Rachel Re for April 2, 2010
There used to be an organization called ACORN, which tried to help poor people survive and try to get a leg-up in America. They pushed for a higher minimum wage, and against discrimination, they had hundreds of thousands of members, and.... ACORN is now gone, thanks to a successful right-wing campaign of pure hooey -- demonstrably false accusations that scared America into killing ACORN.
The bigger problem? The hooey doesn't stop with the ACORN story.
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Watch the full video here. The full Rachel Re transcript, after the jump.
Did you hear that the community organizing group ACORN shut down all of its offices this week? ACORN shut all of their offices this week in the same week that the California attorney general release his assessment of what really happened in the supposed ACORN pimp video scandal that ultimately brought the group down.
Fox News, you’ll recall, trumpeted this video from a conservative activist named James O’Keefe, in which Mr. O’Keefe supposedly dressed up like a flamboyant blaxploitation version of a pimp. He went into different ACORN offices and convinced ACORN workers to give him advice on handling the finances of his prostitution business. Mr. O’Keefe and his ACORN pimp video were promoted by an offshoot of the right-wing Web site, “The Drudge Report.”
Mr. O’Keefe personally and his supposed expose were promoted heavily on the conservative Fox News Channel. And 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.
What Fox and O’Keefe decided to show from these videos was damming. Him in the pimp costume, you know “How outrageous. How could these people not have known he was a bad guy?” "Those ACORN people must be used to seeing guys like this all the time. And then, they actually offered to help him with this plainly illegal thing he was doing." “It’s outrageous.”
It’s very damning, right?
After the videos came out, California Governor Arnold Schwarzengger was one of the Republicans who pounced on the ACORN issue, as if ACORN was a real threat to the Republic. On the basis of the fact that some of the ACORN offices where O’Keefe’s filming took place were in California, Schwarzenegger asked California Attorney General Jerry Brown to investigate.
Mr. Brown did investigate. And an official warrant forced an investigation, he actually got a hold of the unedited O’Keefe tapes, the raw footage before it was cut down to make the point that Mr. O’Keefe and his conservative activist patrons and Fox News wanted to make.
And when you look at that unedited footage, well, lo and behold. Attorney General Brown describes O’Keefe’s pimp video as “severely edited” and says that the unedited videotapes show “that things are not always as partisan zealots portray them through highly selective editing of reality.”
Among the things made clear, he says, by the unedited tapes are things like an ACORN staffer calling the cops on Mr. O’Keefe, and the fact that Mr. O’Keefe didn’t go into the ACORN Offices dressed as a pimp.
“At the beginning and end of the Internet videos, Mr. O’Keefe was dressed as a 1970s Superfly pimp. But in his actual taped sessions with ACORN workers, he was dressed in a shirt and tie. He never claimed he was a pimp.”
So the whole premise of the attack on ACORN was false. This guy dressed up like a pimp and went into the ACORN offices. And they gave him straight up advice like that was normal.
Actually no, he was dressed up like a law student and they called the cops on him. Oh, well, no harm. No foul, right? Well, no. According to the attorney general again, “The original storm of publicity created by O’Keefe’s videotapes was instrumental in ACORN’s subsequent denunciation in Congress, a sudden tourniquet on its funding, and the organization’s eventual collapse.”
So ACORN is now gone and it’s an afterthought that the attack on them that killed them off was totally made-up. Bogus. Bullpucky.
You know what else was bullpucky? Climate-gate - that made-up controversy promoted by climate change deniers and promoted on Fox News Channel that British scientists who provided evidence that climate change was real had been caught making up the data.
Thank god we have Fox. I don’t mean to rain on all their excitement here, but it turns out that climategate is total bullpucky as well.
A little noticed news this week that the British House of Commons has officially investigated the controversy and found that no one misrepresented any data. Nobody lied.
Nothing about the supposed bombshell climate-gate scandal at all challenges that scientific consensus that global warming is happening, that it is induced by human activity.
So which did you hear more about, that climate change deniers have uncovered some huge scam about some climate data being faked? Or that when responsible, uninterested parties looked into the supposed scandal, they found that no one was faking anything?
