Oh yeah, like that’s an unbiased article! 
Oh yeah, like that’s an unbiased article! [/quote]
Well it was in their politics section…
That aside, it’s no worse bias than what you see in the Washington Post, just for the other side. The rest of the article is pretty cut and dry on the fact, and less on the author’s personal opinion of ACORN.
Oh yeah, like that’s an unbiased article! [/quote]
Well it was in their politics section…
That aside, [color=#FF0000]it’s no worse bias than what you see in the Washington Post, [/color]just for the other side. The rest of the article is pretty cut and dry on the fact, and less on the author’s personal opinion of ACORN.[/quote]
Do you mean op-ed or straight news articles? If the latter, could you provide us with an exxample? Thanks!
Having lived in Columbus, Ohio a couple of times, having almost weekly contact with people still living there and being a once or twice a month reader of the online Columbus Dispatch I can say with absolute certainty that the Columbus Dispatch reflects the prevalent political leanings of Columbus, Ohio…which is most definitely to the left side of the aisle.
Anyone who says differently just does not know what they are talking about or is intentionally attempting to make a mis-leading statement and hoping it will be believed.
[quote=“TainanCowboy”]Having lived in Columbus, Ohio a couple of times, having almost weekly contact with people still living there and being a once or twice a month reader of the online Columbus Dispatch I can say with absolute certainty that the Columbus Dispatch reflects the prevalent political leanings of Columbus, Ohio…which is most definitely to the left side of the aisle.
Anyone who says differently just does not know what they are talking about or is intentionally attempting to make a mis-leading statement and hoping it will be believed.
[/quote]
Irrelevant. From the statement I highlighted, that article is most certainly not left-leaning, nor even neutral. Hey, even the San Francisco Chronicle publishes articles by Charles Krauthammer and Debra Saunders.
[quote=“BigJohn”]
Do you mean op-ed or straight news articles? If the latter, could you provide us with an exxample? Thanks![/quote]
Their op-ed is their op-ed. It’s the author’s POV and is clearly labeled as such. I don’t have an issue with that because there are certain columnists at the WaPo that I know will slant one way or another from reading their columns. It’s opinion, not news.
The first example is this one by Capehart on the guy who flew the plane into the IRS building. While it’s in the PostPartisan section, and written by an opinion writer, it’s the published suicide note from Stack. It’s news, not an opinion piece. The opinion portion is where Capeheart compares Stack to “extreme elements” in the Tea Party movement. The problem is they edited the suicide note and took out a portion where where he talks about the communist creed vs. the capitalist creed. Here’s what the unedited note says (at Fox News)
and here is what Capehart’s version says:
It’s bias when you selectively edit out portions in news. It was also really blatant and not even at the level of a half-assed job.
Now the next example has to do with the candidate Scott Brown’s win in Massachusetts. It was a front page article by Jason Horowitz, a Staff Writer not an Op-Ed contributor, about Scott Brown’s victory. I’ll only quote the relevant two paragraphs, which also happen to be the first two.
[quote]
Scott Brown left the truck back in Massachusetts.
At 9:30 on Thursday morning, the Republican state senator arrived by US Airways shuttle at Reagan National Airport, though he rode a GMC-driving everyman image and a wave of Tea Party-stoked, establishment-financed frustration into the U.S. Senate seat of Jack and Teddy Kennedy. Looking fresh and fit, he stepped out of Gate 43 for his crash-course introduction to official Washington.[/quote]
The issue with this paragraph is that it states that Scott Brown was financed by the establishment when he wasn’t. The GOP pulled out of Mass after spending about 50,000 on the campaign. To give you a comparison, in the failed NY-23 special election, the NRCC spent nearly 900,000 dollars for Dede Scozzafava plus what the other issue organizations spent on her behalf. 50,000 is nothing in a Senate race and when the GOP committees felt he had no chance, they stopped giving him money. Contrast that with the 15.2 million dollars Scott Brown raised through direct donations from over 150,000 people with an average amount of 86 dollars. So while he did receive some amount of money from the “establishment”, the national GOP committees, they didn’t finance him in the way the author tries to imply.
So yes, the Washington Post does have writers who write biased articles about the news. It’s not exactly a new thing. It’s easy enough to ignore and get to the details of what happen and not someone’s personal views. Except for the first line, which is biased, the rest of the Columbus Dispatch article is pretty neutral. Just like if you struck the first two paragraphs of Horowitz’s column on Scott Brown, the rest is equally neutral about the facts.
Rachael Maddow did a good job showing the unedited video of the ACORN setup and comparing it to the edit ones that got shown on TV.
