READER COMMENTS ON

"CA A.G. FINDS 'NO VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL LAW' IN 'SEVERELY EDITED' ACORN 'PIMP' VIDEOS; RELEASES RAW TAPES FOR FIRST TIME"

(59 Responses so far...)





COMMENT #1 [Permalink]

... TomaHawk said on 4/1/2010 @ 11:42 pm PT...





Two independent investigations come to the conclusion that committed no wrongs. To the contrary, it would seem that O'Keefe, Giles, and Breitbart conspired in an act of willful malicious defamation of ACORN. That defamation has cost ACORN its $3.5 million per year of federal assistance that we know of. Were I on the board of ACORN, I would be in touch with a law firm to sue for damages.

COMMENT #2 [Permalink]

... TomaHawk said on 4/1/2010 @ 11:45 pm PT...





ooops!

Edit: "conclusion that ACORN employees committed"

COMMENT #3 [Permalink]

... Chris Hooten said on 4/2/2010 @ 12:58 am PT...





Where is Patty-small-frey and DaleyRocks on this? No doubt(they think) this is some super-partisan Democratic snowjob to whitewash the unclean ACORN, right guys? LOL. So I guess this means Brad wasn't lying? He really isn't a big liar? Wow, big surprise there. Just another example where Brad was right on the money, and critics were full of shit.

COMMENT #4 [Permalink]

... PatG in SD said on 4/2/2010 @ 12:58 am PT...





Excellent job, Brad. Now if we could just coerce the media to not be quite such douche-bags and traitors to the nation

and to DO AN HONEST JOB FOR ONCE!!! Fat chance. We live in a corporatocracy.

Our nation run by the corporations, for the corporations.

COMMENT #5 [Permalink]

... Chris Hooten said on 4/2/2010 @ 1:28 am PT...





I was kidding but sure enough from the comments at pattericos site on this subject(it is not pattericos comment) they even used the words partisan, and whitewash. LOL.: It’s no shock that there are thugs and corrupt partisan criminals out there. What’s shocking is that an attorney general would try to whitewash it, or try to harm a journalist who told the truth. This is an attempt to call O’Keefe a zealot liar, which given the claims he is supposed to have lied about, is a damn serious allegation. We know who the zealot is, Brown. And I would bet money the last shoe has yet to drop on this story. They have rope, and they are wrapping it around their necks with glee.

COMMENT #6 [Permalink]

... dawurz said on 4/2/2010 @ 2:05 am PT...





Submitted to Digg, mostly as a followup to the fun of taking on the deep thinkers there who believe ACORN is evil as much they believe President Obama interned with the Chicago mob.

COMMENT #7 [Permalink]

... Ernest A. Canning said on 4/2/2010 @ 7:48 am PT...





The Los Angeles Times covered this story in "California probe clears ACORN of criminal activity." I did not find any mention of this story in today's New York Times.

COMMENT #8 [Permalink]

... Soul Rebel said on 4/2/2010 @ 7:54 am PT...





Yeah, I hope ACORN, or whatever entity now remains, sues the ass of these racist bastards. Still can't get over how sickeningly racist this whole episode was. And how many people I know who were right-wingers that just delighted in sending me all of the dirt from Faux News on how corrupt these ACORN workers were, shades of welfare queens all over again. It remains thoroughly disgusting.

COMMENT #9 [Permalink]

... Billy said on 4/2/2010 @ 9:39 am PT...





The last two times James O'Keefe committed "journalism," he had to cop a plea to stay out of the slammer.

COMMENT #10 [Permalink]

... torfic said on 4/2/2010 @ 10:37 am PT...





breitbart is at it again with the fake egg throwing videos they're putting out to diminish the violence of the right. even jon stewart fell for it...again. i hate false equivalency in news...and comedy here's a hint... anytime you see a cut in ANY video from breitbart okeefe etc. ANY CUT. Even a quick cut...The video is fake If it's not raw video, it's a fraud. period.

COMMENT #11 [Permalink]

... Ska-T said on 4/2/2010 @ 12:06 pm PT...





Top notch reporting and analysis, Brad. After my 6 decades of life it is sad to see what this country has come to, or refuses to rise above. How is that deception and lies, lies now proven to be lies, can continue to result in the institutionalized loss of voting rights by minorities and the poor. Will Congress undo their crime against the now disbanded Acorn? Do those in power even give it a passing thought?

COMMENT #12 [Permalink]

... colinjames said on 4/2/2010 @ 1:25 pm PT...





Yes, where is Patterrible to claim his boss is a partisan white-washer, as his readers claim. Gee, who would give them that impression?

COMMENT #13 [Permalink]

... Bob Ross said on 4/2/2010 @ 2:10 pm PT...





I would like to hear what Patterico has to say and what he would say of AG Brown

COMMENT #14 [Permalink]

... Jim said on 4/2/2010 @ 2:37 pm PT...





Oh it was racist? LOL. you guys are something. You idiots will support anything on the left. Such lunatics. I am sure the AG Brown can be trusted. /

COMMENT #15 [Permalink]

... NoOneYouKnow said on 4/2/2010 @ 2:49 pm PT...





Solid reporting, Brad.

Anyone else note how odd it is that the MSM and the Dems in Congress jumped on this fraudulent story with such alacrity but have managed to ignore so many true stories of corporate abuse?