Did you hear more about there being some scandal about ACORN giving prostitution advice to a right-wing activist dressed up like a pimp? Or did you hear more about the fact that when responsible, uninterested people looked into it, they found it was all made-up, down to the part where the guy wasn’t actually even dressed up as a pimp?
What we’re dealing with here is the unmooring of politics from facts. The activists pushing the ACORN scandal knew it was fake. After all, they faked it. But it made a political impact anyway, so they win, right?
The climate-gate scandal, not an actual challenge to the homogenous consensus of decades of climate science but it could have a political impact, so go for it. It might work.
If the triumph of fake politics or advantage gleaned from stuff that’s not real - and who cares if it’s not real or if it has a political impact?
When Republicans complain President Obama is using recess appointments, they are faking it, because if they really had a real concern about recess appointments, they wouldn’t have been fine with them when George W. Bush used them.
The recess appointments outrage is bull. Republicans are faking their outrage over their being an individual-mandate in health care reform, too. It’s a Republican idea.
The Republicans are faking their outrage over terrorism suspects being read their Miranda rights. They had no problem with that when it was done by the previous administration. That fake outrage is bull.
Same goes with the Republican outrage over civilian trials for terrorism suspects. If you weren’t outraged with the shoe bomber getting a civilian trial, that’s proof that your purported outrage over the underpants bomber getting a civilian trial is bull.
Republicans are faking their outrage over the stimulus. You can tell because when they go to home districts, they admit that it’s working great.
Their Washington outrage over the stimulus bill is bull.
The anti-ACORN crusade was bull.
Climategate was bull.
Repealing health reform is bull.
The lawsuits against health reform are bull.
The death panels, bull.
The president is secretly foreign and doesn’t have a birth certificate - bull.
Fear of the census is bull.
Supposed threats to end the Second Amendment - bull.
The claim that thousands of armed IRS agents are going to storm troopers to enforce health reform - it’s bull.
The administration taking away the right to go fishing - it’s bull.
Scott Brown saying I’m running against him is even bull.
It’s made up. It’s bull. It’s bull. It’s not real politics. Let them eat fake.
These are not real problems to worry about and work on as a country, right? But there’s more bang for the political buck to make stuff up like this than to try to debate real problems in the real world. So just go with the bull.
The “Atlanta Journal Constitution” reports today that billboards against Obama are popping up in the Atlanta area right now. They say things like, “Stop Obama’s socialism,” and, “Now, it’s personal.”
CNN has hired a contributor who said on his radio show yesterday that he’d pull a shotgun on any census worker who came to visit his home. A group calling itself the Guardians of Free Republics has sent threatening letters to dozens of governors telling them to resign from office or else.
Dissent is not the aberration in a democracy. Dissent is the norm. Our political vitality depends on dissent. No one expects that the president is going to have the whole country agree with his options and his priorities.
Nobody expects Americans to share the same political opinions.
But has there ever been a time when we shared so few political facts? Let’s argue. Let’s have the great American debate about the role of government and the best policies for the country. It’s fun. It’s citizenship. It’s activism. It makes the country better when we have those debates. And your country needs you. It needs all of us.
But two things disqualify you from this process: You can’t threaten to shoot people and you have to stop making stuff up.
Leave a Comment:
Excellent piece, Rachel. I only wish the people who actually need to hear this would, indeed, hear it. I won't give up hope, however. I know you won't either.
And a very Happy belated birthday.
Just finished watching this via podcast, great segment, and a great way to finish off the week--like a Special Comment by KO.
Such a good comment. And one that made me close to punching a wall because of how idiotic people are for believing all of these lies.
Such a great commentary. So full of what should be obvious to everyone but isn't. The same common sense should be on the front page of every 'news' website and newspaper. Totally easy to understand! Shine a light on their nonsense.
GREAT COMMENTARY! These FACTS need to be Headlined in every news outlet. I cannot believe how so many people have been brainwashed bye the right-wing talking heads!
Great transcript but we need more people giving rebuttals constantly. Everytime I turn the television on there is some right winger spewing FAUX news talking points. Republicans have learned that if you tell a lie long enough and loud enough it will be believed by the masses.
The only way to combat this is by correcting the misinformation every single day.
Rachel, I love your show because you stay focused on the truth and I especially love seeing you on Meet the Press. Keep up the good work.
Segment gave me chills Rachel. I am so glad you do what you do. Fight the good fight.
