Update: Katie Couric vs. Conservatives: the Under the Gun controversy

Update: The controversy over the "Under the Gun" documentary centers on an inserted pause during a question about terrorists being easily able to access firearms.

In the face of the incident early Sunday morning in Orlando, Florida, that question could not be more timely.

Conservatives are not factual, and conservatives whine, claiming they are victims when they are not, in fact, victims at all.  And conservatives are massive hypocrites, holding others to a more rigorous standard than they hold themselves (or other conservatives).

I would argue that the hypocrisy alone would be sufficient to disqualify conservatives from criticizing others, but that the additional factual deficiency renders them the ones who merit harsh criticism.

The latest controversy over a gun violence documentary in which Katie Couric conducted an interview is simply the latest iteration.

Katie Couric was a news personality on ABC in 2008, when she exposed the lack of qualifications of Republican candidate Sarah Palin for the position of VP.  That still gripes the behinds of conservatives, who will look for pretty much any pretext to jump all over her, fair or foul.  That Couic continues to enjoy some measure of success, while Palin is at best a marginal figure, only adds to conservative irritation, especially by those less successful conservatives in the media (including the blogosphere).

What is she doing now?  From the Wrap:

Couric is the current Yahoo global news anchor and a legend in her field. The former “Today” show staple is an anti-cancer advocate, documentary film producer and New York Times best-selling author of “The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons From Extraordinary Lives.”

Let's start with the facts; Katie Couric did not insert the controversial 'dramatic pause' in the documentary in question, Under the Gun. and did not agree with the insertion, but was over-ruled.
Continuing from the Wrap:

Katie Couric said she “didn’t feel comfortable” with the controversial edit in her recent documentary on guns, but hopes it starts a broader conversation about the gun control in America. “I can understand the objection of people who did have an issue about it,” Couric said at TheWrap’s Power Women Breakfast in New York on Thursday morning.

...Couric did not edit the interview herself, and said last week that she questioned director Stephanie Soechtig and an editor about the pause when she screened the film, “and was told that a ‘beat’ was added for, as she [Soechtig] described it, ‘dramatic effect.'”

I would posit that the dramatic pause was not particularly significant, that the controversy is a tempest in the proverbial tea pot. But I would add to that criticism that the pause should not have been inserted in a documentary; dramatic license belongs in dramatic productions, not in non-fiction features.

But to return to the massive hypocrisy of the right, who are kvetching about a lack of factual content by Couric, and/or 'fake footage', let's recall here for a moment the appalling actions of convicted criminal James O'Keefe when HE inserted footage of himself as a pimp in undercover interviews with ACORN, while actually appearing in the real interviews as a normally dressed boy friend of a woman appearing to be an abuse victim.

Not a peep out of conservatives, about deceptive editing, or fake footage when it is 'one of theirs', not then, not in the past year, not ever.

Rather they defended O'Keefe, trying to justify false claims as 'B roll' and other flimsy excuses. Again, as another example out of many, the insertion of fake footage from other sources, representing it as from Planned Parenthood, was deliberately misleading and unethical. Like James O'Keefe,who was convicted of illegal activity in his filming, those faux documentarians are also now facing criminal indictment for fraud. Did anyone here much criticism of these far more egregious examples of bad faith documentary making? Heck NO! Far from it, the right tried to find pretexts and excuses to condone THAT conduct.

Unless they drop the double standard BS and their whining, I would argue that conservative critics should sit down and shut up.  If and when they are willing to do the right thing, not just the right wing thing, then and only then do they have a legitimate complaint about others; in the successful PROFESSIONAL and more ethical media.

The Right Words

"If words are to enter men's minds and bear fruit, they must be the right words shaped cunningly to pass men's defenses and explode silently and effectually within their minds."
- J. B. Phillips
British Biblical translator, writer, clergyman
1906 - 1982

"In a sense, words are encyclopedias of ignorance because they freeze perceptions at one moment in history and then insist we continue to use these frozen perceptions when we should be doing better."
- Edward de Bono
Maltese physician, inventor, professor, author and consultant; originator of the concept of lateral thinking
1933

"Deception is a cruel act... It often has many players on different stages that corrode the soul."
~ Donna A. Favors


On Thursday evening March 4th comedic genius Stephen Colbert presented an especially cogent mini 'Tip of the Hat' segment on the Colbert Report in which he demonstrated the kind of extreme editing and outright fakery used by James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles in creating the false and misleading 'ACORN' sting videos. That it also made fun of the folly of Sean Hannity of Fox News on Hannity's own set added to the effectiveness of the send up, while emphasizing the underlying truth of Colbert's criticism of both O'Keefe and Hannity.

www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/265498/march-04-2010/tip-wag---james-o-keefe---sean-hannity

Saturday evening, March 6th, at the California Republican Assembly Convention, an event that the late President Ronald Reagan called "the conscience of the Republican Party", James O'Keefe and his partner in crime, Hannah Giles, were to be presented with the Ronald Reagan Freedom Fighter Award for their videotape 'stings' of ACORN. This can reasonably be construed as a 'right wing' gala event, the 'right' of the title of this essay 'Right Words', which is all about wrong words, lies, deceptions, fraud and misrepresentations.