Yeah, I saw that yesterday. Interesting how out of context, Acorn was helping someone smuggle under-age girls for prostitution, but in context the guy gathered details and called the police. Interesting how out of context, Acorn was helping someone set-up a prostitution business but in context they were helping someone secure housing. Interesting how the edited video show the “investigative reporter” approaching the Acorn office in a pimp costume, but in the office has a fairly conservative, striped shirt on.
But damn effective the slime attack against Acorn, was. I wonder who’s next…
Yeah, ACORN did absolutely nothing wrong, and ends up goes under because of suspended funding and legal expenses due to this frame-up. Color me disgusted. :raspberry:
Here’s the transcript from one of the Maddows pieces; it’s mind-boggling.
[quote=“Rachel Maddows”]
MADDOW: So, do you remember the undercover pimp video that supposedly blew the lid off the corruption at ACORN? The video that helped shut down ACORN? We now have the unedited videotape of some of those incidents, and the firestorm that destroyed ACORN turns out was fueled by
pure manure. That‘s next.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MADDOW: On October 7th last year, Republican congressman named Pete Olson of Texas introduced a resolution in Congress to honor Hannah Giles and James O‘Keefe III, who the resolution said, “filmed investigatory
videos uncovering the fraudulent and illegal practices of the Association of Community Organization for Reform Now or ACORN.”
A few months earlier, of course, James O‘Keefe III and Hannah Giles got the right wing of this country very excited when they released supposedly incriminating undercover videos that they filmed at local ACORN offices across the country. They claimed the video showed Mr. O‘Keefe and
Ms. Giles dressed as a pimp and prostitute, receiving assistance and advice from ACORN about how to do stuff like smuggling underage girls into the country and securing funding for their illegal prostitution business.
Now, James O‘Keefe and Hannah Giles were all over FOX News for this.
They were lauded as the right‘s answer to that biased, biased left-wing profession known as journalism.
And this resolution that 32 House Republicans ultimately signed on to was meant to commemorate their good work, said, quote, “Whereas Hannah Giles and James O‘Keefe III have displayed exemplary actions as government watchdogs and young journalists, Hannah Giles and James O‘Keefe III are owed a debt of gratitude by the people of the United States.”
That resolution never passed the House. But six months after it was introduced, California Attorney General Jerry Brown released details of his investigation into the ACORN prostitution sting. And what he found suggests that the conservative activists who brought down ACORN deserve
something other than just the nation‘s thanks, declaring that the tapes that were aired on FOX News in a seemingly constant loop were, quote, “severely edited,” in his words.
The attorney general released the unedited tapes that Mr. O‘Keefe and Ms. Giles had shot at California ACORN offices. He said those unedited tapes show that, quote, “Things are not always as partisan zealots portray them through highly selective editing for reality. Sometimes, a fuller truth is found on the cutting room floor.”
The thing that was supposed to be so shocking about this scandal in the first place was the accusation that ACORN employees willingly helped a pimp and a prostitute skirt the law, even though it was perfectly clear that they were a pimp and prostitute.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He‘s dressed exactly in the same outfit that he wore to these ACORN offices.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADDOW: James O‘Keefe went to those offices dressed up as a pimp and they still helped him.
Outrageous, right? Wrong.
Here is how Fox News viewers were shown Mr.O‘Keefe reportedly setting up his stunt at the ACORN office in San Diego. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
So the implication there that Mr. O‘Keefe walks into the ACORN office dressed in the fur and the hat and everything as a superfly, black exploitation-style 1970s pimp, but that is not actually what happened.
Check out the unedited tape. This is the very end of that visit to the office in San Diego.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O‘KEEFE: Thanks, Ma‘am.
VERA: OK. Nice to meet you.
O‘KEEFE: Nice to meet you.
MADDOW (voice-over): Wait it a second here. You see that dress shirt, the pink stripes there. See that dress shirt that‘s visible as Mr. O‘Keefe opens the door and exits the office. It is a dress shirt. What happened to the fur and the 1970s superfly black exploitation outfit?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADDOW: The pimp outfit thing is just the start. If you watched the footage these guys released, if you follow the wall-to-wall coverage on Fox, if you read all the fun in mainstream media coverage of what these guys did. If you are a member of Congress and voted to defund ACORN
because of the outrage portrayed in these tapes, you were had.
Consider this, during that same not-in-a-pimp suit trip to ACORN San Diego office, Mr. O‘Keefe claimed that he caught an ACORN employee giving him advice on how to smuggle underage girls into the country. This is from the edited version of that trip that O‘Keefe released, and Fox News aired over and over and over again. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Question, would ACORN employee, Juan Carlos, consult his contacts in Mexico to find a way to help us smuggle the underage girls into the United States from Tijuana?
