August 21, 2013

FOX's America Live with Megyn Kelly had benefited from her experience of practicing the law at Jones Day in D.C. for many years. That legal gravitas legitimized the stories she offered. Yes, she did have some crackpots on, but Kelly's presence helped her afternoon slot flourish so much so that she's landed Sean Hannity's coveted primetime slot. The same can't be said for Shannon Bream, who I affectionately refer to most times as Megyn's Cut-Out whenever I do a transcript from the show. They basically have kept the same format, only replaced Megyn with a cut-out lookalike beauty pageant winner who graduated from Jerry Falwell's Liberty University and his influence shines through. Michelle Malkin has become one of her favorites lately and the show usually leads off with an attack on Obama, safety nets or an update to a Darrell Issa phony scandal.

Tuesday, it was an attack on Affordable Care Act and the Center of Community Change, which is funding a group called the Young Invincibles which is running a video contest for youths about ACA. Deepak Bhargava is the head of CCC, but worked for ACORN up until 2002. He had no connection with James O'Keefe's fraudulent con game, but in conservative circles, working for ACORN at one time clearly means he is guilty of something really bad even if they don't know what it is.

Fox News attempted to smear a new Affordable Care Act (ACA) outreach campaign by claiming that Deepak Bhargava, the head of an organization affiliated with the effort, was involved in the manufactured ACORN video scandal. Fox's attempt to smear the campaign ignores that Bhargava left ACORN over ten years ago and was in no way affiliated with the video scandal hyped by the network.

The Young Invincibles has partnered with the Department of Health and Human Services for a video contest to assist with ACA outreach. You see where FOX News and the Daily Mail is going with this?

SHANNON BREAM: Give us the ACORN connection here, what's that all about?

STIREWALT: Well certainly if anybody should know about the consequences that viral videos should have, wouldn't it be ACORN? ACORN is a community organizing group, a Democratic ally community organizing group, that was laid low by a viral video from a couple of conservative activists who posed as an outrageously dressed pimp and prostitute, a pair, and found help in continuing their business when they went to ACORN outlets. Those videos went viral, and poof, then they had a lobbyist who needed a job, and fortunately there is one for him.

BREAM: Well yeah, and it sounds like he is part of this whole effort. There's a connection - there's always connections in Washington, everything and everyone just about is connected - But the Center for Community Change, he's the Executive Director. They launched a side group, Young Invincibles, which does a lot of outreach to young people. There's a lot of money involved here.

Yes Megyn Cut Out, what's that all about? There's connections within connections within connections that all add up to ACORN. I doubt Cut Out even knows anything about Bhargava, but I guess Fox believes that the mere mention of ACORN will strike fear in the heart of all conservatives.

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