# ACORN workers caught on tape apparently advising on child prostitution **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 11, 2009, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-workers-caught-on-tape-apparently-advising-on-child-prostitution/509681 "2009-09-11T13:19:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-workers-caught-on-tape-apparently-advising-on-child-prostitution/509681/21 "2009-09-11T14:53:36Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > And if this was a left-wing sting of a right-wing organization which turned up abetting of child prostitution I’m sure you would feel exactly the same, **Diogenes** , wouldn’t you? > > Of course you would. There was no abetting of child prostitution, but yes, I would say the same thing. Finding bad employees is no trick. This little scam did not expose anything institutional about ACORN. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-workers-caught-on-tape-apparently-advising-on-child-prostitution/509681/22 "2009-09-11T14:58:44Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > And if this was a left-wing sting of a right-wing organization which turned up abetting of child prostitution Whoa there. AFAIK, “abetting” in the legal sense means being an accomplice in an **actual crime**. No actual criminal act was involved here. What the ACORN workers appear to have done was to give advice on **possible ways** to commit criminal acts involving illegal prostitution. Still indefensible, but not the same thing as “aiding and abetting”. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-workers-caught-on-tape-apparently-advising-on-child-prostitution/509681/23 "2009-09-11T15:04:44Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I wonder if ACORN employees are considered “community organizers”? Yup, liberal community organizers as a group are enablers of illegal prostitution, while conservative political consultants as a group are [child molesters](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=531568). It all casts a sad light on human nature, I tells ya. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-workers-caught-on-tape-apparently-advising-on-child-prostitution/509681/24 "2009-09-11T15:05:44Z")
> [@C3](#): > > They could have ascertained the facts by other means, like, perhaps, interviewing the employees involved? Asking witnesses? Then why would they say it was “false and defamatory”? Either they determined via other means that the facts were as portrayed, in which case they lied by saying it was false, or they did not determine the facts by other means, in which case they fired their employees without determining the facts. Like I said, if some private company behaved like ACORN did, they would be screaming bloody murder. But they got caught with their pants down, almost literally. So they flip-flopped with the same agility that some Dopers do. Election fraud is trivial when liberals do it. But they go into screaming fits when the exit polls don’t pan out. _:shrugs:_ 'Twas ever thus. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-workers-caught-on-tape-apparently-advising-on-child-prostitution/509681/25 "2009-09-11T15:07:31Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > “And in other news, all commercial airline flights but one reached their destinations safely today.” “… The other six flights successfully evaded the missiles fired at them.” ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-workers-caught-on-tape-apparently-advising-on-child-prostitution/509681/26 "2009-09-11T15:08:49Z")
Calling it election fraud doesn’t make it so. Let’s say you want to register some voters. You go out and do so, but some of the forms you collect don’t look right. You flag these forms and call them to the attention of the local officials when you turn them in. These fraudulent registrations are thrown out and no illegal votes are cast. Where have you committed election fraud? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-workers-caught-on-tape-apparently-advising-on-child-prostitution/509681/27 "2009-09-11T15:09:55Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Then why would they say it was “false and defamatory”? It was false and defamatory of ACORN as an institution. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-workers-caught-on-tape-apparently-advising-on-child-prostitution/509681/28 "2009-09-11T15:11:08Z")