Loved the "bull-pucky" alert...so simple and yet so eloquent...why can't everyone see it! You put into words what I yell at the television machine (as you would say), nightly!!!!
I do that too!! I yell "YES!" and "You go, girl" and "Tell the truth, Rachel" at the top of my lungs. I keep praying that at some point in the very near future, TRUTH will be king again. I'm sick and tired and worn out at the lies, lies, lies. Nobody has to prove anything anymore, yet millions believe total tripe (bull) constantly. Keep doing what you do, Rachel. Your fans are behind you, trying to help by our approval. You give us a voice every day and we appreciate it more than you know!! One more thing for consideration: Put us to work for you!! Give us a cause, somebody to email, write to, phone, etc. Pick one topic per day/week and put us to work to help create the changes we believe in, deserve and want so badly. We'll all do our part. We're aching to do something constructive to change these things that are so wrong within our country right now. Direct us, show us the way oh might one!! You are one person that has the trust of her fans and we'd do anything to help spread truth where we can!!
Thank you, Rachel for unmasking the bad guys who hide behind their lies. Thank you for shining light on those who hide their real agendas in the dark. Thank you for your humor. Thank you for reminding me every night that honesty, intelligence, and journalistic integrity still exist.
Keep fighting the bull pucky and exposing the bull pucky funders. You're my hero.
Re: Bull in all its flavors!
Rachel, don't candy coat it for us, tell us how you really feel!
and this might accelerate Sarah Palin's best before date.
http://gawker.com/5506959/how-small-town-high-school-drama-could-destroy-sarah-palin
When are you going to target/expose mainstream media which provides a platform for the distribution of distortions and false information?
The #1 problem. False media
Rachel, I love you and adore you and and shall obsessively watch your show from now until it ends, because you feed us that most valuable and satisfying comestible- a well-balanced well-researched factually coherent news story. This rare venue is a breath of fresh air, a necessity in this stifling arena of Faux News stories and GOP talking points. It is necessary more than ever, and I wish you and your staff the greatest success in all your endevours into this area.
May you remain free of everything except a passion for finding the best and most up-to-date information possible, and revealing the falsehoods of those who should know better, yet who spread complete bull-pucky to satisfy someone else's agenda and their personal ambitions.
I think I somewhat like your show.
WOW!
That was a great commentary. I see you have a little Keith in you.
This segment alone deserves some kind of an award.
Rachel, this was great, truly great. Thank you!
What a lucid & enlightening commentary there! Truly loved it. Watching the US political scene from the other side of the pond, you are a daily delight, Mrs Maddow. I sincerely hope you'll continue your important work for many years to come.
I couldn't sleep thinking about the all lies they have been feeding us over the years. It's a shame about ACORN, they did a lot of good for a lot of people who really needed it.
This 24-hour news cycle doesn't give enough time to check out a story before it becomes common knowledge.
And you just mentioned the most recent lies. Thank you so much for all you do.
The video files from the California A.G's investigation of the ACORN matter are at http://ag.ca.gov/newsalerts/multimedia/index.php
It is heartbreaking to see the right wing attack machine get its way. They had been gunning for ACORN for years. Shame on Congress for defunding them so quickly (or at all) before the facts were known.
How many community service jobs were lost? Perhaps ACORN could reorganize with a new name?
Beautiful.
However, I'm afraid you're preaching to the choir here.
While I generally agree about the overall deliberate misinformation spread by the RNC / right-wing / conservatives to further their political base and power, bring fear and doubt to the general populace, and disrupt any messaging from the DNC / left-wing / liberals, I still have to wonder if Acorn was brought down not just because of O'Keefe's apparent expose, but also because of the organization's ineptitude and inconsistent counselling policies.
I believe these Acorn video exposes can be found on Youtube under PushBackNow, and cover various cities.
The videos (pre-edit & post-edit) and video-makers deserve as much scrutiny in their methods as Michael Moore receives for his documentaries, to be fair; all filmmakers use some degree of manipulation to get a point across. But even with the heavy editing and false pretense, don't the answers the Acorn workers gave deserve some scrutiny? For example, in the the Baltimore videos, shouldn't advising taxable actions including deductions for illegal activities (prostitution and child trafficking) illicit huge warning signs?
