the left The conservative media is sticking behind the gonzo journalist despite the alleged breaking into Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office. Also, sources like Fox News barely covered the story, in comparison to the much-hyped ACORN videos. source
the right The U.S. Attorney who was spearheading the criminal case against O’Keefe just stepped down. Also, O’Keefe sat in jail for 28 hours without an lawyer. Andrew Breitbart says it was to spin the case as a “Watergate Junior.” source
He can now be mentioned in the same sentence as Watergate! James O’Keefe, the conservative activist previously best-known for destroying ACORN’s dignity (and working for BigGovernment.com), was arrested for trying to break into Sen. Mary Landrieu’s New Orleans office, along with three others. They were pretending to work with the phone company, which is some serious LOLz and a lot less creative than the pimp/ho getup they used with ACORN. A lot of people have felt schadenfreude in reaction to all this, not the least of which ACORN itself. We just think it’s proof that Tom Green-style tactics like this don’t work in politics. source
They have been singled out by Congress for punishment that directly and immediately affects their ability to continue to obtain federal funding, in the absence of any judicial, or even administrative, process adjudicating guilt.
Judge Nina Gershon • On her decision to overturn the House ban on grants for ACORN, which was ruled unconstitutional yesterday. Gershon and others argue that the bill equated to a “bill of attainder,” which punishes a group without the benefit of a trial. Conservative groups perhaps played their hand a little too loosely on this case. Even though ACORN screwed up, they didn’t commit any crimes other than large amounts of idiocy. So this decision was the right one. source
And really, they should. Those guys were jerks. ACORN has been battered, beaten, and shamed in the press and politically. And it was all for some out-to-shame videotapes. Now, they’re fighting back. The organization has filed a lawsuit against filmmakers James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles along with Breitbart.com LLC, the Andrew Breitbart-led company that owns BigGovernment.com. ACORN says the duo never obtained consent from the now-fired employees they showed helping with their faux-prostitution scheme in Baltimore. It’ll be interesting to see where the suit goes. source
Breitbart’s big splash The campaign against ACORN was first posted by BigGovernment.com, which just launched and made a huge initial splash with the video. The site is run by Andrew Breitbart, who’s probably best known as the other guy working on Drudge Report.
ACORN hit – hard As a result of the faked prostitution video, the Senate voted yesterday to deny funding for housing and community grants. The vote went 83-7, which is pretty much a death sentence for the organization. All because someone wanted to be Borat.
A lawsuit’s comingAnd for what it’s worth, James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles targeted the organization. Giles says she “saw the ACORN Housing location in Baltimore as a target — the den of a giant corrupt lion.” ACORN plans to sue both Fox News and BigGovernment.com. source