Cite for ACORN committing election fraud, **Shodan** , or for committing any fraud at all? ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-workers-caught-on-tape-apparently-advising-on-child-prostitution/509681/29 "2009-09-11T15:14:47Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > So they fired the workers before they had even seen the whole video. I thought ACORN was all about worker’s rights and all that. > > I wonder how they would have reacted if some big company had fired an employee before finding out all the facts. > > Isn’t ACORN the one who wants minimum wage to apply to everyone [except them](http://www.rottenacorn.com/)? And there is the election fraud [thing](http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/may/04/criminal-charges-filed-against-acorn-two-employees/). So as far as you’re concerend, “ACORN doesn’t band over backwards to protect it’s employees” is as big a scandal as “ACORN commits election fraud, then gets involved in child prostitution”. Or do you admit that the latter charges are unfair and the former is all that you’re left with? It’s hardly worthy of a national scandal. As for the “election fraud”, official at ACORN can be faulted for setting a policy that put too much pressure on employees to return a minimum number of filled-out voter regisration forms, resulting in some bogus registrations being filled out. But these were simply thrown out and nobody at ACORN was involved in any scheme to actually cast fraudulent votes. Does this really fit your definition of election fraud? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-workers-caught-on-tape-apparently-advising-on-child-prostitution/509681/30 "2009-09-11T15:14:57Z")
There’s something awful damned fishy here, but I don’t know what it is yet. Nobody of any political stripe whatsoever favors child prostitution, that’s just plain nuts. And for reasons I have yet to understand, the Hannity/Beck/Limbaugh Axis of Anal have a giant hard-on for ACORN, so, yeah, I’m suspicious. As it happens, I’ve met a few ACORN people, their determined optimism makes me feel old, corrupt and cynical, their eagerness sets my teeth on edge, and their sincerity makes me want to drink. But I don’t actually know anything yet, so I’ll just leave it at suspicious. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-workers-caught-on-tape-apparently-advising-on-child-prostitution/509681/31 "2009-09-11T15:16:58Z")
Is this a joke? I haven’t previously had any beef to grind with ACORN, and am much more Liberal than the average person outraged by this story, but I think it’s comical that people are tripping all over themselves to excuse the actions on the tape (assuming they accurately portray what really went on). Is the best we can say “Hey, only one in seven ACORN offices will help you with your child prostitution needs. That isn’t so bad.” Does anyone honestly think that one in seven IBM reps would help a client custom build a software program to meet their child prostitution needs? How about one in seven Pizza Huts, when asked, willing to provide food for a child prostitution hideout? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-workers-caught-on-tape-apparently-advising-on-child-prostitution/509681/32 "2009-09-11T15:18:21Z")
It reminds me of that Planned Parenthood sting with the woman who pretended to be a pregnant 13 year old. Of course, she wasn’t in fact a pregnant 13 year old–I’m wondering if the tale in the OP was just so outlandish that the women knew it wasn’t true? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-workers-caught-on-tape-apparently-advising-on-child-prostitution/509681/33 "2009-09-11T15:28:43Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > Is this a joke? I haven’t previously had any beef to grind with ACORN, and am much more Liberal than the average person outraged by this story, but I think it’s comical that people are tripping all over themselves to excuse the actions on the tape (assuming they accurately portray what really went on). Is the best we can say “Hey, only one in seven ACORN offices will help you with your child prostitution needs. That isn’t so bad.” > > Does anyone honestly think that one in seven IBM reps would help a client custom build a software program to meet their child prostitution needs? How about one in seven Pizza Huts, when asked, willing to provide food for a child prostitution hideout? No one’s excusing the actions on the tape. What we’re objecting to is the insinuation that this is supposed to prove something institutional about ACORN. Do you believe that ACORN is instructing its empolyees to abet child prostitution? To waht end? And it wasn’t the 7th office they went to, it was the 7th _city_. There’s more than one office in each city. Having said that, if the 7th Dominos pizza guy I offer to sell crack to is willing to buy it, does that mean I’ve proven something about Dominos? Do you believe that I would have thereby established a representative sample that can be extropolated to conclude that one in seven Dominos drivers is on crack? Do you know anything about statistics? ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-workers-caught-on-tape-apparently-advising-on-child-prostitution/509681/34 "2009-09-11T15:34:01Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Then why would they say it was “false and defamatory”? See my post #8. I’ve already addressed this. ---
