This pattern is disturbing, but without it this site wouldn’t exist.

There is a group of people in our population who are missing the “take responsibility for your own actions” gene.  They are genetic mutants.  These mutants are not restricted to any particular race or gender.  The only thing they have in common is the inability to take responsibility for themselves and their actions.  This lack of ability exhibits itself by their constant, predictable response to any criticism whatsoever.  This line of defense happens every time, without fail:  ”It’s not my fault.”, “You’re a racist”, “I didn’t do it”, “You don’t like women”, and so on, and so on.

Today’s poster child for this genetic flaw is Bertha Lewis, CEO of ACORN who in light of recent events has issued a response to the recent flurry of negative publicity related to the videotaping of ACORN employees (in at least five different offices across the county) freely giving advice on how to game the system, hide illegal activities, run a child-prostitution ring without getting caught, smuggle child-prostitutes across the border from Mexico, evading income taxes and other low crimes.

Ms. Lewis addresses those issues she considers salient point by point and because I think her statement is likely to disappear soon I have saved it in it’s entirety here on racecardism.com.

So lets get on with dissecting what Ms. Lewis has to say about this situation:

we are reinforcing existing procedures to make sure that whenever applicants for services are suspected of engaging in illegal activities, our employees terminate the consultation and notify their supervisors.

Perhaps you could consider working with law enforcement to turn in slavers, pimps and other criminals who are trying to game the system.  But I guess that might be a problem because once word got out that ACORN was working with law enforcement your clientele would drop significantly…

Second, the ACORN Advisory Council, a group made up of prominent national leaders in the non-profit and business community, is recruiting a respected individual to conduct a thorough top to bottom review of our intake and service delivery programs. We are pledging to adopt whatever reforms are recommended by this process.

Did you say “respected individual” Bertha?  Respected by whom?  Please explain how an “individual” would conduct “a thorough top to bottom review of our intake and service delivery programs” for 360, or so offices.  What about engaging a nationally known accounting firm?  I’m pretty sure any number of them would like the publicity associated with such a review and do it pro bono.

problematic but isolated incidents

Well, they are certainly problematic, but you have no way to know they are isolated.  What you do know is that in five out of five successful attempts, ACORN employees behaved like criminals themselves.  In fact, they are criminals unless “aiding and abetting is no longer illegal”.  And they were caught on tape just like the pedophiles.

But these attacks are about more than ACORN: they represent an attack on the poor and communities of color

Say hello to the race card.  The exposing of criminal behavior by employees of ACORN is racism in your mind.  I suppose you would have us think that when the videographers entered that they asked to be “counseled” by an African-American.  They chose African-Americans in order to discriminate against them – right?  Or is it that the offices are predominantly staffed by African-Americans.  If that’s the case, why?  There are lots of unemployed, liberal whites who would work there.   Is ACORN discriminating against white people?

Over the past week, Fox has run videotapes produced by James O’Keefe, a right-wing activist, in which O’Keefe and a female colleague, pretending to be a pimp and a prostitute, asked ACORN Tax and Benefit Center and ACORN Housing Corporation employees in several cities for assistance in getting tax preparation assistance or a mortgage loan. O’Keefe and his colleague indicated that they needed this assistance to support their prostitution business, which included bringing underage girls into the U.S. Using a hidden camera, O’Keefe captured the ACORN and ACORN Housing employees offering suggestions and advice.

You say “right-wing activist” as though there’s something wrong with activism.  Or is it only right-wing activism you have a problem with?  Hmmm.  Don’t you describe yourself as an “activist”.  Aren’t you proud to be an activist?  Didn’t our President start out as an “activist?”  So, I presume your problem is with being “right-wing?”  Aren’t you and ACORN “left-wing?”  You seem a bit of a hypocrite to me Bertha.  What you’re really saying as that you don’t want to be investigated by anyone who doesn’t agree with you.  So lets be clear here:  if you have to be investigated at all,  it must be by someone who agrees with your agenda.  Otherwise it’s racism.

We were appalled when we viewed these tapes: these ACORN and ACORN Housing employees clearly violated the standards and values which we insist that our employees follow, and they were immediately fired. However, here is what you should also know about this episode:

“However?”  Stop right there.  You were doing ok until you said “however.”  We all know that after that word comes a rationale for bad behavior or some sort shifting of blame.  Take responsibility.  Resign Bertha.  You head a criminal organization.  The buck stops with you.  Do the right thing and fall on your sword.  No, that wouldn’t occur to you because you are the poster-girl for the “take no responsibility” crowd.

a small percentage of our employees occasionally engage in illegal or unethical behavior. We hope you will agree that our response to these situations is the appropriate one: when we uncover such behavior, we take disciplinary action; and we continuously strive to improve our training and management systems to root out and prevent such behavior in the first place.