So, why reward O'Keefe and Giles, not only with this award, but with wider spread right wing adoration?

For the same reason that so many other right wing prominent political figures have come out against ACORN. They hate ACORN for having been effective in registering voters from lower income and disadvantaged areas who vote largely Democratic, and for the support of associated causes.

The criticism of ACORN for a number of problems, both with internal issues including embezzlement of funds, and with a very small percentage of their voter registration drives, criticism by both the left and the right, is well deserved. Some of the ACORN voter registration drive efforts were badly supervised, and I personally have a serious objection to funds going to an organization that has a past of covering up embezzlement. But I don't believe that ACORN has been proven to have altered the outcome of elections, or many of the other claims against it.

Overall, about 5 to 7% of ACORN's voter registrations have had to be further checked, with about 1% actually being rejected as either duplicate or false. That percentage is higher than the success rate for other voter registration groups, but not excessively so. Those 'bad' voter registrations are caught through the various cross referencing methods used to validate the voter registration data base in every state. Anyone who wants to know exactly what the validation methods are in their state can determine that with a quick phone call or email to their own state administration for that data base. It is a matter of public record, and I encourage people to make their own inquiries.

The RNC has sent out many fund raising solicitations over the signature of chair Michael Steele, both by email and snail mail, incorrectly claiming voter fraud, not just voter registration fraud or failures by ACORN. The RNC and a number of prominent conservative politicians, media talking heads, and bloggers all claim an unprecedented and unprosecuted theft of elections from the right by this voter fraud. They specifically blame ACORN, they specifically target ACORN because they need someone, something, to blame for their losses.

This is a claim even more loudly advanced by Minnesota 6th District Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who has elevated hatred for ACORN into an obsession as unique in intensity as it is inaccurate factually. ACORN is a frequent icon for terrorizing her doner base in Bachmann's fund raising efforts, and a regular target for Bachmann's legislative efforts on behalf of the right. Hannah Giles has included similar completely false, unsupported allegations in the three page solicitation letters she sent out to raise money for her legal defense. There is a lot of money to be made in peddling fear, and anger, and the sting of losing majority power. Further, the right needs a distraction from their own years of bad government when they had that majority power.

Even the December 22, 2009 Report to the Congressional Judiciary Committee prepared by the Congressional Research Service, determined that ACORN has not had a single instance of actual voter fraud resulting from their voter registration efforts (page 1, item number 3).
http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/pdf/CRS-ACORN091222.pdf
The CRS report was only one of the more recent examination of the charges of voter fraud to find no evidence to support the charges against ACORN by the right; it is not the only report to do so.

So, while there may be a few jokers who fill out a voter registration card as Minnie Mouse or Donald Duck, or even Goofy, none of those people have tried to vote under those registrations. An equal or greater proportion of the problem registrations have been simple duplicates, where there was no attempt to use a fictitious identity. None of the investigations to date have found any pattern of deliberate fraud to alter elections. Problem voter registrations are a nuisance, in some instances they are a crime, but they have never EVER been demonstrated to be significant in the outcome of elections.

But that hasn't stopped the continuing efforts of the right against ACORN. Readers may recall that the New Mexico US Attorney, David Iglesias, lost his job for refusing to prosecute ACORN in that state because there was insufficient evidence of any crime, during the Bush administration attempt to politicize the Department of Justice. The efforts by O'Keefe and Giles are only the latest attack on ACORN by the right.

The latest award to O'Keefe and Giles comes at the end of the week that saw the announcement by the Brooklyn, New York District Attorney at the conclusion of an extensive investigation that there was no basis for any prosecution of ACORN. This despite the attempts by O'Keefe and Giles to portray the Brooklyn ACORN office, and a number of other ACORN locations, as engaging in not just any criminal activity, but child prostitution, in a calculated attempt to engage the emotions of the public. Mere voter registration issues are too boring to get a reaction. They needed to 'sex up' the perception of problems with ACORN.

Except that like the false accusations of voter fraud, there do not appear to, have been any instances of criminal activity, either aiding prostitution or money laundering, by ACORN identified to date. There are other investigations into the activities of both ACORN AND O'Keefe and Giles, resulting from these videos, including one by the California Attorney General. There is a very real possibility of criminal felony indictments resulting from those investigations - charges against O'Keefe and Giles.

