The most important thing I did today – and one of the most important things I’ve done in my entire activist career – took place this morning when I attended a press conference hosted by Andrew Brietbart and the right-wing ACORN filmographer fraudsters. I made the most out of my opportunity to ask questions.
Look... ACORN makes a real difference in real lives. They are as close to "salt of the earth" as you can get. All the high-minded legislative battles we get so worked up over? Well they don’t amount to a hill of beans if you can’t feed your kids, put a roof over their heads or otherwise get by from day to day. For hundreds of thousands of people, ACORN has been the difference. And now the right wing has deployed millions of dollars in cash and talent to smear a group that really, really matters. It’s despicable.
Some things you probably don't know about James O’Keefe ("the pimp") and Hannah Giles ("the prostitute"):
(flip for the good stuff, including video of today's presser with the ACORN attackers, and interviews with David Dreier, and Senators Kit Bond and Kay Bailey-Hutchison)
- You know that ridiculous pimp outfit O’Keefe was filmed wearing? Well... he never wore it into an ACORN office. Instead...
- O’Keefe posed as an aspiring Congressman trying to help a young woman caught up in prostitution and abused by a vicious pimp... They told the ACORN staffers that it wasn’t just her, but many other young immigrant girls that needed a safe place to get away from their pimp.
- O’Keefe was thrown out of his Rutgers dorm after repeating – and failing to cease using – racial slurs
- O’Keefe and the miscreants he works with have refused to release full copies of their unedited video. Every production is highly edited; nobody outside their team has seen their raw footage.
So yeah, because I am such a believer in ACORN’s mission and I want as many people as possible to see this, instead of forcing you over to TheCrookedDope.com, I’m posting the videos here:
My second press conference today involved Senators Kit Bond and Kay Bailey-Hutchison. They were railing against cap and trade when they started to speak about alternative sources of energy. I couldn't figure out why one would care about reducing fossil fuel use if global climate change wasn't a concern. So they must be concerned about climate change, right? But that didn't make sense to me because... well, they are Republicans and Rush Limbaugh says climate change is a hoax. And you know, Rush Limbaugh, with all of his PhD's, is the Republican authority on everything... (video at the link)
Finally, I ran into Representative David Dreier. Yes, the "open-closeted" David Dreier. That’s when everyone knows you are gay and you know that everyone knows you are gay, but everyone pretends to believe you are straight and you play along. Back in 2005 when the Republican leadership was in flux, Dreier – a pretty senior guy – was up for a leadership position. Alas, he never got it. Why? The Christian right won’t allow a homosexual to ascend to leadership. As George W. Bush would say, Not Gonna Happin. (video at the link)
Next, I actually posted this video yesterday, but it's blown up unexpectedly. Evidently, it's been seen on MSNBC, and linked from all over the web. But when I asked, David Vitter refused to condemn the racist judge that wouldn't issue the marriage license to the inter-racial couple. (video at the link)
Update [2009-10-21 22:24:19 by Mike Stark]: The content in this text box was originally the preview of the diary, but the ACORN stuff is so important, I decided to drop this down here. I feel kinda silly saying this stuff anyway...
So a lot has happened since yesterday, but after catching up with the comments in my last diary, it is clear to me that I’ve got some lean-up work to do regarding Cornyn. I’ll do most of that at the end of this diary, but there is one thing...
If you cannot take the time to go over to TheCrookedDope.com to contextualize the Cornyn incident by placing it in the frame of the rest of the Hill reporting I’m doing... Or if you want to hallucinate a set of circumstances that makes Cornyn the victim and me an aggressor... Or if you feel compelled to throw wet blankets of hatred upon my diaries... Well... I’d like to point out that there are lots and lots of other diarists that would love it if you read their work. In fact, there’s a great big blogosphere and larger web with a remarkable range of commentary. It isn’t necessary for you to be offended by my scribblings...
Now for the clean-up of the Cornyn thing.
Some folks are saying it’s not assault. After e very brief search, I’ve posted some relevant DC laws over at TheCrookedDope.com. Maybe there is a question. Or maybe I have a different pereption of the video because I lived it. All I know is that if I had behaved that way toward the Senator, I’da been arrested and charged with something.
