would stop taking “new intakes” immediately, essentially freezing its service programs. Scott Harshbarger, a Boston attorney and former attorney general of Massachusetts, was hired late last month to conduct an “independent and comprehensive” investigation into the liberal activist group.
ACORN has filed a lawsuit against O’Keefe, Giles and Breitbart.com. The lawsuit, filed in a Baltimore court, stems from an undercover video showing ACORN employees Shera Williams and Tonja Thompson providing advice on how to skirt tax laws to O’Keefe and Giles as they posed as a pimp and prostitute. link
Mike Stark attended the press conference and asked some questions. Here’s is what he has to say:
… These slimy racists that set ACORN up are perpetrating a fraud with the aid of Republican Congressman (Steve King and Thad McCotter), Fox News and Andrew Brietbart. These “new media” charlatans give the rest of us out here trying to do real journalism a bad name.
The truth is that O’Keefe never wore the pimp outfit into an ACORN office. Instead, he posed as a candidate for Congress that wanted to help a young woman caught in the trappings of prostitution. Supposedly, he wanted to help her, and her fellow prostitutes escape the clutches of a brutal pimp by finding a place for them to live.
The ACORN personnel aren’t blameless. Some did and said some pretty stupid things and deserved to be fired. But their stupid actions in no way give O’Keefe, Brietbart and Fox license to lie and smear with impunity.
… this question really puts the lie to the entire operation… I asked, “If ACORN drops all of its lawsuits, would you be willing to release every second of unedited footage?” Brietbart dodged, saying he’s released transcripts and audio. He wouldn’t say he’d release the video.
I wonder why they wouldn’t jump at the chance to climb out from under the expensive lawsuits. If all that was required was releasing these damning tapes without editing them, well… If all we want is the truth… Won’t it be found in its most pure state on the unedited films? And these poor souls are laboring under the cloud of litigation – some of it criminal… Why not expose ACORN and escape the lawsuits?
They must be very attached to their editing process.
From the beginning of Mike’s article, “All You Need to Know About the ACORN Scandal and Who Is Behind It”
You remember Breitbart as Matt Drudge’s junior partner, the proprietor of BigGovernment.com, and, apparently, babysitter for juvenile delinquents James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles, the conservative, hidden-camera-wielding duo that went undercover to obtain footage of low-level ACORN staffers.
They continued their media assault yesterday at the National Press Club. With assists from Republican Congressmen Steve King and Thad McCotter, Fox News and the aforementioned Andrew Breitbart, O’Keefe and Giles unleashed their most recent attack.
Google News tracks coverage of the story.
