PrintSeptember 12, 2009
Who Needs Details?
With her reporting on the divorce between the Census Bureau and ACORN, the Associated Press's Hope Yen unfortunately provided no hope for what has become state-run media.
Yen recounted the events leading up to the Census Bureau's decision by explaining that up until this point the bureau had supported ACORN, but the story that broke on Thursday which included footage of two employees from the organization's Baltimore office assisting two individuals posing as a pimp and prostitute proved to be the final straw.
According to her:
ACORN fired two employees who were seen on hidden-camera video giving tax advice to a man posing as a pimp and a woman who pretended to be a prostitute. Fox News Channel broadcast excerpts from the video on Thursday. On the video, a man and woman visiting ACORN's Baltimore office asked about buying a house and how to account on tax forms for the woman's income. An ACORN employee advised the woman to list her occupation as "performance artist."
This account has some interesting information, but it is misleading and conveniently leaves out several details.
First, by highlighting the fact that the story was broadcast on Fox News, she is trying to paint this as their story. Fox did not have a hand in creating the story; they were only smart enough to recognize that this particular story was big news and accordingly broadcasted it and interviewed the individuals who created the story, James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles. O'Keefe and Giles are not Fox News employees and they've broken the story on Andrew Breitbart's newest site, biggovernment.com. Yen and ACORN would like you to believe otherwise, but it just isn't so.
Second, she glossed over the most egregious aspects of this particular couple's proposed plot and ACORN's assistance. This wasn't just about a pimp and prostitute buying a house and how the prostitute could account for her income on tax forms. O'Keefe and Giles proposed buying a house with the intended purpose of using it as a brothel with underage illegal aliens from El Salvador. Furthermore, she wanted to know how she could account for them and her income on tax forms. The ACORN employees didn't even flinch. They aided the couple every step of the way and pushed for their membership.
Lastly, Yen chose to end her article with a statement ACORN made on Thursday following the release of this video.
In a statement, ACORN Maryland board member Margaret Williams said the video was an attempt to smear ACORN, and that undercover teams attempted similar setups in at least three other ACORN offices. Williams said no tax returns were filed and no assistance was provided.
Unfortunately, ACORN's damage control statement didn't even hold water for 24 hours.
O'Keefe released a second video yesterday morning on biggovernment.com shortly after 7 AM with him and Giles running the same proposal by ACORN employees at their Washington D.C. office.
Yen's AP story was posted last night shortly after 7 P.M.
That means 12 hours had passed since ACORN's statement was proven to be bogus, yet she was unintentionally or purposefully ignorant to that fact. Given her other missteps in the piece, I believe it is the latter. So what we have here is another case of state-run media whitewashing for liberal support groups and causes and this time on behalf of a proven criminal enterprise.
