James O’Keefe and Fox News Promote Fake ACORN Murder Confession
In perhaps the biggest bombshell of James O’Keefe’s ongoing ACORN expose’ to date, Glenn Beck aired a tape of an ACORN worker confessing to O’Keefe’s hidden camera that she had shot and killed her husband. The tape is followed by Beck imploring his viewers to get up off of their couches, call their local newspapers, and demand that they run this story.
Be careful what you wish for, Glenn.
See, whether they got a phone call or not, Duane Gang and John Asbury of the Press-Enterprise did just that, except they did something that O’Keefe, Fox News, and Beck did not do. They got the facts. Here’s my very favorite part of their story:
Police said they have been in contact with (the woman in the tape) Kaelke’s former husbands and the homicide claims do not appear accurate.
Unless they contacted one or both of them by seance, that appears to be an understatement. Kaelke told the reporters that she made the story up, saying “”They were clearly playing with me…I decided to shock them as much as they were shocking me.”
An ACORN representative said that O’Keefe’s tapes were selectively edited, a claim echoed by O’Keefe’s other subjects.
This is exactly what I tried to explain on the Ed Morrissey Show yesterday, that the type of journalism that O’Keefe is engaging in lacks any checks or balances on his desire to reach a pre-ordained conclusion. Luckily, the charade was short-lived, in this case.
Here is the video as it was broadcast on Glenn Beck (the “admission” starts around the :56 mark):
13 comments
m says: Airing this footage raises serious questions about Glenn Beck’s integrity. Does sacred honor even exist on Fox News anymore?
(See what I did there? I took his own words and flipped it around. I’m clever).
JBean says: I have to admire ACORN’s quick thinking for this comeback, after reviewing the tape. Being a criminal organization does help, though, with this sort of thing.
I wouldn’t hold the ACORN woman up as a pillar of the community just yet, since she and her husband have mutual restraining orders on file in the courts. When interviewed, her second husband said “She’s definitely got problems and goes off the wall sometimes.” She also has an arrest record.
Murderess? No. Someone I’d want advice from, about anything? Heck no.
Dean says: I find it appalling that any reasonable person in this country would waste their breath to defend Acorn. No matter what you think of the journalistic ethics used to get the information, there is plenty of evidence that this organization is little more than a den of thugs. Beck admitted on his show that they had not been able to confirm or deny the allegation of murder. I don’t think it is Beck’s job to confirm it… the lady willfully confessed to a crime… it is the job of law enforcement to find out what the truth is. I don’t believe for one second that the lady was “just playing along”.
ACORN is indefensible and should no longer receive federal money. They are obviously a somewhat corrupt organization using the front of a community group to gather millions and then letting their people run unsupervised. The woman that made the “killed my husband” comment is massively irresponsible. At the very least her little joke cost a police department hours and money – something in short supply.
That said, someone needs to read Beck the meaning of the words “fact check” on an hourly basis.
Dean – it actually is Beck’s job to check facts before racing to the camera with whatever rumor pops up. If he is going to demand action on something, then he has to have an actual something to run with. It is law enforcement’s job, but it is also the job of any journalist.
Simply saying that he could not verify it is inadequate when dealing with murder allegations. Based on that little slip and slide, any story can now run without any proof.
Note that when he was accused of murder and such, Beck screamed about the lack of fact checking. Hypocrisy is very ugly.
Sadly, little stuff like this tends to dilute the real story about ACORN. The actual proven facts were already pretty bad. Beck sensationalizing for ratings and frenzy does not advance the cause of shutting this group down.
Dean says: Keeva:
Admitting to a murder first hand is not RUMOR. Yes, the lady could be a nut, but it’s not Beck’s job to figure that out when there has basically been a confession to a crime. I personally don’t want Beck doing law enforcement’s job.
JimW says: Maybe, just maybe, the ONLY way for Glenn Beck to get his point across is to behave exactly the way he’s behaving. If he were just a prudent, meditative sort of guy, he would be buried by an extremely biased main stream media. What he’s doing is extremely successful, and thank God for that. Whether anybody likes it or not, Fox News is the big winner in all of this.
O’Keefe is posting the entire tapes unedited with transcripts on BigGovernment.com so you need to get your facts right about the “selective editing”.
Jelperman says: Sure they should run this story. As long as they run the one about how Glenn Beck raped and killed a young girl back in 1990.
Skyhawk_maintainer says: If ACORN supporters had gotten votes for McCain, many of you would think ACORN was the greatest thing since gaseous oxygen. They are just a grassroots organization who has happened to hire some rather questionable individuals. Like political parties.
Do right wingers realize that even withoujt ACORN Obama would have still won this election by 8 million votes? The lie that right wingers are really trying to advance is that Obama “won” because ACORN cheated. What a joke. LOL
CaptainAmerica says: Sorry Daniel but the election isn’t based on the popular vote. I guess MSNBC doesn’t like to cover that.
CaptainAmerica says: [m says:
Airing this footage raises serious questions about Glenn Beck’s integrity. Does sacred honor even exist on Fox News anymore?}
You mean they shouldn't have shown one of the lunatics working at Acorn saying she was a former prostitute? Telling them how to get away with illegal things etc? Yeah, thats an organization that needs to be getting $8Billion Federal Stimulus dollars. NOT!!
Did you enjoy the latest tape today? How an Acorn worker in CA told them how they could smuggle those young girls over the border??
The story isn't Beck, the story is Acorn and its a criminal enterprise apparently. They need to be shut down.
shootfromthehip says: “I don’t think it is Beck’s job to confirm it… the lady willfully confessed to a crime… it is the job of law enforcement to find out what the truth is.”
Sorry, I’m confused. Is the network called Fox News or Fox “We Heard From This One Guy”?
It is 100% their job to follow up and make a phone call to the San Bernadino PD. How hard is that? What else do the reporters have to do all day at Fox News HQ? What are the producers too busy surfing FEMA camp conspiracy websites to pick up the phone and check before they accuse a woman of murder (she didn’t kill her husbands, btw)?
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