CNN fact-check: ‘This is looking like a fraud committed against ACORN.’»

[babsbunny]

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/18/cnn-acorn-fact-check/

Tonight, CNN investigative reporter Drew Griffin fact-checked John McCain’s claim that the grassroots community organizing group ACORN is “destroying the fabric of democracy.” Conservatives have attacked ACORN’s voter registration efforts as “voter fraud” because they have resulted in the submission of a small number of faulty forms.

[dennis4868]

1. No Shit CNN?

We could have told you thin 2 weeks ago but instead you run stories and make it look like Obama is involved in fraud...fuck you CNN!

[nichomachus]

2. Exactly, why didn't CNN check this out before they ran with the story?

[Enthusiast]

3. Surely you know the answer to that.

Because the source was an honest Republican one. CNN is now fully as partisan as Fox News.

[intheflow]

10. Obviously not, since they're reporting this now.

:eyes:

[shadowknows69]

5. Because that particular tenent of Journalism doesn't exist anymore it seems.

[Enthusiast]

11. It is gone with the wind. nt

[shadowknows69]

4. No shit sherlocks

Thanks for joining the real world for a change CNN.

[dkofos]

6. Brilliant, it only took a week to figure that out.

Will you now spend the next week rebuilding
ACORN's besmirched name??

[bemildred]

7. Gee, is the timing, right before the election, suspicious too? nt

[countryjake]

13. It's the rethug modus operandi

and it's all in the timing.

[MO_Dem]

8. Drew Griffin should fact-check himself!

It was astounding that his first report on Acorn was so devoid of facts and so full of inuendo. He certainly seemed to have an agenda. He'll never be able to undo the damage he's done, IMHO.

[laundry_queen]

14. I agree.

And he looked truly stunned when the head person at Acorn gave him a talking to on air and invited him to meet with her. He seems to have changed his tune ever since. Extremely sloppy journalism. I am not surprised though, sigh.

[lonestarnot]

9. Dee Dee fucking Dee CNN fuckwads. Who hit them in the head?

[countryjake]

12. Hopefully, tomorrow we'll hear even more reporting of Obama's letter to the DOJ...

This was totally lost in the Friday news dump:

Obama's General Counsel Asks Special Prosecutor to Investigate McCain Campaign's Claims of Voter Fraud
http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2008/10/obamas-general.html

October 17, 2008

Robert Bauer, general counsel for Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign, sent a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey requesting that special prosecutor Nora Dannehy add recent allegations of partisan misconduct within the Justice Department to her investigation of criminal offenses stemming from the 2006 U.S. Attorney firings.

In his letter, Bauer, a partner in Perkins Coie's Washington office, alleges that Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign and the Republican Party made false claims of voting fraud as part of a Republican effort to influence the presidential election. The letter accuses Republican officeholders of calling on the Justice Department to investigate allegations of fraud, and Justice Department officials of spurring what he called "baseless" investigations.

“History is repeating itself. As Election Day approaches — just as in 2004 and 2006 — Republican Party officials and operatives nationwide, including the candidates themselves, are fomenting specious vote fraud allegations, and there are disturbing indications of official involvement or collusion,” Bauer writes.

Bauer says a McCain assertion during Wednesday’s presidential debate -- that voter fraud threatened “the fabric of democracy” -- is an example of a false claim.

Bauer also cites an Oct. 16 Associated Press report that says Sarah Palin told a crowd of supporters, “In this election, it’s a choice between a candidate who doesn’t disavow a group committing voter fraud, and a leader who won’t tolerate voter fraud.” Palin was making a reference to ACORN, a nonprofit group that has mounted a major voter-registration effort this year. The McCain campaign has accused the group of committing voter fraud by submitting invalid voter registration forms. The Obama campaign has denied any affiliation with ACORN...



Here's the pdf link to the letter:

http://www.politico.com/static/PPM106_obama_doj_letter.html

[countryjake]

15. And today we're not hearing a word about the Obama Campaign's response...

to the bona fide ELECTION FRAUD being carried out by Republican operatives!

Why oh why did they release that letter to the Dept. of Justice so late in the week? I did hear just a tiny bit on the trumped up phony charges that have been made against ACORN, but nothing on the MSM that really defends the organization as the amazingly successful community organizers that they truly are.

I think that anyone who has ever worked for the group should be writing indignant letters to news outlets such as CNN or MSNBC, demanding that they take back the smears they've perpetrated and pointing to Obama's letter to the Justice Dept. so maybe the damage might be undone a bit, if the news is reported honestly.

[TWiley]

16. where were these flag waving ass holes in 2000 and 2004

they want to be the first to accuse the innocent of doing what they already did.

[Cerridwen]

17. When this first started coming out, I found an article

(which I didn't bookmark :banghead: ) that pointed to rupert murdoch as possibly the source of this fraud. Not his media empire, him.

Now that it's hit the mainstream, I can't find that particular article as it's lost in the myriad links. *sigh*

[countryjake]

18. I, too, heard someone make that very point just this weekend...

About Rupert Murdoch. I think it may have been on Bill Moyers' show, last Friday night. If you didn't watch it, try and catch it online if possible, it was very pertinent to this stealing of the election and how simply scaring folk away from the polls on voting day is such an effective and well used tactic by the right-wing.

[Cerridwen]

19. Thank, countryjake.

As I remember the article, it was something personal for murdoch. That's as many details as I can "remember" at this point. I've been googling for it since it's become so obvious what they're doing, but alas, too many danged links show up in my search.

I'll check out the Moyers piece. Maybe it will even job my memory enough to get the correct search terms combination.

[NNN0LHI]

20. Drew Griffin has been tearing into Acorn every day for over a week now

Making ACORN look as bad as he possibly could with his snippets here and his snippets there of people who have never been in front of a reporters camera before.

This reminds of a newspaper running a huge completely false headline on their front page with daily follow-ups and then a week or two later the paper comes out with a tiny page 19 correction that the headline and story was wrong.

I also notice the McCain campaign has decided to give Drew a Palin interview tomorrow.

Kissing ass pays I guess.

Don