TIMES' ELECTION GIFT TO TEAM O

NY Post ^ | May 20, 2009 | Michelle Malkin

[Scanian]

CONFLICT-of-interest stories make great front-page headlines -- except when the newspaper that revels in breaking them is itself in the middle of an ethical morass. Take The New York Times.

The Times acknowledged this weekend that it had spiked a story on possible illegal coordination between left-wing activist groups ACORN and Project Vote and the Obama campaign just before Election Day. The charges involved Team Obama sharing top campaign-donor lists with ACORN's supposedly nonpartisan canvassing arm, Project Vote (the same group Obama worked for as a community organizer).

New York Times Public Editor Clark Hoyt tried to spin it as a "tip that didn't pan out." He airily dismissed the charges by ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief as "nonsense" and quoted Times national editor Suzanne Daley, who shrugged, "You have to cut bait after a while." It was an all-too-convenient judgment that just happened to be made as Election Day loomed. (Contrast this with the doggedness of the Times' editors in pursuing insinuations that GOP presidential candidate John McCain had carried on an affair with lobbyist Vicki Iseman.)

Hoyt attempted to paint MonCrief as an unreliable source. But Times reporter Stephanie Strom had relied on her for months to break a series of ACORN corruption stories. Moreover, MonCrief's allegations fit the shady money-shuffling pattern among ACORN and its affiliates to a T. Strom had reported on ACORN's own internal review of shady money transfers among its web of affiliates conducted by lawyer Elizabeth Kingsley.

[Steely Tom]

And of course it’s all right because they couldn’t possibly be expecting anything in return.

[cripplecreek]

There’s something really big behind this whole ACORN thing and I have a feeling that it’s exposure will lead to vast changes in Washington overnight.

Liberals are now starting to ask questions about ACORN. A gay friend sent me a link from a liberal site that contains a letter from the ACORN 8 to be addressed and sent to congress and newspaper editors demanding an investigation.

I don’t necessarily trust the ACORN 8 but I believe they’re less corrupt than the ACORN leadership of today.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/America-Must-Support-the-A-by-Mike-McCray-090518-268.html