COMMENT #16 [Permalink]

... daleyrocks said on 4/2/2010 @ 3:16 pm PT...





"In most cases, such improper registrations were discovered by ACORN themselves and reported to authorities." Brad - I keep seeing this statement and keep asking if there is any support for it other than the self-serving statements of ACORN itself. BTW, did you help Moonbeam write his report? It sounds like he lifted portions of your posts almost verbatim but you did not get an acknowledgement at the end. Too bad for you. Continue defending an organization the employees of which Brown acknowledges were advising Giles and O'Keefe on child prostitution and tax fraud. I can never get enough of lefties occupying moral high ground like that. Next time maybe everybody can take it a step further take it to the prosecutable crimes stage in Brown's eyes.

COMMENT #17 [Permalink]

... Bob Ross said on 4/2/2010 @ 3:38 pm PT...





Again Daley did you read the full report. Okeefe edited a lot out including multiple times they were told that Acorn couldn't help them. So we've gotten to the point where bad advice is a crime. Where was your belly aching when Yoo, Addington, and Gonzales were giving advice on how to willingly break the law, not theoretically.

COMMENT #18 [Permalink]

... Jeannie Dean said on 4/2/2010 @ 4:01 pm PT...





Bob Ross ~ I don't think Daley reads. Period. At least evidenced by his abysmal, embarrassing track record of wrong-i-tudes, here. No, it would seem to me that his bad intel comes directly to him via Breitbart-blood brother-transfusion. How else could he (ahem) "continue defending Breitbart's employees (after which) even Breitbart admits he was scammed by them". Not to mention all the reputable sources now piling on in light of O'Keefe n' Clan's demonstrable lies (NYT notwithstanding). But it sure is nice of you to give him the benefit of the doubt, Bob! While it may be true that O'Keefe will never do any real time and his criminal record will be sanitized thanks to his associations - this, his career-defining scam, has completely unraveled.

Credibility severely chipped. Amy Goodman picks up on AG Jerry Brown's report, today: http://www.democracynow.org/

(Acorn info starts @ 9:25) ..happy to report she has now corrected her phrasing (thanks to Brad) to "videos that APPEAR to show ACORN employees giving advice..."

Good girl. Sure do wish she'd have Brad on.

COMMENT #19 [Permalink]

... Jeannie Dean said on 4/2/2010 @ 4:09 pm PT...





...oh, and Daley - the only reason the Left can claim the moral high ground? Not because they deserve it, but because their opposition are all such delinquent bottom feeders they can't float up to fight by light. Enjoy your subterfuge!

COMMENT #20 [Permalink]

... Brad Friedman said on 4/2/2010 @ 6:03 pm PT...





DaleyRocks wrote: Continue defending an organization the employees of which Brown acknowledges were advising Giles and O'Keefe on child prostitution and tax fraud. Actually, it's you who seems to be defending the New York Times, ironically enough. That said, did you bother to read the report? Or even my report on the report? For example, where the CA AG notes that the ACORN workers "committed no violation of criminal law"? Or where he wrote (contrary to what you, Patty and the rest of Andy Breitbart's Tea Bag Boyz have been inaccurately claiming for so long), "There is no evidence that any of the ACORN employees had the intent to aid and abet such criminal conduct or agreed to join in [O'Keefe and Giles purported] illegal conduct.” Did you miss the part in the AG's report, or in mine where I described the four ACORN workers that O'Keefe were able to find in the entire state of California? + One who told them ACORN couldn't not help them do anything with prostitution money.

+ One who turned them into a detective after they left.

+ One who played them for idiots by claiming she murdered her husband (which Breitbart/O'Keefe still haven't corrected on their posting, btw).

+ And the last one who tried to convince Giles to seek help for tortured abuse victims? What was the crime you are so concerned about here? Because so far, the only crimes appear to have been carried out by O'Keefe and Giles, and yet I don't see you much concerned about that. So we know it's not the Rule of Law you give a damn about it. What is it exactly? Proving that you and Dep. D.A. Patrick "Patterico" Frey and Andy Breitbart and the rest of the Tea Bag Boyz were right, when the facts and reality and all authorities have shown you otherwise? Do you really feel that down on urself that you need such validation? If so, I understand there's a torture abuse program in San Diego where you may be able to get some help.

COMMENT #21 [Permalink]

... Brad Friedman said on 4/2/2010 @ 6:06 pm PT...





Jim @ 14 said: You idiots will support anything on the left. Such lunatics. I am sure the AG Brown can be trusted. I don't trust him. I hope you don't either. I don't trust anybody. I trust evidence that I can independently verify. So of that evidence --- and we finally have some available since O'Keefe and Giles agreed to turn over unedited tapes in exchange for immunity from criminal prosecution --- what do you not trust? Looks to me, as based on that evidence, that AG Brown was right on the money. Got evidence to show us otherwise? Thanks in advance for it, if so!

COMMENT #22 [Permalink]

... dot said on 4/2/2010 @ 6:18 pm PT...





Brad, ...Except that I thought we established here a week or so ago that the Times did, in fact, run a story mentioning the Harshbarger report --- "Acorn on Brink of Bankruptcy, Officials Say". Right? A nit, but still.

