Last September, Media Matters wrote:
On September 23, Los Angeles Times media critic James Rainey reported that ACORN official Lavelle Stewart “told me this week” that when conservative videographers James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles came to Stewart’s ACORN office in Los Angeles disguised as a pimp and prostitute, Stewart “tried to get the ‘prostitute,’ who claimed she had been beaten by her pimp, to go to a women’s center.” Stewart’s reported statement and a police report filed by officials at ACORN’s Philadelphia office undermine O’Keefe’s and Giles’ claims that they were never rebuffed at any of the ACORN offices they visited, and the videographers have yet to release the Los Angeles and Philadelphia videos.
In writing so, Media Matters showed an amazing credulity. Lavelle Stewart’s claim surely contradicted O’Keefe and Giles, but did it really “undermine” them? Only if you’re inclined to accept the word of ACORN. Considering how ACORN has lied every step of the way, one ought to be reluctant to do so.
ACORN’s Philadelphia defense was debunked last month, when O’Keefe and Giles released their Philadelphia video, which showed them not at all being rebuffed.
Now it’s Lavelle Stewart’s turn. The latest ACORN video shows not only that Stewart did not rebuff O’Keefe and Giles, it shows that her conduct was the most inexcusable yet. It is on Stewart’s now-thoroughly-discredited word that Media Matters, and LA Times columnist James Rainey, hung their entire case.
It’s fun to see Media Matters get egg on their face again. (I really couldn’t care less about James Rainey.) I’m puzzled, though. Why would they put themselves out on a limb like this, accepting crediting ACORN’s word when they have repeatedly lied since the beginning of the affair?
Look, I understand ACORN a little. They look ridiculous when they repeatedly lie, and each time Andrew Breitbart releases a video that exposes their lie. But ACORN has a lousy hand to play. They either need to clean up their act (apparently out of the question), or try their best to play defense.
But Media Matters is not at the center of the affair. They didn’t have to get involved. They could have preserved what credibility they have but staying out of it, or at least by injecting an appropriate note of skepticism. Instead, they jumped in with both feet. They credulously accepted ACORN’s word, despite their repeated dishonesty, and rejected the word of O’Keefe and Giles. They made themselves a laughingstock. Why would they do that?
(Via Patterico, via Instapundit.)
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