Posted on 10/08/2009 12:04:38 AM PDT by bruinbirdman
When Andrew Breitbart first saw video footage of workers from Acorn, a community activist group, telling two undercover reporters how to set up a brothel and avoid paying taxes he knew he had a big scoop on his hands.
The conservative commentator also knew the series of undercover videos, which caused an outcry when he released them last month on his BigGovernment website, would be dismissed by what he calls the "mainstream media".
"The mainstream media are not story driven, they are ideology driven," he says in an interview with the Financial Times. "They are universally left of centre and they protect their own . . . their raison d'être is to put pressure on anyone that would dare challenge their aggressive ideology."
The media outlets criticised by Mr Breitbart, which include CNN and the New York Times, reject accusations of bias. However, Mr Breitbart argues that liberal bias is inherent and admits to pursuing his own ideological aims through his websites. His policy has been rewarded with plenty of online traffic: September brought almost 11m unique users to his sites and 35m page views.
Along with Glenn Beck, the cable news presenter, Mr Breitbart has established himself as a leading member of the new guard of conservative agenda-setters.
Their voices have joined those of established conservative figures such as radio host Rush Limbaugh and Matt Drudge, whose Drudge Report often promotes Mr Breitbart's stories. Together, these commentators appear to be filling a void for disaffected conservatives searching for a credible political leader.
Ironically, given his political views, the 40-year-old Mr Breitbart used to work for Ariana Huffington, helping her start the Huffington Post, one of the most popular liberal news outlets on the web.
Since launching his own operation he has pursued a vastly different political agenda. The Acorn story was his biggest hit yet, sweeping across the web and being heavily promoted by Fox News channel.
Acorn - the Association of Community Organisations for Reform Now - has long been the subject of Republican criticism, mainly over its role in registering voters ahead of last year's election victory by Barack Obama. But the videos became an immediate catalyst for government action against the group.
The Census Bureau cut its links to the group after the release of the videos while the US Senate voted to stop giving the organisation federal funding for its community work.
But as the repercussions of the videos intensified, most media outlets were slow to pick up the story. To Mr Breitbart this is proof of liberal bias.
He argues that "the collective mainstream media only see scandal and corruption in the rightwing" and that presents an opportunity "to hold the left to scrutiny".
The videos from Acorn sparked a scandal that has lasted weeks. When the undercover reporters said they were running a brothel staffed with underage prostitutes from El Salvador, two workers at an Acorn office in Baltimore were happy to give more advice.
Mr Breitbart accuses the New York Times, the Washington Post, ABC, CNN, NBC and CBS of deliberately underplaying the revelations in the videos because they did not fit their liberal agenda.
Although Jon Stewart, the comedian whose The Daily Show is required viewing in liberal households, covered the story, a candid column last week in the New York Times supported Mr Breitbart's claims that the story was ignored by some publications for political reasons.
Clark Hoyt, the newspaper's public editor, wrote that it "stood still" after the damning videos were posted online. The newspaper "needs to be alert" to such stories "or wind up looking clueless or, worse, partisan itself", he wrote.
The Washington Post also was late to the story. "One explanation may be that traditional news outlets like the Post simply don't pay sufficient attention to conservative media or viewpoints," wrote Andrew Alexander, its ombudsman.
Mr Breitbart says his distance from Beltway politics - he works in the heart of liberal Los Angeles - allows him to pursue his own agenda. "I make no bones about coming from an ideological and partisan point of view. But at least I'm honest about it."
His network of websites includes BigHollywood, which aims to redress liberal bias in Hollywood and provide a forum for rightwing thinkers in the entertainment industry.
"I want to be the kingmaker," says Mr Breitbart. "I want to find the best voices so that ideas and truth that have been suppressed for too long can find their way to a mass audience."
MSM is corrupt. As far as I have found they began during the 30’s with the pro FDR and unions. it carried over into ww2 with the whitewashing of the companies that were pro Nazi and pro Mussolini so the far left adititude is deeply ingrained in it.
he left out...."ARE TOLD TO
"I make no bones about coming from an ideological and partisan point of view. But at least I'm honest about it."
There is no problem with being ideological and partisan. The problem comes when those characteristics overwhelm honesty.
As an example, if O'Keefe and Giles recorded some Acorn people who, in fact, reacted the way we would hope they would have, and withheld that material, that would be dishonest, and to me would taint their reportage.
Not saying they did, but if there are exonerating videos of honest Acorn folks, and they haven't been shown, I would be disappointed.
Well, that plus many thousands of other examples. If it is at all possible to give a "leftist" slant to a story, it WILL be so given.
Videos of those who do not commit crimes doesn't exonerate those who do and are not news anyways.
One plant which processes peanuts is criminally negligent. Should TV show video of the plants which are not?
It should be assumed that there are ACORN offices which would not encourage illegality.
Exonerating videos??? So the behavior of the Acorn employees seen on tape could be exhonerated by the mere existence of Acorn colleagues who weren't hip to child prostitution and actually chose to follow the law at that point in time?
Well, I will take the blame for writing the sentence the way I did.