COMMENT #23 [Permalink]

... Billy said on 4/2/2010 @ 6:44 pm PT...





I'm no lawyer, but... If O'Keefe misrepresented to the Attorney General the contents of the unedited audio --- perhaps by way of fudged transcripts --- he probably broke the terms of his immunity deal and thus can still be prosecuted.

COMMENT #24 [Permalink]

... Cosimo diRondo said on 4/2/2010 @ 7:57 pm PT...





Immunity? WTF? Why couldn't they be compelled to provide the tapes and thrown into jail upon refusal? How nice that Brown can cut this deal not to prosecute for the privacy violations. Shouldn't maybe the victim be given a say in this matter? You know, since it like shut down Acorn and stuff? Mission accompliced.

COMMENT #25 [Permalink]

... S in PA said on 4/2/2010 @ 9:09 pm PT...





Brad, I have a couple of questions that you might want to look into: Did any of the ACORN employees have an employment contract (as opposed to at-will employment) with ACORN? And if so, could they sue pimp-daddy James O'Keefe for tortious interference with a contract?

COMMENT #26 [Permalink]

... Jo Diddy said on 4/2/2010 @ 9:10 pm PT...





LOL, The Kangaroo COurt system never ceases to amuse me! Lou

www.anonymous-surfing.us.tc

COMMENT #27 [Permalink]

... SreeBee said on 4/2/2010 @ 10:26 pm PT...





It's high time that O'Keefe, Giles and Breitbart be exposed for what they are, what they really have done, and who they really did it to. They need to see the faces of the innocent people they've crushed in order to get their precious sound-bytes for their bs smear campaign. I'm glad the AG's report has called them out for the liars that they are.

But the tragedy is that a solid (even if imperfect) service for impoverished Americans has been axed, just because Giles, O’Keefe and Breitbart all have refused to be forthcoming with their “evidence”, and have lied to get their way. James was a liar from the get go. James cant help it, he lies about everything (even the fact that he is, indeed, a conservative.) And his behavior (coupled with Breitbart’s hysterical rhetoric) should have made it apparent that his "evidence" required the most thorough scrutiny (personally, when I first saw the tapes I could tell that something wasn’t real about it at all.) At least now it’s officially clear what the "work" by James and his crew is REALLY all about- constructing fictitious propaganda to take down their political targets... “Abu Gharaib of the Great Society”, indeed! What hog-wash! Now they plan to attack Detroit HUD. As someone from the Greater Metro Detroit area, i am APPALLED by that. O'Keefe and Basel claim to go to Detroit as "investigators", and bypass all the poverty, disinvestment, and chaos which has plagued that city for so long. Do they care that the city is littered with abandoned buildings and houses, but that SO MANY PEOPLE ARE VISIBLY HOMELESS? Do they care about the under-ground arms trade, the drive-by’s, the gangs etc...? Do they care that there are people actually living the nightmare which they callously mock in their anti-ACORN theatrics?

Do they care at all? The fact that O’keefe could walk right past places like Cass Corridor or Del Rey, and try to smear yet ANOTHER service for the poor (one which remains a lifeline for most poor Detroiter’s) speaks volumes as to the kind of sociopath we are dealing with. He’s like something out of Dickens, “Are there no prisons? Are there no work-houses?” I mean, how many more people does this guy want to kick out onto the streets? He seems to get-off on that sort of thing.

COMMENT #28 [Permalink]

... Nigel said on 4/2/2010 @ 11:45 pm PT...





I hope someone can hit O'Keefe and Giles with a RICO lawsuit. Not to mention civil lawsuits where you just need a simple majority to win.

COMMENT #29 [Permalink]

... plunger said on 4/3/2010 @ 7:26 am PT...





The CONTROLLED MEDIA is making it obvious that FASCISM has indeed confirmed itself. http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/38690

COMMENT #30 [Permalink]

... jimbo92107 said on 4/3/2010 @ 8:34 am PT...





Definitely ACORN was defamed by O'Keefe's doctored, falsely incriminating videos. Definitely his bogus videos were used as the reason Congress cut ACORN's funding, costing the organization millions of dollars. Sounds like a solid basis for a lawsuit. Doesn't ACORN have any lawyers?

COMMENT #31 [Permalink]

... Lora said on 4/3/2010 @ 8:37 am PT...





Slippery Rocks #16 sez: Continue defending an organization the employees of which Brown acknowledges were advising Giles and O'Keefe on child prostitution and tax fraud. I can never get enough of lefties occupying moral high ground like that. Next time maybe everybody can take it a step further take it to the prosecutable crimes stage in Brown's eyes. Slippery Rocks, Now that the raw unedited videos from the CA "interviews" are available so that we can all make up our own minds up about what the ACORN reps were doing (AND what Giles and O'Keefe were doing!) perhaps you can point us to a particular video and a particular time in that video that backs up what you say? *plays jeopardy theme music again, again* I look forward to seeing them all. It may take me a couple of days to get through them all. So far, I've seen the 1st two from LA. I saw O'Keefe ask a rep from ACORN housing over and over again if ACORN would discriminate against them because they were in a prostitution business, and if he or ACORN would help them get set up in a house so they could run their prostitution business. The answer was consistently "no" to both questions, even after Giles "clarified" that she needed the house to be safe from abuse.