There has been a huge media smear of ACORN, but no charges, no proof. To date, only O'Keefe and Giles, and now the Brooklyn, NY District Attorney have seen the uncut, unedited version of the events. O'Keefe and Giles, and their boss Andrew Breitbart have insisted across the internet, and across pretty much the entirety of Fox News and some mainstream media, and social utilities like Youtube through their videos and interviews that their heavily altered and partially faked videos portrayed ACORN assisting them to try to set up a brothel providing the sexual services of underage illegal immigrant girls.

In response to the investigation by the Brooklyn DA, the right has tried to fly the accusation of conflict of interest, along with the usual factual errors they resort to with ACORN claims. One of the best analyses of New York prostitution and money laundering laws explaining factually why the Brooklyn DA did not prosecute ACORN was written by prominent New York attorney Michael J. Gaynor at www.webcommentary.com/php/ShowArticle.php?id=gaynorm&date=100305 where he breaks down the applicable statutes line by line as they apply to what ACORN did - and did not do.

There have been multiple investigations, and now there are law suits against O'Keefe and Giles being filed. There may be criminal indictments as well resulting from their videos of ACORN, and appropriately so as they appear to have possibly violated not only the laws of a number of states including Maryland and California, relating to recording without consent, but also possibly the federal statutes against recording people for either tortious or criminal purposes. Some states make a particular point of singling out for penalty not only recording people with or without their consent with the intent of then making the recordings public after altering them to reflect false and negative images, which would seem to be a big problem for O'Keefe and Giles.

Fox News which promoted O'Keefe and Giles is suddenly very quiet on the subject. Andrew Breitbart who employed O'Keefe and Giles, accepted awards with them, and widely promoted them across the media is now claiming he never saw the unedited 'raw' footage, and that he was deceived by O'Keefe and Giles.

I wonder when more of the right is going to catch on that the jig is up. I wonder if the California Republican Assembly will eventually try to take back their Ronald Reagan Freedom Fighter Awards.

I wonder what the Right words on ACORN, O'Keefe, and Giles will be then.

Nuts, not soup-to-nuts, but Super Nuts

Hart Van Denburg wrote on December 9
"Latest Bachmann ACORN concoction: It could regulate banks!"

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2009/12/latest_bachmann.php

The fuss is over Bachmann's response, in her position on the House Financial Services Committee, to an amendment offered by a Democratic Congresswoman from California, Maxine Waters. The amendment would create a Consumer Financial Protection Oversight Board with members from 'fields of consumer protection, fair lending and civil rights, representative of depository institutions that primarily serve under-served communities or representatives of communities that have been significantly impacted by higher-priced mortgage loans'.

The oversight board in Water's amendment would not have the power to set policy or to regulate banking.

Waters made the statement, expanding on the purpose of her amendment, "Over the past two years, we have seen the impact of foreclosures on communities, small banking institutions, and our constituents and how predatory financial products like subprime credit cards and mortgage loans were targeted to minorities and low-income consumers. In order to ensure that this does not happen again, groups and individuals with the consumer's best interest in mind must have a seat at the table."

How does Congresswoman Bachmann respond? She claims that it is expansive new government beauracracy with far-reaching powers.

WHAT 'expansive new government beauracracy? This is about consolidating and making regulation more effective. WHAT far reaching powers??????????

Bachmann goes on to claim that this new oversight board would "make decisions for consumers about the kinds of mortgages, small business loans, and other financial products they may access."

MAKE DECISIONS for consumers? NO.

In her grand finale, Bachmann contradicts her own comment about "far-reaching powers" when she states "In its current form, ACORN would be elegible to sit on an Oversight Board tasked with advising the CFPA Director on his overall strategies and policies."

Not make decisions for consumers, not make policy decisions either; the board would simply ADVISE, and presumably not as the only source for advice on regulation either, but serving as a counterbalance to predatory financial interests.

Which if you deconstruct what Bachmann says, it boils down to 'this is a good idea, there isn't anything else of substance to complain about, so let's fall back on the tattered and torn worn-out boogeyman of ACORN in an attempt to discredit a useful and necessary amendment. Well, that, and expressing the obligatory negativism of the Republican party-sans, the party of not, the party of nope......or perhaps that should be written, the party of NO hope.

Taking a look at the financial state of Bachmann's own 6th Congressional District:

Bachmann's 6th District leads the state of Minnesota with one of the highest foreclosure rates, with housing foreclosures up 56% in Minnesota overall in 2009 compared to 2008. Looking at a map of Minnesota displaying the most recent statistics, while there are three other counties spread around the state with higher individual county foreclosure rates, ALL of the counties in Bachmann's very gerrymandered 6th Congressional District (Anoka, Benton, Sherburne, Stearns, Washington and Wright) are among the more severely affected, with Wright County being one of the four very worst affected. Out of 87 counties in Minnesota, Anoka County ranked 3rd in the state for the most foreclosures, Washington was 5th, Wright tied for 6th, Sherburne was 8th, Stearns just missed the ten worst coming in at 11th, and Benton was the 24th worst county for foreclosures.