If you were the Acorn workers asked the questions in that video, is that the advice you would give? I know I sure wouldn't. It does appear Acorn needed a huge reassessment of it's counselling service.
There seemed to be inconsistent policies and inappropriate advice on individual cases that was ripe for exposure. If the RNC can be ridiculed for spending $2000 in a bondage bar, then people should be appalled that a "hooker" be counselled on tax benefits including write-offs for children trafficked into the country. In the end, maybe it's better that Acorn end in order to create, if needed, a new and improved advocacy group with better supervision and consistent policy and counselling, or add to existing governement social services.
I don't feel this Acorn business should be on Rachel's Bull-pucky list. There does seem to be some problems with the way Acorn conducted business.
An interesting follow up would be to find the women in the Baltimore video for there perspective in the whole affair. Another would ask, "If not Acorn, who will do the work they were intended to do, if anyone at all?"
I agree that there were problems with some of the Acorn employees, but the same is true of any organisation or business. (Imagine all the dirt you could dig up if you took hidden cameras into McDonald's outlets, for example.) This belongs on the bullpucky list because O'Keefe is claiming to be a journalist when he's anything but.
A real journalist investigating Acorn would have taken a fair sample of Acorn offices and reported on how many of them gave appropriate advice versus how many gave inappropriate advice. They would have shown us video clips of Acorn employees calling the cops on them along with the scandalous clips. They might have interviewed some Acorn employees and a few people who have benefitted from the organisation, or at least asked for a comment. And they would have reported on what Acorn's rules and policies were and made the distinction between individual employees and the organisation as a whole.
O'Keefe didn't want people to pay close attention to the facts. It's all about the imagery - hence the trick with the pimp costume. He wanted to bring down the entire organisation with a smear campaign, and it worked. The focus here isn't really the flaws of the organisation, it's the dishonest tactics of their opponents.
The dirt being dug up for the fast food industry is the reason why I (personally) have nearly eliminated it from my own diet (now rarely falling back due to relapse craving or sheer convenience). Specifically regarding the food industry, such dirt should continue to be dug up as business itself does not have an inherent moral compass, and will exploit its workers and the market when possible. Food, Inc does this. Super-size Me does. The Jungle does.
Let's establish that we do agree that O'Keefe's methods were... underhanded. The suberfuge used questions his credibility (which is why Rachel put him on the bull-pucky list). So, he's no Michael Moore (you know who he is when he starts questioning you). And he's not as funny as Sacha Baron Cohen (whose Bruno was painfully hilarious).
But the videos ending up revealing a much bigger problem in the way Acorn conducted itself as a whole. And the reason why it shouldn't be on Rachel's list is because the problem revealed is bigger than the messenger itself. O'Keefe may end up a right-wing Michael Moore, or a 2-bit video voyeur, that doesn't matter.
What matters is that Acorn needed a policy revision, better supervision, and more scrutiny, or as it happened, a disbanding. Refocusing on O'Keefe gives him and his videos more power than he deserves, and distracts from Acorn's own problems, and what has to happen now: Reform a better help organization that is more accountable for it's donator's money, or improve upon existing social services.
You make a good argument, but did the videos indicate a problem with Acorn "as a whole" or were these just isolated incidences? I don't think we ever got the chance to find out - we didn't get a thorough or fair investigation. And Acorn wasn't given the chance to revise its policies or supervision after the scandal broke. The media freaked out over the worst details - many of which were faked - until the organisation's brand was fatally damaged.
That's what O'Keefe and his superiors wanted - not to improve Acorn's services or hold them accountable, but to take them down. And they'll use the same tactics if Acorn tries to regroup, or if another organisation tries to take their place. As imperfect as Acorn was, it will be much harder for such advocacy groups to get a foothold now that it's gone.
Of course O'Keefe is a fool, but he was successful. People will use him as a model for future attacks. I don't think we should let them get away with it.
I'm pretty sure that the implication of the Acorn videos at different locations around the country is that Acorn, as a whole, had policy problems.
One location for the videos is on Youtube, channel PushBackNow. They're painful to watch, production-wise (shaky off-center camera, pointed commentary, off-focus, low-resolution, etc.). But even more painful is watching each Acorn work dig themselves, and the organization, into a hole with well-meaning "assistance".