COMMENT #32 [Permalink]

... wcr said on 4/3/2010 @ 10:55 am PT...





Great work Brad. Of course, your new mission, should you chose to accept it, is to make sure Brown and Schwarzenegger both are politically disgraced. Brown could have worked with prosecutors to file criminal charges and compelled production of the evidence in discovery. As it is, both B-S (that can't be accidental) had an interest in making sure ACORN was neutralized politically and they purposely pursued this in a way that left them and these two scumbags off the hook. "I can hire one-half of the working class to kill the other half." widely attributed to railroad magnate Jay Gould during the Great Southwest Railroad Strike of 1886.

COMMENT #33 [Permalink]

... bonze said on 4/3/2010 @ 12:07 pm PT...





Was O'Keefe only granted immunity from violation of privacy laws? If so, isn't he still liable for prosecution for falsely representing that a felony was committed? In San Diego, the matter was even reported to SDPD human smuggling division. In most places, isn't falsely representing the commission of a felony also a crime? If his immunity is limited to the privacy laws, I would think he is still subject to criminal prosecution in California.

COMMENT #34 [Permalink]

... daleyrocks said on 4/3/2010 @ 12:10 pm PT...





Bead - You use an awful lot of misdirection and obfuscation to mask a simple difference of opinion. You are defending an organization the employees of which were caught on video advising Giles and O'Keefe how to maintain a child prostitution business, commit tax fraud and mortgage fraud. I am against such activities because I have a moral compass. The IRS, the Census Bureau, both houses of Congress and apparently ACORN's major donors agree with me. Even ACORN itself voluntarily shut down last September due to the scandal. In order to take your position you have constructed a narrative out of whole cloth five months after the videos were released that the affected parties could have taken on day one yet they did not. They knew it was a losing battle. You stand on ridiculous points such O'Keefe did not claim he was a pimp in the videos. Guess what Brad, I don't see on your web site where you explicitly claim to be a shill for any and every progressive left cause, but people can see that you are from the videos you post and posts that you write. It's the same with the ACORN videos. O'Keefe posed as a pimp. The Brooklyn DA confirmed it in her news release saying there would be no prosecution. There are no if, ands, or buts about it. People do not have to see him say the words "I am a pimp" to understand his function relative to Giles no matter how much you obfuscate. You keep repeating that the videos were heavily edited. So what. How does the editing change the substance of what was originally released? Nobody has shown that it does. Brown makes the point that O'Keefe was not objective. So what? How does that change the appalling conduct revealed of the ACORN employees? It doesn't. Brown's report itself is not objective. It reads like an apologia for ACORN rather than an objective investigation, but why should we be surprised. Does the fact that Brown found no prosecutable crimes in his limited investigation matter? Not in the least. As I indicated, people with a sense of shame made their decisions last fall, ACORN's donors, Congress, the IRS, the Census Bureau, ACORN itself, and numerous others. You and your loony fringe lefty chorus are welcome to create your deluded narrative to defend a corrupt organization. As I said, I can't get enough of the left defending that moral high ground. Brad - I have not seen you address the dismissal of the illegal recording suit ACORN filed in Maryland against O'Keefe and Giles. It was dismissed by the judge due to the lapse of time. ACORN never served it on the defendants. Why was that? Also, I'm still waiting for support on your statement that ACORN identifies questionable voter registrations for state election authorities, other than ACORN PR releases. Do you fact check anything here?

COMMENT #35 [Permalink]

... Billy said on 4/3/2010 @ 12:36 pm PT...





Teabag in a wing-nutshell: "You keep repeating that the videos were heavily edited. So what." ... DALEYROCKS said on 4/3/2010 @ 12:10 pm PT...

COMMENT #36 [Permalink]

... Jeannie Dean said on 4/3/2010 @ 1:25 pm PT...





#34~ "...I'm still waiting for support on your statement that ACORN identifies questionable voter registrations for state election authorities..." Seriously?... You can't read and you're Google-immune? That info is common knowledge, referenced in just about every (legitimate, non-Foxified) report filed on the subject. Not that you will read them, you won't. Or dare to consider any independent sources outside of your already discredited propagandists as anything BUT "Acorn PR"...I know you won't. You've got a "Truthiness" problem, and it's widely on display in these comment threads. What is true, and what you wish was true, are square pegs to round holes and we have all seen you blindly kamikaze divebomb the full weight of your intellectual heft on the task of forcing a fit. (Ballsy for a feather-weight, so kudos!) But here are just a few (non ACORN PR) related links to whet your high frequency dog whistle: http://prorev.com/2008/1...-over-alleged-false.html "...We have [to] review all the applications submitted by our canvassers. When we have identified suspicious applications, we have separated them out and flagged them for election officials. We have zero tolerance for fraudulent registrations. We immediately dismiss employees we suspect of submitting fraudulent registrations..." http://www.progressillin...08/10/18/indy-star-acorn "...that ACORN was required by law to turn in all registrations it received from its canvassers in Lake County, IN and that it separated the forms it suspected as fraudulent..." Oohhh - here's a right wing / anti-ACORN rag - you'll like this one (outside of the part where they validate that ACORN flags it's own fraudulent registrations and turns them over to B.O.E.'s...) http://pajamasmedia.com/...de-to-acorn-voter-fraud/ "Acorn flags the suspect registrations for elections boards..." and "In October 2006, St. Louis election officials discovered at least 1,492 “potentially fraudulent” voter registration cards. They were all turned in by ACORN volunteers...In November 2006, 20,000 to 35,000 questionable voter registration forms were turned in by ACORN officials in Missouri..." Are you as sick of yourself as we are? Maybe the reason you don't know what the rest of us do and keep getting you ass handed to you in these sad attempts at debate is that your SOURCES SUCK at telling you the truth. Pretty clear to anyone with a pulse that you shouldn't continue to trust them, let alone defend them. I guess your moral center has a cloak of invisibility button. How convenient.