From September 2008 to June 2009, unemployment in Minnesota increased 56% to a statewide figure of 7.4% (seasonally adjusted) up from 6.1% in November 2008. But in Bachmann's District 6, the rate is higher, with Sherburne County having an unemployment rate of 8.2%, and Wright County 8%; Anoka and Benton Counties are closer to the state average at 7.6% and 7.3%, while Stearns and Washington Counties come in slightly lower than the statewide average, at 6.6%. In contrast, the state of Minnesota had a rate of 3.8% prior to the recession, back when Bachmann was first elected to Congress. The US overall, has an unemployment rate that is at 10.0%in November 2009, up from 6.8% a year earlier.

Of the six counties represented by Bachmann, 4 are among the top ten HIGHEST stats for filing Bankruptcies: Sherburne - 1st, Wright - 3rd, Benton - 5th, and Anoka - 7th. Washington county just missed out on the top ten, coming in at 13th, while Stearns county came in at 21st, still reflecting an unhealthy economic situation relative to the rest of Minnesota's 87 counties, just not the MOST unhealthy.

Which provokes the inevitable question, whose interests does Bachmann serve?

The interests and needs of her constituents would seem to be coming in a distant second to the welfare and profits of predatory lenders. Bachmann voted against five foreclosure relief bills, the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act, the Neighborhood Stabilization Act, the Expanding American Home Ownership Act, the Expand and Preserve Home Ownership through Counseling Act, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, the FHA Housing Stabilization and Homeownership Retention Act of 2008 (in committee), and Bachmann voted against funding for HOPE for Homeowners (a program to refinance home mortgages facing foreclosure).

It would appear from the statistics, and from her voting record, that there is far more to fear from Bachmann's actual role regarding positive regulation than from any potential, hypothetical role in regulation by ACORN. Bachmann has focused her legislative efforts on stupid issues like not phasing out incandescent lightbulbs in favor of more energy efficient flourescent bulbs; on misstating the science of carbon dioxide; on promoting the notion that this IS a Christian nation (not only a Christian nation, but a predominantly Christian not secular entity according to Bachmann); opposing health care reform, and particularly any balanced and accurate view on abortion.

So, given the statistics, given her voting record, why would Bachmann say such odd things?

Saying distinctly odd things, often and loudly, through any media that will give her a mouthpiece is the defining characteristic of Bachmann. She lives for sensational statements and misstatements about the Census, Re-education Camps, and Un-American ideas in Congress. And let us not by any means ignore her favorite canard about the political left stealing elections, despite no evidence supporting the statement of real, substantiated, significant fraudulent voting affecting the outcome of elections ANYWHERE.

But........why? WHY would Bachmann engage in this behavior, conduct which just recently won her the CNN Wingnut of the Year Award? I think the answer was provided by Minnesota right wing blogger TJSwift, aka "Swiftee" in a comment found under Van Denburg's writing.

"TJSwift says:
This is Bachmann's "rope a dope".
She's gained national prominence for her outspoken, and yes, sometimes outrageous statements....but the gist of her message always is based upon a truth.
Most Americans are too busy trying to make their way through the day to pay attention to politics. Michelle understands that and has found a very effective way to make them sit up and listen.
She is more responsible for taking ACORN down than anyone else. And any group that she sets her aim on would be smart to have a care.
In the mean time, the batshit crazy response Michelle provokes from the left is providing some of the best theater evah."

Deconstructing "Swiftee's" comments, NO, emphatically NO Bachmann's comments are NOT based on fact, they are carefully and artfully crafted to take some item that begins as a fragment of fact but never a complete fact, and from their mislead and to misrepresent it. Many more of Bachmann's statements, as indicated above, are outright bold-faced lies.

The conservative right wing takes great delight in Bachmann's outrageousness, but implicit in Swiftee's statement about 'most Americans' being 'too busy to pay attention to politics' is the assumption that our fellow Americans are not patriotic enough to care about their elected representatives, or issues;and, that our fellow Americans should be manipulated by outrageous, sensationalized mis-statements calculated to get their attention.

This is a tactic that can fairly be described as fear-mongering. It is appallingly condescending in its assumptions about the citizens of this country, and inherently insulting.

But doesn't it just explain perfectly the phenomenon that is Bachmann?

Secondary to doing everything in her power to act against the interests of her own district's constituency, is Bachmann's obsession with ACORN, a source of pride and entertainment to the conservative right. ACORN is not now, nor has it ever been, a serious threat to Bachmann's district, to the state of Minnesota, or the the government of the United States. But hey, focussing on ACORN apparently in the mind of Bachmann and the conservative right is a good use of one's time and resources, a suitable priority ------- but ONLY in the minds of the conservative right.