Should there be video of an office that reacted properly, it does not, I repeat, does not exonerate the wrong doers in any way.
And Brug what makes it “news” is that at least one office acted properly while several did not. It’s called balance.
Once again, I’m not saying it happened, I’m just saying if they exist, in fairness, it should be pointed out.
Sorry, it’s just rules of the journalistic road.
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT COMPLAINT
January 7, 2009
IN RE: ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS FOR REFORM NOW
EXCERPT The undersigned State Board delegates and National Board members of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (“ACORN”) file this criminal complaint againstACORN Staff and Executive Board members for fraud, embezzlement, conspiracy and concealment, and criminal civil rights violations. Additionally, since there has already been thepublic admission that a felony was committed, it is also possible that other federal offenses have also been committed including but not limited to;
Title 18 U.S.C. §1341, Mail Fraud,
18 U.S.C.§1001, Presenting a False Document to the an Agent of the United States Government;
18 U.S.C.§1027 False statements and concealment of facts in relation to documents required by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and other possible offenses including civil and/or criminal RICO violations.
18 U.S.C. §§1961-68 (RICO Act)
18 U.S.C. §1001 (False Statements to Agents of the U.S. Government),
18 U.S.C. §1341 (Mail Fraud),
18 U.S.C. §1027 (ERISA Violations), and,
18 U.S.C. §241(Conspiracy Against Civil Rights).
Finally, the complainants contend that full investigations of a RICO conspiracy under 18U.S.C. §1962(c) are warranted because they assert that (1) the defendant persons (2) were employed by or associated with an enterprise (3) that engaged in or affected interstate commerce and that (4) the defendant persons operated or managed the enterprise (5) through a pattern (6) of racketeering activity, and (7) the complaints were injured in its business or property by reason of the pattern of racketeering activity. Thus, the complainants feel that a formal RICO investigation is also warranted.
In a shocking report, Elizabeth Kingsley, who is an ACORN attorney, expressed concerns that ACORN and Project Vote may have violated federal laws because of how they interacted. Project Vote, the Kingsley report says, hires ACORN to perform voter registration drives.. Project Vote is a 501(c)(3) federally tax-exempt organization, which means that it is subject to prohibitions on partisan political activity.
ACORN, however, is not subject to those same restrictions, because itis not federally tax exempt. Michael Slater, executive director of Project Vote, told the New York Times that,“Project Vote and Acorn have a written agreement that specifies that all work is nonpartisan.”
Kingsley, however, claims that the way records were kept made it impossible for her to tellwhether or not PV's money had, at the end of the day, been used for strictly non-partisan purposes. Until 2007, Project Vote's board was exclusively composed of ACORN staff. ?Kingsley said about this, "As a result, we may not be able to prove that 501(c) 3 resources are not being directed to specific regions based on impermissible partisanconsiderations."?Kingsley also claims that governance issues plagued the organizations, writing, "Board meetings are not held, or if they are, minutes are not kept, or if minutes are kept, theynever make it into the files.
"Several Project Vote board members claim that they were unaware that they served on Project Vote's board:? George Hampton, listed as a board member on federal tax filings from 1994-2006, said that he had never heard of Project Vote.? Cleo Mata, listed as a board member on tax forms from 1997 to 2006, also said she was not aware she was on the Project Vote board.
Although ACORN represents itself as separate from its related or associated entities;these companies are in reality all ACORN. The entities share common goals, management,control, locations, financial management and interlocking directors and staff. (In a presentation to ACORN Funders, Steve Kest describes the Association or “ACORN Family” of as one corporation.)
--SNIP-- 24 pp long
SOURCE http://www.acorn-8.net/PDFs/USAttComp.pdf
REFERENCE The sound of ACORN falling
EXCERPT Bertha Lewis, embattled ACORN honcho can barely start explaining away the latest allegations surrounding her community-organizing behemoth before fresh ones pop up.
Yesterday, Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, a Democrat, floated a new charge: In a subpoena, he said fraud committed by a former top ACORN exec was five times bigger than previously reported -- and that Lewis knew about it.
Gee, what else is ACORN hiding? Dale Rathke, the group's then-bookkeeper and brother of founder Wade Rathke, embezzled ACORN funds in 1999 and 2000 to the tune of what the group said was nearly $1 million.
Yet Caldwell claims that at a 2008 directors' meeting, Lewis acknowledged that the fraud ran to $5 million -- likely consisting largely of taxpayer money. Bertha Lewis denies it, of course. But then, how does she even keep up? She spent all of yesterday morning equivocating over the rest of ACORN's sins.
Appearing before the National Press Club, Lewis condemned as "McCarthyism" the scrutiny her group has drawn since employees in several cities were filmed advising undercover journalists on how to commit housing fraud. They're just bad apples, see, and she's working to "turn this thing around."
But what of the ACORN affiliates under investigation in multiple states for voter fraud? What of the Rathkes themselves? Nope, the evidence is piling up that ACORN is rotten all through. No wonder its political allies are running for cover.
SOURCE http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/the_sound_of_acorn_falling_h8m2v76gYoSTXLQd0cghEK
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