COMMENT #37 [Permalink]

... Jeannie Dean said on 4/3/2010 @ 1:45 pm PT...





Found this recent article doing DR's (#34's) homework. Huff Po's Peter Dreier (w/ John Atlas) has a robust article on the ACORN Hoax / HOYT's deception: "In fact, ACORN never engaged in voter fraud. When ACORN ramped up for its massive voter registration campaigns, it hired thousands of part-time staff, a few of whom tried to beat the system and get paid while handing in phony registrations. ACORN's quality-control procedures --- phone-verifying every card, flagging problematic cards, and identifying offending workers for local officials --- caught people trying to register under false names or multiple times. After ACORN reported these problem, politicians, mostly Republicans, used them against ACORN in the media and in the legal process." http://www.huffingtonpos...acorn-fell_b_510285.html (DR, this one isn't for you. It's clearly ACORN PR so don't bust a nut not reading it, forming an uneducated opinion about it, and mouthing off about it, anyway. It's becoming so passe for you.)

COMMENT #38 [Permalink]

... Jeannie Dean said on 4/3/2010 @ 2:04 pm PT...





Sorry, but it seems once I pop, I just can't stop! Here's a GEM of a piece from MEDIA MATTERS regarding Foxs News' outright debunking / belittling / poor reporting of this very fact that DR and the rest of his nefarious, nutty-bunches of cluster-buddies have such trouble ingesting: "On the October 14 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom, co-host Megyn Kelly mocked the statement by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) that it was required under Florida law to submit a voter registration form filed under the name "Mickey Mouse" to the Orange County, Florida, board of elections. After co-host Bill Hemmer noted that the board of elections had rejected the form in question, and that "ACORN says they are required to turn in every application that is filled out, even if it says Mickey Mouse," Kelly asserted: "I love that, they've got the obligation to submit it no matter what it says. Mickey Mouse, Jive Turkey, which we saw yesterday. How are we to know?" An October 14 St. Petersburg Times article reporting on the "Mickey Mouse" registration form quoted Brian Kettenring, whom the Times identified as "ACORN's head organizer in Florida," as asserting: "We must turn in every voter registration card by Florida law, even Mickey Mouse." Indeed, under Florida law, entities withholding voter registration forms face a fine of $1,000 for each registration they withhold. http://mediamatters.org/research/200810140010 Adding this shocker: I found NO (0) Google hits for reports of this very salient fact from Fox News. (Lora, righto! Now that the unedited videos are out, it's so game over. We can flash mob the internet with the most appalling displays of O'Keefe's / Giles' entrapment / the extent to which they played on the sympathies of fellow humans to meet their meanest ends. I look forward to your further video analysis.)

COMMENT #39 [Permalink]

... Jeannie Dean said on 4/3/2010 @ 2:16 pm PT...





...and what's with Megyn Kelly's "Jive Turkey" comment? From Micky Mouse to Jive Turkey? Wow. Now THAT's improv.

COMMENT #40 [Permalink]

... Chris Hooten said on 4/3/2010 @ 2:32 pm PT...





#36 One of your funnier ones, Jeannie

COMMENT #41 [Permalink]

... newmexicofan said on 4/3/2010 @ 6:08 pm PT...





dear bradblog

I am still loving the content of your website as an informative and factual source of information. You are still one of the best investigators around and doing good work on this issue where the nyt is falling flat on it's face.

I however am having a issue today.

I was wondering if u could release those vidoes in a mp4 or ogg movie format as i am using a non microsoft operating system that does not reconize wmv format. If it is not up to you could u please ask who responsible to do so. If there is some other issue that prevents you from doing so please mention it so i know why it had to be that way.

oh, and keep up the good work brad. You are definitely someone who's blog i visit in the future!

signed... newmexicofan

COMMENT #42 [Permalink]

... Brad Friedman said on 4/3/2010 @ 6:19 pm PT...





NewMexicoFan - Thanks for the kind words. It's mutual (I like New Mexico! The CA AG released the videos in WMV format. The process of converting and re-uploading is somewhat of a chore at this point. However, there are many free converters available out there that you should, if you like, be able to use. If you're not and someone else reading this has the opportunity to do so, and wants to send me the links to converted versions, I'll be happy to add links to them. If you're unable to do the conversion on your own, and nobody else steps up, I'll take a look at doing such conversions myself. It's not difficult, just a fairly time-intensive slog. Perhaps once I get the unedited versions from the other states I can try to do them all at once for ya if its still necessary.

