Big Government's ACORN crusade produces chuckles, if nothing else
Written by Eric Boehlert
Published
Because really, what else does Andrew Breitbart's crew have left?
This week, New York prosecutors announced they would not be filing any criminal charges against ACORN, because after viewing the Breitbart-sponsored undercover ACORN tapes, prosecutors couldn't find any wrongdoing. Although they reportedly did find evidence of Breitbart's crew manipulating the tapes for partisan reasons.
By my count that's the third independent review of the ACORN scandal, and not one of the reviews has found any criminal wrongdoing. So of course Breitbart's Big Government wants more independent reviews. (What ever happened to three strikes and you're out?)
So at ACORN-hating central, Big Government demanded to know why California officials, and specifically AG Jerry Brown, weren't properly investigating ACORN. (Apparently, that's the one that's really going to blow the lid of this scandal.) Big Government then takes us on a stroll down memory lane to last fall when the site launched on of its patented (i.e. utterly pointless), and painfully dumb, ACORN 'investigations,' in which some over-eager blogger basically went dumpster diving outside of the group's San Diego office and claimed to have hit the jackpot.
So anyway, here's the clarion call for a California investigation, as Big Government details all the damning anti-ACORN evidence that was rounded up in San Diego [emphasis added]:
Shortly after ACORN had been alerted to the immanent investigation as a result of AG Brown's public announcement, ACORN employees at the San Diego, CA office were caught engaging in a massive document dump on October 9, 2009. Those records were retrieved from an unsecured shared public dumpster where they had been thrown revealing sensitive personal, financial and banking information for both clients and employees in addition to revelations about the political inner workings of ACORN's relationship with major U.S. banks and labor unions.
In other words, ACORN took out the trash (i.e. “massive document dump”) and then some ACORN hater went dumpster diving in search of treasure. But please note the description of the dumpster. According to Big Government, the ACORN docs were “retrieved from an unsecured shared public dumpster.”
Okay, now please look at the photo of the dumpster that Big Government itself originally posted to accompany the supposed blockbuster story.
Does that dumpster look “unsecured”? Does that dumpster look “public”? It gets better, trust me. Last October, Breitbart conceded the dumpster was located "behind ACORN in San Diego." And get this: the Big Government blogger himself admitted that he drove by a no trespassing sign to get to the ACORN dumpster.
So to recap, today Big Government claims the ACORN dumpster was “unsecured” and “public.” But in truth, last fall it was caged, on private property, located behind a no trespassing sign, and was raided under the cover of night.
Just another example of how Big Government's fruitless, sputtering ACORN crusade borders on the absurd.
UPDATED: Is this where I formally ask Big Government to correct its inaccurate reporting about the “unsecured” and “public” dumpster? Oh, my bad. Breitbart only demands retractions. He doesn't post them.
Behold “conservative journalism”!