What things do you need from me in terms of shipment information, like what can I help you? What information would you further need would help you in the advice you would give me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The location.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The location?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whereabouts like what type, like the city, the state, what do you need?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The location they are going to take the girls.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it better if it is Tijuana? Is it better if it is somewhere inland? Where is the best place? All these answers he wants right away.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It‘s better if it‘s in Tijuana.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tijuana?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because I have a lot of contacts in Tijuana.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK and they might be able to assist crossing the border.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, there‘s like 12 of them. Is that OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twelve girls.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are 12 girls, but they‘re like 13 to 15 years old.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADDOW: Damning video, right? Billed by people like Fox News Host Sean Hannity as cold, hard evidence of ACORN aiding and abetting this crime.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN HANNITY: This new, never before seen undercover footage shows the great links than one ACORN official is willing to go in order to help set up a prostitution ring once again involving underage girls. Now, the man on this tape even offers to help smuggle underage illegal immigrants into the U.S. for the purposes of prostitution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADDOW: Actually, what you don‘t see in that Fox News report is the rest of the video, which shows the ACORN employee pressing, pressing for as much information as he could possibly get from these two people in his office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VERA: So the telephone number is 201? What area is that?
O‘KEEFE: It‘s from—I‘m from back East. I‘m actually originally from New Jersey.
VERA: OK, so you don‘t know what date or day?
GILES: They‘re coming on Saturday, Saturday morning.
VERA: Saturday morning?
GILES: Yes, Friday night, Saturday morning.
VERA: Really late, in the middle of the night.
GILES: Secret. Like between 2:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.
VERA: So they‘re working on then?
GILES: They are working on the arrival.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADDOW: Why is he asking for stuff like phone numbers, dates of arrival, specific locations, all these details? What is this ACORN guy going to do with all that information? What does he do with all that information? He calls the police and reports what they‘ve told him is going to be a crime.
Quoting from the attorney general‘s report, “Immediately after the couple left, Mr. Vera telephoned his cousin, Detective Alejandro Hernandez at the National City Police Department (and said) that a self- prostitute had been
to the office and was discussing human smuggling.”[/quote]
What’s worse, come next election, we’re going to keep hearing about the evil ACORN as if none of this had ever come to light, because no one who watches Fox or listens to right wingnut radio will EVER hear about it.
[quote]2008-2009: Investigation of embezzlement
The New York Times reported on July 9, 2008 that Dale Rathke, the brother of ACORN’s founder Wade Rathke, was found to have embezzled $948,607.50 from the group and affiliated charitable organizations back in 1999 and 2000.[69] ACORN executives decided to handle it as an internal matter, and did not inform most of the board members or law enforcement, and instead signed an enforceable restitution agreement with the Rathke family to repay the amount of the embezzlement. $210,000 has already been repaid, and a donor, Drummond Pike has offered to pay the remaining debt.[1] The Times reported that, according to Wade Rathke, “the decision to keep the matter secret was not made to protect his brother but because word of the embezzlement would have put a ‘weapon’ into the hands of enemies of ACORN, a liberal group that is a frequent target of conservatives who object to ACORN’s often strident advocacy on behalf of low- and moderate-income families and workers.” A whistleblower revealed the embezzlement in 2008. On June 2, 2008, Dale Rathke was dismissed, and Wade stepped down as ACORN’s chief organizer, but he remains chief organizer for Acorn International L.L.C.[70]
In September 2008, following revelations of Dale Rathke’s embezzlement, two members of ACORN’s national board of directors filed a lawsuit seeking to obtain financial documents and to force the organization to sever ties with Wade Rathke.[71] ACORN’s executive committee voted unanimously to remove the two, “because their actions – such as releasing a confidential legal memo to the press – were damaging the organization.”[72]
In October 2009, Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell claimed in a subpoena that ACORN’s board of directors found that a larger amount—$5 million—was embezzled from the organization. Bertha Lewis, ACORN’s CEO said the allegation is false.[73] On November 6, following up on the subpoena, Caldwell served a search warrant at the ACORN headquarters in New Orleans.[74] Caldwell stated, “This is an investigation of everything — Acorn, the national organization, the local organization and all of its affiliated entities.”[75][/quote]
[quote]
the decision to keep the matter secret was not made to protect his brother but because word of the embezzlement would have put a ‘weapon’ into the hands of enemies of ACORN[/quote]
Who do they think they are…the Catholic Church?
In any event, follow the money.
As for the whole hooker scandal…people should get their news from better sources. It’s like watching a Daily Show’s interview with someone doing or saying something stupid and thinking…They can’t be THAT stupid, can they?
Usually, they aren’t…but then again, editing an interview to suit one’s need was perfected by 60 Minutes.
Have at you! I’ll bite your legs off!