How about being pro-active?  How about telling us of occasions where ACORN has uncovered “such behavior” and acted on it?  How about giving us some examples of what ACORN has done”to root out and prevent such behavior in the first place?”  Even just a few legitimate examples would go a long way towards your credibility.  In a situation as dire as the one ACORN finds itself today, “just words” doesn’t get it.  Now is the time to pull out the big guns of proof positive and quell the tide of negative opinion.

Crucially, no tax or loan documents were prepared or filed. What was captured on tape was an initial intake interview – in no case did ACORN or ACORN Housing staff prepare or file any official forms or documents seeking tax refunds, loans, or any other benefit. Systems and procedures to ensure quality control worked, and no actions were taken beyond these interviews.

Well Bertha I’m going to have to call you on that one.  How exactly did the “Systems and procedures to ensure quality control” work?  Did you through due diligence determine that it was all a big ruse?  I doubt it.  No Bertha I think what happened is that the videographers never followed through on applications, etc. because they are not criminals.   So what you really mean to say is that either your “systems and procedures” failed to expose the exposers or you don’t actually have the “systems and procedures” you refer to.  At the risk of being called a racist here I’m going to have to go the Joe Wilson route –  you lie.

As far as we have been able to determine, O’Keefe’s team tried the same stunt in at least seven other ACORN and ACORN Housing offices, and in all except the episodes captured on film they were sent packing. In Philadelphia, our staff were sufficiently suspicious of the intrusion to file a police report.

Why didn’t you list the “at least seven other ACORN and ACORN Housing offices”?  That might have given some credibility to what looks like an exaggeration at best.  ”sufficiently suspicious of the intrusion to file a police report”.  Please produce the police report.  Did your employees file a report of the child prostitution?  The slavery?  The smuggling of illegals?  What was the basis of the report?  Enquiring minds want to know.

Many who have seen the videotapes have told us that they believe the tapes are doctored: questions appear to be added in voiceover, there are breaks in some of the action, etc. We have sent a letter to Roger Ailes, the President of Fox News, asking for the original copies of the tapes so we can examine them ourselves. And regardless of the veracity of the tapes, it is clear that O’Keefe was egging on and entrapping our employees, rather than engaging in reputable journalism.

Any experts?  Any proof?  Right about now it would be good if you could produce a videotape of the “crimes” you allege.  I didn’t think so.  ”egging on and entrapping our employees”  Oh.  You mean like when the police put fake hookers on the street and then arrest those who solicit them?  Stop dodging responsibility for the obscene behavior of your employees.  Own up to it, deal with it, take your licks, make actual improvements and move on.  Stop whining because you got caught – its unbecoming for the head of such a large organization.  Tony Soprano wouldn’t whine.

The actual videotaping may have been illegal. Maryland law requires both parties to consent to any taping, and on Friday the Baltimore Sun reported that the MD States Attorney is considering filing charges against O’Keefe for violating the law.

If the videotaping was illegal does that change anything your employees did?  If the videotaping of the Rodney King beating was illegal would that have changed anything?

O’Keefe’s intent then, as it is now, was to entrap an organization whose mission he is ideologically opposed to, and masquerade his efforts as investigative journalism rather than the propaganda videos they are.

Who else is going to expose your criminal organization if not those who disagree with you?  The mainstream media?  Please!  They wouldn’t even run the story days after you were exposed.  They are afraid of being called racists by you and others like you.  Those weak sisters would only mention it after FOX had the courage to run with it.

Much of this has to do with the right’s assessment of ACORN’s effectiveness: we play a critical role, on a massive national scale, in organizing low income people of color to participate in elections and to campaign in support of a progressive agenda. But let’s also be clear: much of this has to do with race. The attacks on ACORN are part of the same rightwing machinery that has been attacking President Obama by calling the President a racist, that has been mobilizing all-white tea parties to rail against immigrants, and that has attacked Eric Holder, Sonia Sotomayor, and, with more success, Van Jones. We have seen a conscious strategy from the right to divide and conquer the nation using race, and the attacks on ACORN must be understood in this context.

So there it is again.  Very clearly.  It’s all about race.  Not child-prostitution.  Not income tax evasion.  Not slavery.  Not illegal immigration.  Not gaming the system.  RACE!  The racist in this scenario Ms. Lewis is you.  You and those like you who are unwilling to take responsibility for your own actions and are only interested in deflecting criticism by crying racist.  Shame on you.