Other folks are saying I look like a wuss in complaining about him when the physical part of the confrontation was so minimal. I would hope that people aren’t thinking that I am complaining because I was treated so brutally... Of course not! The complaint will come primarily for two reasons. First, as I’ve said several times, Cornyn should be held to the same standard the rest of us are held to. Second, and more importantly as far as I am concerned, this is a free press matter as well. When I visited his office today, he had copies of the Constitution available to visitors. These right-wing blowhards wrap themselves in our Country’s Charter, yet cannot seem to find the First Amendment.
So yeah, the complaint isn’t about me as much as it is about standing up for our collective civil rights.
So today, I visited his office, discreetly asked to speak with his communications director (in the reception area, there were a bunch of health care lobbyists waiting to speak to the Senator; I didn't feel the need bring it up in front of his visitors), got denied (I was told the comm dir. was in a meeting) and left a message. If I don't hear from the office by noon tomorrow, I will file a police report and let y'all know as soon as I can after that.
So you want a better media?
A few nights ago, I posted a diary about being repeatedly detained by Capitol Police at the behest of Virginia Foxx and other Republican lawmakers. In the comments of that diary, someone asked me how law school was going. I mentioned that I graduated, tried to give activism a shot, but couldn't find any institutional support for my work, so I plan on taking the bar and becoming (probably) a divorce lawyer.
The response was unexpected and extraordinary. Over the next 24 hours, I received over $300 in direct donations through the paypal form at my website. Moreover, TheCrookedDope was visited by several thousand people.
You will notice that I did not embed the YouTubes in this diary. The reason for that is that I'm holding out hope that between donations and advertising, I may yet be able to continue working as an activist/journalist.
Look - this isn't intended to be a sobbing GBCW diary, and I hope you don't take it as such. The simple fact is that I've got 2 kids, a wife and over $180K in student loan debt. I think my work in the George Allenand Virgil Goode races was productive, I was proud to glom onto Spocko's coattails when the KSFO story made headlines, "Hannity Sucks Ass" was fun
and so was inciting Bill O'Reilly to call out the Fox News Police. Forming the largest group on MyBO.com(the GetFISARight group) ended up in disappointment for us all, but it had to be done. And the birther videosBrett Vaughn and I conceived and produced were useful in terms of exposing exactly how crazy a place the Republican Party is in right now.
So, anyway... I think it is only natural for anyone that has had the fun and success that I have had fighting the good fight against dishonest "conservatives" to want to be able continue doing this kind of work... But life is what it is. As long as the folks that run our esteemed left-leaning organizations remain risk-averse and unwilling to fund bloggers, activists, social engineers and culture-jammers... well... unless we develop a different model, those of us that do this kind of stuff will come and go as life permits.
Ah... Did you catch the key words? "Unless we develop a different model"... Well, some folks have. Like Kos. Atrios. Jane Hamsher. They are all funded by a contributions from the netroots and/or advertising. Sooooo... That's why I did not embed the videos. I want to earn your eyeballs. I want you to start visiting TheCrookedDope. While you are there, I hope you will consider dropping a coin or two into my PayPal hat located on the side bar. I really, really, really hope a few of you will consider "subscribing" and choosing to make recurring donations.
In return, I promise that I will do my best to cover the Hill like no other reporter (except maybe Rachel Maddow). If you have questions you want asked of certain people, I'll do my best to do that for you. I know many of you would like to see an improved product from me. I promise to listen to your criticisms and strive every day to do a better job than I did the day before. In short, with your traffic and/or support, I'll work my ass off to be YOUR reporter on the Hill.
Finally, there is this: I want you to know that I know that to the extent I've been successful, success has come in no small part because of this community. CallingAllWingnuts would never have been born without y'all... This blog - this community - on several occasions launched my effort into the larger press; whatever I was working on got noticed here first. And notwithstanding certain disagreements (the trip to O'Reilly's home comes to mind), I've always known the people that hang out here share my core values and play on the same team I do. When my leg starts trembling and a tremor creeps into my voice as I go toe to toe with a bad guy, I've always known who I'm working for. So however this works out... whether or not I can make a go of this... Thank You, DailyKos.