California Attorney General: Breitbart's ACORN tapes were "severely edited"
April 02, 2010 11:24 am ET by Eric Boehlert
The AG also confirms the ACORN 'pimp' story was a hoax.
From the office's press release [emphasis added]:
Videotapes secretly recorded last summer and severely edited by O'Keefe seemed to show ACORN employees encouraging a "pimp" (O'Keefe) and his "prostitute," actually a Florida college student named Hannah Miles, in conversations involving prostitution by underage girls, human trafficking and cheating on taxes. Those videos created a media sensation.
Evidence obtained by Brown tells a somewhat different story, however, as reflected in three videotapes made at ACORN locations in California. One ACORN worker in San Diego called the cops. Another ACORN worker in San Bernardino caught on to the scheme and played along with it, claiming among other things that she had murdered her abusive husband. Her two former husbands are alive and well, the Attorney General's report noted. At the beginning and end of the Internet videos, O'Keefe was dressed as a 1970s Superfly pimp, but in his actual taped sessions with ACORN workers, he was dressed in a shirt and tie, presented himself as a law student, and said he planned to use the prostitution proceeds to run for Congress. He never claimed he was a pimp.
The Brad Blog has much more.
The California AG press department: Best In Show!
"1970s Superfly pimp"? That's the accepted no de gueere for that type of outfit?
This is the fourth investigation that has come to esentially the same conclusions as the other three.
ACORN has issues, but no criminal violations can be found on any of the videos.
And WHY do they waste our time with nonsense like this? Because they HAVE to poison the national discourse with stuff like this - otherwise we might actually discover how bereft they are of solutions and ideas. Just like troll posters do here, they have to distract us and derail valuable conversations and hinder important legislation because they know that we have the better ideas.
Cub Reporter O'Keefe was acting as a Republican hit man. Period.
O’Keefe stated he was out to make a point and to damage ACORN and therefore did not act as a
journalist objectively reporting a story. The video releases were heavily edited to feature only
the worst or most inappropriate statements of the various ACORN employees and to omit some
of the most salient statements by O’Keefe and Giles. Each of the ACORN employees recorded
in California was a low level employee whose job was to help the needy individuals who walked in the door seeking assistance. Giles and O’Keefe lied to engender compassion, but then edited
their statements from the released videos. Would it have been best had each ACORN employee
simply refused to deal with the couple and shown them the door when their story came out? Of
course.
ACORN was not the criminal enterprise described by O’Keefe in his “Chaos for Glory”
statement – it did not receive billions in federal funds and did not control elections. ACORN is,
however, disorganized and its operations were far from transparent, leaving it vulnerable to
allegations of illegal activity and misuse of funds.
(ps 23-24)
Now, this is something that should have been brought to light back in September, and if O'Keefe, Breitbart or Giles were honest people, it would have been. (of course, if they were honest, none of this would be happening.)
They basically LIED to smear a service for America's poor. Its that simple and obvious. They dont care how many innocent and impoverished Americans loose as a result.
And as if he hasnt had his fill kicking poor people to the street, O'keefe now wants to attack HUD... HUD in DETROIT of all places!!! As if the poor of that city arent suffering enough, here come O'Keefe, straight out of a Dickens novel to load up the prisons and fatten the work-houses!
As someone who grew up in Detroit, I find it appaling that an "investigative reporter" can by-pass all the poverty, chaos and homelessness (which is quite visible throughout the inner city) just to get a few sound-bytes to smear HUD.
What a prick!