The California Attorney General's press release (including faults they did find with Acorn):
http://ag.ca.gov/newsalerts/release.php?id=1888&
Don't forget Acorn already found itself in recent controversy, so this ended up the final straw for continued funding. Maybe the videos didn't receive proper / timely investigation to prove veracity; maybe Acorn didn't receive enough time to review and implement better support training and policies. And we know O'Keefe's methods were suspect (in some videos, he's not a pimp, but a politico wanting to run for office off his "hooker's" earnings). But, it's hard to justify continuing subsidies donations when you see advice given to exploit loopholes to sustain illegal activity. I feel that is a detail worth freaking out over.
On a tangent, any voice calling out for a proper investigation and time to do it may have been drowned out. MSNBC's Ed Schultz explains how talk radio is dominated by right wing media personalities stirring up their base:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/36124326#36124326
Back on topic, I suspect O'Keefe didn't exactly know what he was going to find when he started out, but once he saw what he caught on video, knew where to take his story. And controversy after controversy is what lead to Acorn's eventual disbanding.
Because I am an idealist, I believe that, yes, Acorn was too weak in many ways to be allowed to continue, but community-based social-help programs will continue. Because we are now aware of how such programs can be scrutinzed, they need to conduct themselves in a way that is justifiable from not only O'Keefe-styled "journalism", but any investigation into improprieties within such an organization.
While I generally agree about the overall deliberate misinformation spread by the RNC / right-wing / conservatives to further their political base and power, bring fear and doubt to the general populace, and disrupt any messaging from the DNC / left-wing / liberals, I still have to wonder if Acorn was brought down not just because of O'Keefe's apparent expose, but also because of the organization's ineptitude and inconsistent counselling policies.
I believe these Acorn video exposes can be found on Youtube under PushBackNow, and cover various cities.
The videos (pre- and post-edit) and video-makers deserve as much scrutiny in their methods as Michael Moore receives for his documentaries, to be fair; all filmmakers use some degree of manipulation to get a point across. But even with the heavy editing and false pretense, don't the answers the Acorn workers gave deserve some scrutiny? For example, in the the Baltimore videos, shouldn't advising taxable actions including deductions for illegal activities (prostitution and child trafficking) illicit huge warning signs?
If you were the Acorn workers asked the questions in that video, is that the advice you would give? I know I sure wouldn't. It does appear Acorn needed a huge review of it's counselling service.
There seemed to be inconsistent policies and inappropriate advice on individual cases that was ripe for exposure. If the RNC can be ridiculed for spending $2000 in a bondage bar, then people should be appalled that a "hooker" be counselled on tax benefits including write-offs for children trafficked into the country. In the end, maybe it's better that Acorn end in order to create, if needed, a new and improved advocacy group with better supervision and consistent policy and counselling, or add to existing governement social services.
I don't feel this Acorn business should be on Rachel's Bull-pucky list. There does seem to be some problems with the way Acorn conducted business.
An interesting follow up would be to find the women in the Baltimore video for there perspective in the whole affair. Another would ask, "If not Acorn, who will do the work they were intended to do, if anyone at all?"
I guess I was wrong. For several months now, I have referred to republican shenanigans and lies as, "Dog @!$%#." http://nodogpile.blogspot.com/
But then maybe the TV term for dog @!$%# is bull pucky, then there is horse @!$%#, and of course they are obviously chicken @!$%#--also chicken hawk @!$%#.
I watch the MSNBC guys every evening--I love it. At last: an answer to the @!$%# flinging lies from Fox and the other suck-up, lying propagandists who have, had total control of TV news and most talk radio .
I love it - thanks for the ammunition. My Republican friends inondate me with this rhetoric all the time. Good to have something to throw back!
Outstanding. And this needs to be said over and over again.
You're the best thing to happen to political discourse in this country in ages Rachel. Keep it coming!
Thanks for keeping on the ACORN story. Here's a NYT update on how ACORN is trying to reorganize, while Congressional Repubs (eg, Darryl Issa) are still attacking it:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/us/politics/03acorn.html
What do the Voyer Bondage Club, The RNC's "Fear" PowerPoint presentation, and David Kuo's book "Tempting Faith" have in common? ....looks like a pattern to me.