ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis Doubles Down on Deceit
ACORN is proving a tough nut to crack (there, obligatory acorn-related pun out of the way) completely. Given the corruption and lawbreaking recently exposed (and blogged about on NewsReal here, here, and here among others) — time and time again — within ACORN, if the organization had a shred of decency, a shred of shame, a shred of self-respect, it would slink away with its tail between its legs and quietly disband. But this is not an entity build on those qualities; this is an entity built on radical tactics and political corruption.
Rather than express any contrition, ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis was a guest on the Campbell Brown show Wednesday night to double down on her fact-free, vicious attacks against independent filmmakers James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles. Lewis’ lies were so bald-faced and transparent, that even guest host Rick Sanchez was in visible disbelief.
First, Lewis said the tapes shown so far have been “doctored.†Well then, perhaps Lewis can explain that if these tapes were doctored, why in her very next statement does she admit that she fired the employees in the video? Why has Lewis mounted no defense of their actions? Why has ACORN suspended hiring in order to conduct an internal review (which will no doubt conclude that these actions were limited solely to the individuals on the tapes, of course)?
Then she claims that there are tapes showing the filmmakers being “thrown out of ACORN offices.†There’s just one problem her statement—she made it before, and was proven wrong. On Saturday the 12th, after the first two tapes had aired, Lewis issued a statement on ACORN’s website, claiming that
“this recent scam, which was attempted in San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia to name a few places, had failed for months before the results we’ve all recently seen.â€
But over the next few days, tapes emerged showing the exact same type of behavior in ACORN offices in two of those cities, New York and San Diego. ACORN pulled the statement and scrubbed any record of its existence, but BigGovernment.com, Andrew Breitbart’s site that originally broke the ACORN story and videos, captured it here. Despite the fact that Lewis’ statement has proven to be nothing more than a face-saving lie, she brazenly continues to use the same line. If she won’t change her story when it’s proven false, when will she? To quote an old cliché, denial is not just a river in Egypt.
Sanchez highlighted some of the more encouraging news to come out of this story—the Senate voting to defund ACORN, and the Census Bureau severing all ties with the radical organization—and asked Lewis how she planned to overcome her organization’s “credibility problem.â€
Lewis, predictably, chose to attack rather than answer the question. She called these videos a “well-orchestrated, well-funded, concerted, relentless campaign to attack this organization.†Maybe by “well funded†she means independent filmmakers who spent $3,000? Then we wonder what she would call her own organization that—until recently—received millions upon millions of no-strings-attached taxpayer money.
When Sanchez again pointed out that this is hardly the first time Lewis’ organization has brazenly broken the law, calling her attention to “sloppy voter registration campaigns,†Lewis denied that there had ever been anything of the kind. She claimed that her own organization had been responsible for bringing voter registration fraud to light. That is simply a lie.
But in a way, she’s still right. “Sloppy” implies that the problems exist because of lax oversight, when in reality the problems exist because this is an organization structured to break the law, a radical organization that sees no problem with intentionally subverted voting regulations in all-out effort to get Democrats elected and to keep their flow of taxpayer subsidies coming. Lewis is right. Her organization isn’t sloppy—just methodically radical, anti-democratic, and finally, exposed.
But Lewis proves that no matter how much evidence is mounted against ACORN, the organization will not reform or go away. Oh, it might fire a few sacrificial lambs to appease the press, but the leaders—who both know and condone these acts—are still in place. The policies that lead to these occurrences, from vote fraud on up to aiding and abetting prostitution, tax evasion, and sex trafficking. Independent journalists like O’Keefe and Giles must keep up the pressure on ACORN. Their work has already shown that in the absence of such pressure, the “mainstream” media will not do its part in exposing ACORN. Even Jon Stewart agrees!
History has shown that given even the slightest opportunity, ACORN will disappear these events down the memory hole and will once again use its close political ties to the President and powerful leaders on the left to get more tax dollars—ours and yours—to commit these acts again.
Trackbacks and Pingbacks
- Weekend Opinionator: Acorn Falls, the Web Rises - The Opinionator Blog - NYTimes.com
- Yet Another ACORN Scandal – Is This the Final Straw? « Lighthouse Patriot Journal
- “I will feed your oppressors with their own flesh, and they will become drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine; and all flesh will know that I, Yahweh, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.” Isaiah 49: 26 « Sn
- Artificial Sweetener: A Second Round of ACORN Covering Fire, a Defense From Our Childhood « NewsReal Blog
Oh where, oh where is Eric Holder? Anybody seen or heard from him lately?
It is a shame that with all the problems this organization has been involved in, our government officials have continued funneling money to them. It’s as though they have encouraged illegal activity to flourish within all their funded agencies.
No wonder everyone is mad, but especially those that gathered in the money and have been exposed. They no longer make money for doing nothing and are essentually, unemployable, because “B…sing” is not a job related skill. Now, politically, it is a top priority
When the President talks about accountability, he ought to look in his own closet.
I love his greatest lie “Transparency”
Dear American Friends of Truth;
This “lady’ appeared on E-Span television, Wash. D.C., this AM, 09/18/09, and I was saddened to listen to this “disingenuous” person representing everything, in my opinion, that is wrong with our social structure of society that prolongs the misery of those less fortune in our society. Shame…NOT my tax money to them!!!!
LJA/JMJ
The Jon Stewart segment is hilarious! Jon hit the nail on the head, where was the Main Stream Media on this story?? Even after the first tape came out, NOTHING in the MSM.
Glenn Beck is right, it is past time to stop calling them the MSM, they are now the FRINGE MEDIA!
Bertha Lewis needs to give it up, she is making a fool of herself….
ACCORN gone?? I liken the lay-low posture of ACORN to the arcade game “whack a mole”, where the mole keeps popping up a different hole when you whack it. The sole purpose of ACORN was to funnel money into Progressive programs and elections. The community programs and other “volunteer” programs that have become ACORN’S facade, is the Trojan horse that has allowed this corrupt gang to spread it’s tentacles into all areas of our government, stealing from the taxpayer to further it’s end goal of a Progressive communist government. I don’t ordinarily subscribe to conspiracy, but, I do believe that Glenn Beck is correct when he says that the purpose of the ACORN stand-down is to re-group, and be born again with a different name and continue the radical agenda again. Too many Democratic policians have benefited from ACORN and owe them. This matter of ACORN is not dead. Time will tell where these creeps pop up, and under what banner. I just urge everyone to stay alert and informed and keep pounding on the mole until no longer pops up.
A side note about Bertha Lewis. She is not the dummy that she appears to be. She is most certainly astute, devious and both business and politically astute. Don’t underestimate her. She has a long history with ACORN and is adept at it’s political and business operations. Catching the corruption at the local levels was possible due to the fact that they feel imperious to scrutiny and attempts at open disclosure. Her raised “up by the bootstraps” out of the projects demeaner is just a ruse.
The ACORN doesn’t fall far from the tree.
“Transparency”? . . from the guy who had the photos of Air Force One flying past the Statue or Liberty “Classified” . . . fat chance.
Fast and loose Chicago shady politics is not proving very “scalable”. We have an office pool for the first one to be led from The White House in handcuffs. . . I’ve got $100 on Rahm.
I know . . I know . . we’re all racists.
Race, as an excuse, seems to pale in the face of such poor leadership.