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Fox's Kelly, Rove ignore facts, discuss "four undercover video tapes" of "remarkable criminal enterprise" ACORN

September 16, 2009 11:22 am ET

From the September 16 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom:

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NYT: ACORN official "said the bogus prostitute and pimp had spent months visiting numerous Acorn offices, including those in San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami and Philadelphia, before getting the responses they were looking for"

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    • Author by The_Cat (September 16, 2009 11:32 am ET)
      6  
      No, and then there are still only three, Ms. Kelly. You do know that the ACORN worker in this fourth clip found these two 'journalists' to be completely unbelievable, and decided to meet their insanity with some of her own.

      Also, the voter registration ACORN is a different group of people from the ACORN that helps with low income housing. You were aware of that, and just failed to report it? Or, you didn't know, and therefore aren't too bright?

      There are many more videos. Just how many we'll never know, since the propagandists have declined to spell out how many times they had to pull this stunt before they found people to fall for it. They have also failed to provide original and unedited tape for viewing.

      You know, there was a McDonald's in the last town I lived in. I'm an 'onions only' kind of guy when I treat myself to a quarter pounder, and they had a bad habit of getting it wrong. Sometimes, no onions. Sometimes, everything but onions. Now, while it would have been very easy and cheap to document this subpar service, there ain't no way I would have been calling for the resignation of the president of the McDonald's corporation, or to have every single McD's shut down because of one or two bad experiences. Remember the school girl who's science project showed that the water in the toilet was cleaner than the ice cubes in the drinks at your local fast food shop? Why wasn't FOX calling for all fast food restaurants to be closed up? Where was the outrage?

      Hey! Psssst. Ms. Kelly? You've been clear about your outrage over a nonprofit group apparently promoting prostitution. I know of a for-profit group, receiving hundreds of billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars, and they're using that money to kill U.S. soldiers! Now, if you really want a juicy story...
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      • Author by puppienrainbows (September 16, 2009 1:32 pm ET)
          4
        Ah, the 'ol 'reverse sting operation'. That's as good as excuse as any, kitty.
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        • Author by The_Cat (September 16, 2009 1:44 pm ET)
          4  
          No, puppienrainbows, that's not what I said, and actually not what the woman from the San Bernardino ACORN office said. The 'acting' of these two propagandists was so bad, their costumes so outlandish, that she realized that there was something afoot, and decided to play along. Case in point: Is her husband dead? No. Did she shoot him? No. And, by the way, were there underage prostitutes from Central America? No.

          Do those who tried legitimately to help further this farcical criminal enterprise deserved to be punished? If they broke the law, yes. Of course, that also applies to your Dynamic Duo, since videotaping people without their consent is illegal in some states, right?
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          • Author by puppienrainbows (September 16, 2009 1:50 pm ET)
              4
            If the two who filmed and audio-taped the event broke the law, then so did Woodward and Bernstein by not reporting the break-in to the police. If the two are prosecuted, it will be well worth it to expose ACORN and it's affiliates for what they are. Al Franken voted to withdraw any further funds allocated to ACORN from the govt. To me, that speaks volumes.
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            • Author by vhw28672478 (September 16, 2009 1:55 pm ET)
              1  
              wrong again about blackwater and Bush
              Report Abuse
            • Author by rms (September 16, 2009 2:04 pm ET)
              4  
              "If the two who filmed and audio-taped the event broke the law, then so did Woodward and Bernstein by not reporting the break-in to the police."

              WHAT?????

              Woodward showed up at the arraignment in court AFTER the five had been arrested.

              Where do you get this stuff from?????
              Report Abuse
            • Author by jediknight65 (September 16, 2009 2:13 pm ET)
              2  
              umm yeah they are credible journalists. just pawns for the neo cons you support
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            • Author by The_Cat (September 16, 2009 2:18 pm ET)
              2  
              I'm not particularly surprised that most senators voted to withdraw ACORN funds. There is blood in the water, and this is an uncertain and somewhat turbulent political environment. They are simply taking care of their own best interests. But, fear of public opinion will only drive the government to negative actions, such as taking funding away. It does not drive the government towards positive actions, such as passing health reform. More's the pity.