COMMENT #43 [Permalink]

... Lora said on 4/3/2010 @ 9:00 pm PT...





Slippery Rocks @ 34's rant did not include a single reference to any part of any of the unedited videos to back up his repetitive assertions that O'Keefe posed as a pimp, the behavior of the ACORN reps was appalling, and ACORN is a corrupt organization. Now we're supposed to believe that Brown's investigation was worthless and that the editing didn't matter. I have now watched part 3 of the LA videos (and studied the transcript, as the sound quality was terrible) and I can report on the "appalling behavior" of LaVelle, who wanted Giles to speak with someone from the Program for Torture Victims after Giles described the abuse she received at the hands of her pimp. (Gee, the "pimp" was NOT O'Keefe! O'Keefe expressed a desire to set her up "independent." And Giles expressed a wish to be independent.)

LaVelle also said that "God is good" because Giles was still alive. Later, O'Keefe asked LaVelle again for the umpteenth time if ACORN would discriminate against them because of prostitution, this time making mention of the 14-15 year-old girls:

James:

A lot of people say, you know, they hear about the 14, 15-year-old girls, and they’re like, are you kidding me? I’m not gonna touch that. Like you’re not gonna be judgmental about those 15-year-old girls coming overseas?

LaVelle (Acorn):

Well you know what? You know what I’m not gonna be judgmental of the fact that this lady who’s in front of me wants to help them. Although LaVelle eventually offers to "do research" as a personal favor for Giles and her business, she doesn't actually give out any advice on the prostitution business at all. She remains friendly, polite, and non-committal during the majority of the interview and seems genuinely concerned for Giles' welfare and impressed with Giles' expressed desire to help the girls coming from "overseas." Truly appalling, isn't it?

COMMENT #44 [Permalink]

... Bob Ross said on 4/3/2010 @ 10:06 pm PT...





Daley 34... Again you rant and rave about supposed moral problems you have with bad advice that was not criminal. Your rant basically says that nevermind that OKeefe constructed a false narrative, lied, bullshitted, defamed an organization, the ends justify the means. I find it funny how you go on and on about Acorn being "morally corrupt" yet have no complaints to what O'keefe did which by your logic would be equally morally corrupt. You complain on and on about your supposed values, which we both know are selective and nonexistent; meanwhile you have no overzealousness towards corporations such as Haliburton and Dyncorp which rob the average taxpayer for vasts sums of money while they have been guilty of running prostitution rings, hurting our troops, building faulty facilities. Not a peep from you instead you'll focus on supposed "moral crimes" that you think Acorn committed. Donors and congress acted based on little to no information. That's how propaganda works, it's based on the ignorance of the viewer. I wouldn't expect your extremist brethren to understand that. I doubt you read any reports on the voter registration issue Daley. Acorn was defrauded by their own employees who were fired and prosecuted. Why do you whine so much about a company with no power and a 25 million dollar annual budget while other companies fuck over the average taxpayer 100 fold every year while committing real crimes. Where is your moral compass then?

COMMENT #45 [Permalink]

... Jeannie Dean said on 4/3/2010 @ 10:54 pm PT...





Maddow gets it! Friday night's broadcast devoted a full 10 min segment to the ACORN HOAX / Climategate and the fake outrage these Fox supported scandals have ginned up: "Rachel calls bull-pucky"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com...bc_tv-rachel_maddow_show "It might have been a tip off early on when Mr. O'Keefe refused to release unedited versions of what he actually taped in those ACORN offices..." She's calling it the "unmooring of politics from fact"...

COMMENT #46 [Permalink]

... daleyrocks said on 4/3/2010 @ 11:31 pm PT...





Jeannie @37 - I understand there is a requirement for people registering voters to turn in all completed forms, but thanks for repeating the obvious. That's not the point I was questioning. It is the point I have seen unsupported by all but one person other than ACORN with direct knowledge of the facts, that ACORN flags suspicious voter registrations for election officials. It is an urban myth on the left that this is a fact because it has been repeated so many times, usually by ACORN or its apologists. I have only seen one election official touch on it, one from Indiana, who said ACORN flagged some suspicious registrations. I can't tell if that is the same one you excepted. Your Atlas and Dreier quote is a pure fabrication on their part. Check out the exhibits to the DOJ investigations into ACORN that were just spiked. They show only 20-30 of registrations are QC'd. You can find the material at Judicialwatch.org. Dreier is also a consultant to ACORN and Atlas has done work for them in the past as well. So now that Brad has the unedited video he was clamoring for, what part of it contradicts the "heavily edited" portions released publicly? That would be fun to hear about. Brad - Did O'Keefe pose as a pimp? That's a simple yes or no question.

COMMENT #47 [Permalink]

... Bob Ross said on 4/4/2010 @ 8:36 am PT...





