Back in September, I watched the ACORN “sting” videos from San Diego and reported:
Not only is Juan Carlos Vera’s behavior inconsistent with criminal habits, it screams of a desire to help two young people who seem to be in very deep trouble.
Nor should he be the least bit embarrassed by this video. In fact, everything embarrassing comes from Hannah and James. THEY are the ones who walked into this office with a crazy story about smuggling underage prostitutes from El Salvador. THEY are the ones reading intentions into the situation. NONE of this comes from Juan or the organization he worked for.
Having watched two videos, I have yet to see an ACORN employee break the law or offer to help O’Keefe and Giles break the law.
Mind you, I was merely paying attention to the same videos Breitbart put on his website. A full investigation of the unedited tapes by the California AG’s office vindicated Juan Carlos Vera, who is now suing Giles and O’Keefe:
On August 18, 2009, at approximately 5:00pm, Defendants O’Keefe and Giles visited the ACORN office in National City, California.
O’Keefe was wearing a hidden camera and recorded audio and video of the visit.
Defendants O’Keefe and Giles conspired to secretly video tape and audio tape Mr. Vera.
Defendants went into Mr. Vera’s office, sat down, and began a conversation.
O’Keefe and Giles asked whether the conversation would be kept confidential and Mr. Vera agreed.
I’m glad. I hope all of the victims sue them into oblivion — as well as Andrew Breitbart and FOX News, the New York Times, the Baltimore Sun, CNN, and every media outlet that replayed or reported on the videos without a critical eye or even a pretense of fact-checking. They should all be indicted for the high-tech lynching of an uppity black organization, but I’ll settle for the justice Juan Carlos Vera seeks.
And he should get justice. Despite having done everything right, including calling the police after they left his office, Juan Carlos Vera was fired as soon as his supervisor watched the selectively-edited video. Such “accomplishments” cannot go unpunished without incentivizing more of the same.
Just a few things that even liberal and progressive bloggers should try to remember:
- O’Keefe was NEVER dressed like a pimp at any time in any ACORN office.
- Hannah Giles told ACORN workers she was leaving an abusive pimp and needed housing before she mentioned any girls from El Salvador.
- The first videos were the most highly-edited; the last revealed their con game, but the damage was done.
- Giles and O’Keefe should not be referred to as “filmmakers” of “journalists.” They are neither.