**Author:** ![yorick73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5a626/32.png) [@yorick73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yorick73)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-workers-caught-on-tape-apparently-advising-on-child-prostitution/509681/35 "2009-09-11T15:35:43Z")
Whoops…looks like some ACORN employees in DC did the same thing. > **[Glenn Beck: Rush Limbaugh should be remembered as 'the Johnny Carson of radio'](https://www.foxnews.com/media/glenn-beck-rush-limbaugh-was-the-johnny-carson-of-radio)** > > Rush Limbaugh, who died Wednesday at the age of 70 following a bout with Stage IV lung cancer, had a profound impact on American life, TheBlaze founder Glenn Beck told "Tucker Carlson Tonight". ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-workers-caught-on-tape-apparently-advising-on-child-prostitution/509681/36 "2009-09-11T15:36:21Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Then why would they say it was “false and defamatory”? > > Either they determined via other means that the facts were as portrayed, in which case they lied by saying it was false, or they did not determine the facts by other means, in which case they fired their employees without determining the facts. > > Like I said, if some private company behaved like ACORN did, they would be screaming bloody murder. But they got caught with their pants down, almost literally. So they flip-flopped with the same agility that some Dopers do. > > Election fraud is trivial when liberals do it. But they go into screaming fits when the exit polls don’t pan out. > > _:shrugs:_ > > 'Twas ever thus. > > Regards, > Shodan Do you know that Acorn never committed election fraud? Because I’m confused, you’re stating it as fact, but it didn’t happen. You should make a better effort to educate yourself on things before you talk about them. I’m sure you’re not actually stating things you know to be false, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-workers-caught-on-tape-apparently-advising-on-child-prostitution/509681/37 "2009-09-11T15:38:18Z")
> [@yorick73](#): > > Whoops…looks like some ACORN employees in DC did the same thing. > > [Glenn Beck: Rush Limbaugh should be remembered as 'the Johnny Carson of radio' | Fox News](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,549241,00.html) So what? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-workers-caught-on-tape-apparently-advising-on-child-prostitution/509681/38 "2009-09-11T15:38:29Z")
Going on what appear to be rather garbled explanations on Limbaugh’s show and the sketchy CNN report today, this whole thing makes very little sense. Maybe someone could explain to me just what personal gain an ACORN employee would obtain from advising walk-ins on how to avoid paying taxes on prostitution revenues? Likewise, what induced the “filmmakers” (I’ll happily withdraw the scare quotes if someone can show they have an existing portfolio of documentaries) to try this particular ruse on this praticular organization? Has there been some wave of prostitution rings set up by community organizations that I didn’t know about? Rush’s view yesterday was (seriously) that ACORN ‘want to sow chaos’, but that sounds utterly ridiculous no matter how you slice it. As for **Shodan** ’s link from May 9th, have the persons indicted gone to trial? Were they actually convicted of election fraud? Enquiring minds want to know. ---
**Author:** ![yorick73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5a626/32.png) [@yorick73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yorick73)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-workers-caught-on-tape-apparently-advising-on-child-prostitution/509681/39 "2009-09-11T15:40:18Z")
ACORN has been involved in enough shady shit to have congress at least look into them and possibly stop giving them taxpayer dollars. Conyers claimed his committee was going to investigate ACORN but was called off by the powers that be. I wonder who that was… ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-workers-caught-on-tape-apparently-advising-on-child-prostitution/509681/40 "2009-09-11T15:40:24Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > No one’s excusing the actions on the tape. What we’re objecting to is the insinuation that this is supposed to prove something institutional about ACORN. Do you believe that ACORN is instructing its empolyees to abet child prostitution? To waht end? > > And it wasn’t the 7th office they went to, it was the 7th _city_. There’s more than one office in each city. > > Having said that, if the 7th Dominos pizza guy I offer to sell crack to is willing to buy it, does that mean I’ve proven something about Dominos? Do you believe that I would have thereby established a representative sample that can be extropolated to conclude that one in seven Dominos drivers is on crack? Do you know anything about statistics? You’re damn right it says something about Dominos. It says they haven’t the first clue about how to screen a potential applicant. That there are multiple employees in the ACORN example is especially damning. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-workers-caught-on-tape-apparently-advising-on-child-prostitution/509681.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acorn-workers-caught-on-tape-apparently-advising-on-child-prostitution/509681.md?page=3)