#46 Once again you keep repeating the same question which was already answered. I answered this for you last time you asked it in another thread and you never responded to it. NO Okeefe did not present himself as or pose as a pimp. He presented himself as a college student, a law student, or a banker. He did not state that Giles would work for him, that he owned her or that he would get clients for her. Each of those things a pimp does and in fact he stated he was not her pimp that someone else was. So no he never posed as her pimp and thus far even the unedited videos from California prove such. You continue going on and on about something you have little knowledge of. Even Pajama media said that ACORN flags suspicious voter registrations. Your lack of knowledge on the subject is appalling. Even one official commenting on it is more than enough yet you continue going on and on with your rants as if you somehow know better than that official in Indiana. Did you even watch the unedited video from California? They were told repeatedly NO. Which destroys the false narrative that you've commented on that every office was willing to help. They weren't. Continue running your mouth Daley you have no legs to stand on. You support someone who in your logic is morally corrupt and only targets organizations that help the least of us. I'm waiting to see his expose on charities run by the church next since he has a penchant for targeting poor people.

COMMENT #48 [Permalink]

... Heil Mary said on 4/4/2010 @ 10:45 am PT...





DaleyRocks has NO moral compass because he has no problem with ACTUAL AND ADMITTED child abuse committed by GOP pols, funders, military contractors and the Catholic Church! Here is a possible fitting new gig for O'Thief and Hoochie Ho Hannah: CATCHING CATHOLIC CLERGY on camera abusing kids! --- what!? the dastardly duo aren't interested?? Oh, I see! --- O'Thief and Holy Ho's idea of vigilante justice is SMEARING ABUSE VICTIMS as "liars and gold diggers"! I hope victims punk the CRIMINAL duo soon with their own hidden cameras. Fair is fair.

COMMENT #49 [Permalink]

... jh said on 4/4/2010 @ 2:24 pm PT...





It is astonishing how little real scrutiny Rove-wannabe O'Keefe has received by the corporate media. O'Keefe and friends seem to have engaged in a very elaborate and lengthy plan to take down ACORN, by hook or by crook. So was Breitbart funding all these involved sting attempts, and video editing sessions? Who was funding Breitbart?

COMMENT #50 [Permalink]

... Thomas L. Carroll said on 4/4/2010 @ 4:29 pm PT...





I spent my life growing up in Southern California and interacted with the judicial system regarding both civil and criminal matters on a host of issues throughout my life. My personal interaction is in addition to having a father who recently retired from the district attorney's office in Los Angeles and having lifelong friendship with the top prosecutor in the Redondo Beach office, Bud Smith. In all my experience with the courts and knowledge of their procedures, that plus, just knowing the normal prosecutors rigid guidelines and procedures, make it painfully obvious what a scam O'Keefe and Breitbart on all Americans. How are they capable of contaminating the entire judicial process here, so much that they were given a blanket immunity for what resulted in their breaking the law, in order to frame an innocent organization and undermine the district attorneys office who gave immunity without prior knowledge or screening of material is just outside anything imaginable of our judicial to do. Such an act is not possible without a serious bribe. These people are a cancer, just like their main contaminant host FOX. In order for our society to regain its Independents and people once again appreciate real freedom we must have access to an impartial judiciary capable of withstanding outside monetary influence and we must regain control over the airwaves, OUR AIRWAVES! They began the attack on the judiciary with the recent Supreme court decision US citizens, this will allow judges to accept corporate funds and eventually exclude citizens access to the courts. They already have the airwaves and we allowed our society to lower its standards to that of the Fat Fascist of Florida and his counterpart equal in ability to lie on any issue. Lie with wreck less abandon regardless of the destruction associated with the lies. There is NO TIME LEFT. if you enjoy freedom and like to own property, use it without fear of someone just taking it from you , GET UP OFF YOUR ASS. Fascist take what they want, when they want it. Women you think things are bad now, just look at what happened to women under Stalin, Hitler, or with the Shaw of Iran, in the Philippines under Marcos. There are countless examples where you can observe the changes from beginning to end. Any true American could not last living under some were hungry tyrant like Glen Beck, Rush Bimbo, etc.. Stop the COUP!, NOW!

COMMENT #51 [Permalink]

... daleyrocks said on 4/4/2010 @ 4:55 pm PT...





Thomas - The Attorney General's office granted immunity, not the DA. Reading Jerry Brown's biased report I think it highly unlikely he was bribed in any way by Breitbart et. al. Even though his report suggests otherwise, more likely he knew he had a crappy case. What expectations of privacy do people have conducting conversations in hallways or conference rooms with open doors? In the Maryland illegal recording case ACORN filed against O'Keefe and Giles, ACORN did not even go to the trouble of serving the defendants and it was dismissed by the judge due to the passage of time.

COMMENT #52 [Permalink]

... Brad Friedman said on 4/4/2010 @ 5:57 pm PT...





Partisan agendist DaleyRocks @ 51 said: Reading Jerry Brown's biased report Other than the facts that you don't like the findings in it, what is "biased" about it? He lays out his case, supplies the evidence for it. So what is biased about it? (Other than, as I said, you don't like his findings, even though they are in synch w/ every other official body that's looked at the same case so far). Even though his report suggests otherwise, more likely he knew he had a crappy case. What expectations of privacy do people have conducting conversations in hallways or conference rooms with open doors? Every expectation. Particularly as O'Keefe asked if the conversations would be confidential, and the ACORN workers assured as much. Nice try though. Seriously, is it simply beyond the capacity of you, LA County Deputy D.A. Patrick "Patterico" Frey and the rest of Andy Breitbart's Tea Bag Boyz to see anything other than through your partisan goggles on anything? Seriously. Democrats could use some serious opposition out there. You guys are letting them get away with murder (literally, in many cases), because you've become such a joke. I wish to hell a grownup would appear somehow, somewhere in your party to pull it out of the 7th grade, and back to the needed job of legitimacy. This country dearly needs it.

