NY Times admits being played for fools on ACORN

By John Amato

It's too bad ACORN had to suffer at the hands of fools.

New York Times public editor Clark Hoyt said in a column published online yesterday that it was "easy to see" why the Times described conservative merry prankster James O'Keefe going into the offices of ACORN "dressed so outlandishly that he might have been playing in a risqué high school play" -- after all, "a host" on Fox said that pimp-styling O'Keefe was "dressed exactly in the same outfit he wore to these Acorn offices" and O'Keefe "did not argue."

Now that ACORN faces bankruptcy, O'Keefe faces federal charges in another attempted sting, and Hoyt faces e-mails he attributes to "liberal groups," Hoyt has revisited the situation, reviewed the publicly available material, and far below the fold, concludes that the Times was wrong.

As you know, ACORN is screwed because of this. Here's what Clark Hoyt says:

Here is what I found: O’Keefe almost certainly did not go into the Acorn offices in the outlandish costume — fur coat, goggle-like sunglasses, walking stick and broad-brimmed hat — in which he appeared at the beginning and end of most of his videos. It is easy to see why The Times and other news organizations got a different impression. At one point, as the videos were being released, O’Keefe wore the get-up on Fox News, and a host said he was “dressed exactly in the same outfit he wore to these Acorn offices.” He did not argue.

But Breitbart told me that, after doing his own examination, “I am under the impression that at no time was he ever dressed as an elaborate pimp” in the offices. Because O’Keefe was apparently carrying the hidden camera, he is generally not visible in the videos, but he is seen briefly entering the Baltimore office wearing a blue shirt and chinos.

I could not reach O’Keefe — who is facing federal criminal charges of tampering with a Democratic senator’s phone in a different attempted sting — or Giles. But I am satisfied that The Times was wrong on this point, and I have been wrong in defending the paper’s phrasing. Editors say they are considering a correction.

The reason the story took off was because O'Keefe dressed up like a pimp and presented himself to FOX and to the world as if that's how he went into ACORN's offices. He doctored the film footage to make it look that way. But, that doesn't change Hoyt's mind on the merits of the story.

Acorn’s supporters appear to hope that the whole story will fall apart over the issue of what O’Keefe wore: if that was wrong, everything else must be wrong. The record does not support them...read on.

Anyway he wants to slice it, the NY Times were made to look fools as did much of the MSM and ACORN suffered for their lack of professionalism. The hoax O'Keefe perpetrated on ACORN caused Congress to cut funding and now they are in financial trouble. Sick bastards like Breitbart rejoice that many ACORN employees will now lose their jobs because of the BUSH economy and this hoax. That's really a shame. But remember, conservatives can do NO wrong.

M.C.L Comment: I have an idea for ACORN to get that money back, sue James O'Keefe, sue Hannah Giles and sue Andrew Breitbart along with his corporate masters.. Come on now you think Andrew Breitbart cooked this stuff up by himself? Right wingers can't even take a piss without someone telling them how to and why would this be any different.

Granted the right wing has legal funds for James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles but with the evidence that O'Keefe made things up and Giles took part knowing what they were doing were bogus the right wing legal fund can hire freakin Perry Mason for them and they're still be screwed.

The outcome I predict if ACORN pushes hard for legal payback is that Andrew Breitbart to save his own ass or at least his masters' collective asses he would sell both O'Keefe and Giles down the river because young right wingers like O'Keefe and Giles are a dime a dozen. Or Giles out of the fear of being some server at Denny's for the rest of her life to pay off the settlement she's going to owe to ACORN she would flip on Breitbart and O'Keefe.