              So, how do you stand on private, for-profit corporations getting hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money and using it to kill American soldiers, puppienrainbows?
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      • Author by rugger69 (September 16, 2009 9:20 pm ET)
        1 1
        Come on the woman was as serious as a heart attack most sane people would have kicked them out and or called the police. The couple had these people believing every word they said.

        The ACORN people were trying to sound as much a criminal as them. I just want to know why some one would waste their time entertaining these two if they were fakes??
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    • Author by fawltylogic (September 16, 2009 11:33 am ET)
      8 1
      Megyn Kelly is so cute when she pretends to be outraged at the behalf of the super rich.
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      • Author by fairliberal (September 16, 2009 1:28 pm ET)
        1 3
        By the super rich, do you mean john Kerry, and the Kennedys, or perhaps the liberal Hollywood crowd? Or maybe you were referring to Al Gore? Or Pelosi? Oprah? Bill Clinton? the list goes on and on.
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    • Author by epkklk851 (September 16, 2009 11:39 am ET)
      7 1
      ACORN deals with poor and lower class clients. They come to ACORN for help, because they aren't making it in society. So Kelly expects an upper middle class profession? These reports were done by two people who posed as a pimp and prostitute with a particularly nasty back story so they could play "GOTCHA" with this organization. I saw the young man on Beck yesterday and he said it had only cost him $1300 to make the films. There are four tapes from four offices and on both coasts of the country. It seems to me, that his flight and lodging expenses would exceed $1300. Clearly, the young man was behaving in an unscrupulous manner, I applaud the state of Maryland for considering charges against them. How much money has he made selling this tape? What was his motivation, because it certainly isn't "love of country" as he claimed.
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      • Author by fawltylogic (September 16, 2009 11:51 am ET)
        3  
        I actually think a lot of good come from this type of undercover reporting. I remember the work of Günter Wallraff back in the 70's in Germany, where he exposed the working conditions for the poor and the immigrants, among others.

        In other words, I don't think that what these filmmakers did is wrong per se, but the problem is that they were never interested in doing it to expose the truth and solve a problem. They weren't even interested in doing it as comedy or an expose about how people react in certain situations, to shine a light on human behavior, like for example Sascha Baron Cohen has done.

        What these guys were interested in doing was to make money and try and destroy and organization that for the most part does a lot of good. They weren't trying to expose the truth in order to make things better, they were trying to set up the ACORN people for a fall so that the politicians and corporations who oppose the president and ACORN would benefit from it. It was completely dishonest not in their method, but in their goal. That's what makes this story so depressing, not the content of the videos (and I found the first video, which is the only one I've seen all the way through, disgusting and shocking, and the people in it were rightly fired).
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        • Author by epkklk851 (September 16, 2009 11:59 am ET)
          5  
          I agree with you, undercover reporting when it is done with credibility, is important! But, as you pointed out, they are not doing this to expose the truth or solve a problem (other than Fox's ratings and profits) it is just malicious lies. Shame on Fox. I want to know how much this has cost them.
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          • Author by historygeek001 (September 16, 2009 1:40 pm ET)
               
            I would like to think that it cost them credibility, but I think it's actually going to help Fox; their audience wants pseudofacts to back up their beliefs without having to either face reality or self-examine. This kind of "story" will help them with that even though it is totally inaccurate. They will use it to justify themselves and happily ignore anybody and anything that shows how wrong this is.

            IMHO such deliberate ignorance is the sign of a truly pathetic individual.
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            • Author by epkklk851 (September 16, 2009 1:53 pm ET)
                 
              Actually, when I was speaking of cost, I was speaking of money. I think Fox paid handsomely for this bit of trash. I didn't think for a minute it would actually cost them credibility with their audience, because I agree with your assessment of the audience. They are looking for something to back-up their beliefs, they just want the Fox, Ma'am, just the Fox.
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              • Author by historygeek001 (September 16, 2009 5:02 pm ET)
                   
                I'm sure it cost them a pretty penny--I am equally sure that they don't care; they will happily pay anything necessary to get their talking points out there as if they were mainstream ideas.
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          • Author by ssherman_39463 (September 16, 2009 4:08 pm ET)
               
            they certainly would give the evidence to fox if this was for real - they'd give it to a credible real news station.
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    • Author by smarshall1432997 (September 16, 2009 11:50 am ET)
      5  
      First question, why didn't the Bush Administration's DOJ investigate this so-called crime when the videos were made in 2005?