COMMENT #53 [Permalink]

... Lora said on 4/4/2010 @ 8:26 pm PT...





Slippery Rocks @ 46 sez: It is the point I have seen unsupported by all but one person other than ACORN with direct knowledge of the facts, that ACORN flags suspicious voter registrations for election officials. It is an urban myth on the left that this is a fact because it has been repeated so many times, usually by ACORN or its apologists. OK, Slippery Rocks, time to ante up. How about YOU support your implication that ACORN did NOT flag suspicious voter registrations? Why do you think that they did not? Where's your evidence to support this, other than Fox or Breitbart's say-so? Talk about your urban myth, orchestrated and perpetuated by the right-wing haters. Sorry, too late to watch another unedited ACORN video tonight. Maybe tomorrow. But clearly the LA videos do not show anything close to resembling appalling conduct by members of a corrupt organization. In fact, the only appalling conduct I saw was by O'Keefe and Giles, who kept pushing and badgering ACORN housing reps, trying to play on their sympathy and friendliness to get admissions that could be twisted around to look like they were happily encouraging morally bankrupt behavior.

COMMENT #54 [Permalink]

... Shirley Anderson said on 4/5/2010 @ 5:02 am PT...





I have worked in customer service for a very long time. You do NOT give people bad advice, you do NOT say in private what you would not say in public and they should have been detained on the premises which is what would have happened HERE. ACORN has to take responsibility for badly trained Customer Service officers. They have only themselves to blame for making ACORN appear to assist a prostitute and her boyfriend in illegal matters. If It was the kind of organisation you portray it to have been, Brad, no amount of attack by "right wingers" could have done any damage.

COMMENT #55 [Permalink]

... Post Conviction said on 4/5/2010 @ 9:22 am PT...





There are options as to what one's lawyer can do post-conviction. Reading this gives the viewer a sense of what steps can be taken afterwords.

COMMENT #56 [Permalink]

... Lora said on 4/5/2010 @ 6:07 pm PT...





Shirley @ 54 writes: "I have worked in customer service for a very long time." "You do NOT give people bad advice,..." Bad Advice From ABC News "...you do NOT say in private what you would not say in public..." Hannah (Eden):

Um, the pimp that I worked for in Miami

LaVelle (Acorn):

Uh huh

Hannah (Eden):

sold me

LaVelle (Acorn):

Okay.

Hannah (Eden):

to a pimp in Los Angeles.

LaVelle (Acorn):

Okay.

Hannah (Eden):

Um, I was extremely upset about that because I loved Miami,

LaVelle (Acorn):

Okay.

Hannah (Eden):

and I’m having a tough time adjusting here.

LaVelle (Acorn):

Hmm.

Hannah (Eden):

Um, and I kind of be also transportation being shipped across the country, um, gave me a desire to be on my own.

LaVelle (Acorn):

Hmm,

Hannah (Eden):

And not subject to

LaVelle (Acorn):

Good.

Hannah (Eden):

and, and the guy here is extremely abusive.

LaVelle (Acorn):

Okay. [LaVelle has been growing restless during this conversation --- here she gets up and starts to move the conversation out of the public front-desk area to the relatively more private hallway --- on their way to the door that says "Program for Torture Victims."] "...and they should have been detained on the premises..." For example, California Penal Code mandates: A private person may arrest another: 1. For a public offense committed or attempted in his presence. 2. When the person arrested has committed a felony, although not in his presence. 3. When a felony has been in fact committed, and he has reasonable cause for believing the person arrested to have committed it. (C.P.C. 837). Which of these three reasons applies here? "ACORN has to take responsibility for badly trained Customer Service officers. They have only themselves to blame for making ACORN appear to assist a prostitute and her boyfriend in illegal matters." I suppose repeated badgering, insisting on help and advice, asking questions over and over again to get an answer that they could twist with their selective biased editing had nothing to do with it then....

COMMENT #57 [Permalink]

... Leesa said on 4/9/2010 @ 3:53 pm PT...





brad,

You seem like an angry young white man. Give it a rest. Get you facts straight. Fox aired unedited video months ago. It seems to me all you and your ilk want to do is keep blacks and others down where you think they belong. I pray for you.

Sincerely in Christ,

Leesa C.

Eph.2:8,9

Proud black Hispanic 3rd generation republican

COMMENT #58 [Permalink]

... Brad Friedman said on 4/10/2010 @ 2:08 pm PT...





Leesa @ 57 incorrectly wrote: Get you facts straight. Fox aired unedited video months ago. Of course, they absolutely did not. Which is why AG Brown ended up trading immunity from criminal prosecution in exchange for the unedited videos which O'Keefe, Giles and Breitbart had previously refused to release publicly. We have a rule against the posting of 'knowing disinformation" in comments here on The BRAD BLOG. While I don't know if you actually knew that information was incorrect previously, now you do. So please consider yourself warned. Post the same disinfo again, and you will not be commenting here for long. Thank you.

COMMENT #59 [Permalink]

... Think Buzz said on 4/17/2010 @ 6:45 pm PT...

