ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis: “Republican, right wing” nasty smear machine poison’s Congress’ well

ACORN website, September 16, 2009[click to enlarge]

Ed Morrissey over at Hot Air has posted a copy of an email sent out by ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis on September 22 to supporters. In the email, Lewis asks for donations, talks about “telling the truth”, and states: “It’s been the hardest week in the history of ACORN-and we need your support-and I mean really, we need your help to survive”.

On September 16, ACORN posted on its website details on how they were going to “take major steps”, going to do an “independent review” after five undercover videos surfaced with workers giving “advice” on such topics as:

-how to “designate” a brothel as a “performance entertainers”, etc.,

-getting a home loan for a brothel of underage, illegal girls as young as 13 from El Salvador,

-how the brothel should file with the IRS,

-how to hide the income-coffee cans buried in the back yard,

-how to keep the authorities, “none the wiser”.

In the ACORN email, Lewis asks supporters for donations, donations that will be “matched”:

I have an exciting update to share with you. An anonymous donor has offered to match all new donations to ACORN — dollar-for-dollar — up to $20,000.

There will never be a more important moment to donate to ACORN — we are in the fight of our lives. And now, when you donate, your gift will be worth TWICE as much, up to $20,000.

Lewis wrote: ACORN is “used to attacks from FOX News and the right wing”. And, “They will stop at nothing–certainly not the truth–to take us down”.

Lewis then pulls out all the stops: “Why?” Lewis asks, “Because when the poor and powerless stay poor and stay powerless, the rich and powerful get rich and more powerful”.

According to Lewis, “communities of color, low income workers, people were locked out of the American dream until they found us. The right wing hates us for it, and they want to destroy ACORN”.

Lewis goes on about the “right wing” injecting the media with “poisonous propaganda” attacking ACORN, that the media-FOX News-”got to Congress”. Congress cut funding “because FOX News and the right wing sewer machine told “Congress “to do it”.

Amazing. FOX News should pat themselves on the back for being responsible for the stunning bi-partisan vote in both Houses to defund ACORN, achieving in one week what Obama and the left wing of the party have failed to do in months with their coveted healthcare reform.

Lewis continued in the same vein: “The right wing is fighting mean and nasty” cause they “know who they’re dealing with”.

Lewis stated “ACORN is fighting back, and we’re fighting with the side of justice”.

The September 16 ACORN statement, posted on their website, seemed to imply ACORN had had an epiphany within 24 hours, as the day before, on their website, they posted this:

Missing from the ACORN website, the “Help!-we can’t survive-the evil Republicans, right wingers, and FOX News have gotten to Congress with their poisonous lies! Send us your money!!” email. ”

Speaking of the “side of justice”, today the IRS severed ties with ACORN: ACORN: IRS Axes ACORN over Child Sex Slave Tax Help. The IRS “justice” followed the “justice” doled out by the U.S Census Bureau who had also “cut ties” with ACORN.

Today, Allahpundit at Hot Air posted about the news that ACORN had filed civil suit against Breitbart and the two undercover investigative journalists:

Amazing. In one fell swoop, the lawsuit (a) gives Fox a reason to keep covering the story, (b) presents a thorny legal issue that’ll attract media to the scandal who might not otherwise have touched it, and (c) makes ACORN look like they’re trying to punish people who exposed taxpayer-funded corruption. Which, of course, they are.

Remember, Bertha Lewis told CNN she was grateful to O’Keefe et al. for rooting out those “few bad apples,” but as the boss reminds us, shooting the messenger is the ACORN way.

To some, the ACORN civil lawsuit was poorly advised, which, in our opinion, seems to be fairly rampant at ACORN, from “bottom” to “top”.

As for the email, last week Lewis stated that ACORN didn’t need to survive on federal funds, that they ran on donations. From the tone and tenor of Lewis’ email, one could construe that “supporters” other than the federal government may have been “poisoned” by the “right wing media” too.

What a shame. What ACORN desperately needs is a welcome shot of public support from one of ACORN’s most ardent supporters, President Barrack Obama. Unfortunately for ACORN, Obama seems to, once again, be suffering from selective amnesia, when, last Sunday, on ABC’s This Week, Obama seemed rather clueless as to the ACORN scandal and the votes cast by Congress to defund ACORN.

To see a copy of the email, and how a buddy of Ed’s-who hadn’t signed up as an ACORN supporter-may have gotten on ACORN’s mailing list, follow this [link].

By LBG