      Second question, are these same people still working for Acorn at these "four" locations today?

      Third question, what actions were taken from local Law Enforcement agencies in the "four" locations where these videos were taken back in 2005?

      Last question, how can Glenn Beck, FoxNews Channel's Hosts & Guests, and the Republicans "demand" action from the Federal Gov't while bypassing the "LOCAL" Authorities?

      Hmmm, this is just another Republican made-up smear attack against Pres. Obama and the Democrats as these Republicans "distract" from real answers to HealthCare Reform Debate, LOL.

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      • Author by WunderGirl (September 16, 2009 12:36 pm ET)
        1 2
        The videos were not made in 2005. That was just the default date for the equipment he used. He did not take the time to set the clock on the camera each time he filmed. O'Keefe said the videos were made in July and August of 2009.
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        • Author by wzwriter (September 16, 2009 1:02 pm ET)
             
          And we're supposed to believe anything that lying piece os s**t O'Keefe says??
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    • Author by josemcs9057 (September 16, 2009 12:04 pm ET)
         
      Remember there are more videos, so this story will be here for a long time, too bad for the workers who are losing their job but they are corrupt and you just cant do that.
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    • Author by DellDolly (September 16, 2009 12:20 pm ET)
      5  
      Rove says it's a "remarkable criminal enterprise." What? How are a few bad apples evidence of a criminal enterprise?

      And then he spills the beans - that there are more videotapes from other locations.

      What? Why would they be released piecemeal, except to draw the story out? An organization that wanted to share news wouldn't hold some back like this, but an organization that wanted the ratings help and public noteriety would do exactly what they've done.
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    • Author by wzwriter (September 16, 2009 12:29 pm ET)
      1  
      Yet no comment from either of them on two other "remarkable criminal enterprises" - Faux News and the Bush Misadministration.
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    • Author by snoopy (September 16, 2009 1:03 pm ET)
         
      Remember when the reichwing were up in arms when americans were getting illegal tax advise from UBS?

      Of course y'all don't, because the people getting the illegal advise were rich white republicans who were hiding their money in offshore accounts. My, how the reich's demands for adherence to ethics have fallen since the days of the bush failure to show for service letter!
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    • Author by antihannity2009 (September 16, 2009 1:49 pm ET)
         
      I agree that a lot of good can come from under cover reporting as long as it is done ethically. Fifteen or so years ago, a Food Lion store was exposed changing expiration dates on their food. What these kids did was not journalism or anything like that. They were not following reports of ACORN doing this stuff. Either they work for Fox or knew that Fox would pay them big money for the tapes. It would not be the first time that Fox employees have misrepresented themselves to those they are trying to "interview".

      If ACORN is doing shady stuff then by all means investigate them but don't go to different offices and pretend to be something that you are not just to see if you can video tape them doing something wrong. You investigate the news...not create it.
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      • Author by ssherman_39463 (September 16, 2009 4:12 pm ET)
           
        the gal that played the madame is the daughter of Doug Giles a writer for townhall.com a very right wing site.
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    • Author by aBeck in 10-O-C (September 16, 2009 2:47 pm ET)
      1  
      Far be it that I would condone the apparent ethics of some of those ACORN workers. But I am still waiting for proof of systemic corruption and criminality of ACORN. At this point in time FOX and the rightwing blogosphere are just engaged in their typical guilt by association tactic. They have already tainted the concept of community organizing itself by reducing it to a talking point for disdain and ridicule of any service to community. Rational Americans need to see some proof that ACORN itself is criminally corrupt as is being asserted by FOX before we set our hair on fire and jump up and down.
      When a DC lobbying firm asserted that it was a temp worker who sent out several fake letters using hijacked letterhead to scam against environmental legislation very few people went this crazy to destroy the lobbying group who hired that sleazy temp!
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    • Author by Bad News (September 17, 2009 1:11 am ET)
         
      Rove there is a jail cell somewhere with your name on it.


      Mr. News
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