Jonathan Salant of Bloomberg News is the past president of the National Press Club. A profile on him at WashingtonJewishWeek.com begins: “I grew up during the protests for civil rights and the Vietnam War and I saw what journalists were doing,” he said, explaining that becoming a journalist was a “chance to make the world a better place.” If there is a better admission of the mindset of today’s establishment journalists and their influence and belief in advocacy versus objectivity, I’m not sure one exists.

So, knowing this, let’s take a look at how Mr. Salant introduced ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis at the National Press Club last week. Here are the first few minutes of the introduction.

“The Associated of Community Organizations for Reform Now, better known as ACORN, exploded onto national headlines with the recent release of a series of undercover video tapes. Tapes recorded by two conservative activists, a 20-year-old woman and 25-year-old man posing as a prostitute and her pimp. Hanna Giles and James O’Keefe secretly taped their visits to ACORN offices as they asked about housing assistance for their pretend prostitution ring. Some ACORN workers turned them down, one even called the police. “

Really? Spoken as a FACT, Mr. Salant? Is there any evidence of this claim? Have you seen the evidence? Is it not interesting that the first action cited by Mr. Salant of an ACORN worker is the one ACORN would like everyone to believe was the standard and overwhelmingly common response? Also, why are they merely referred to as “Conservative Activists”? Isn’t that meant to diminish them, categorize them? When Michael Moore gives a speech, is he introduced as “Liberal Activist”?

After giving the ACORN talking point, Mr. Salant goes on to mention what those “few bad apples” did:

“But other workers who were captured on camera sparked a media firestorm that threatens to topple the country’s largest community organization in the name of promoting fair housing, FIFA foreclosures and register voters. ‘We were just as shocked and horrified as the American public was’, ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis said of the tapes. “

He then goes on to describe the contents of the tapes… our readers don’t need that exposition, I suspect you’ve memorized much of these videos like a good Monty Python skit “You’re a performing artist.. so stop saying ‘Prostitute’!”

Salant continues: “Lewis has refused to defend the workers remarks and, in fact, has fired them. Facing rising public scrutiny, she has also instituted a hiring freeze, a freeze on any new services, and launched an independent inquiry of ACORN’s practices by hiring former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger also known as the former President of Common Cause to lead the internal review.

ACORN also announced they are suing, in Maryland, the filmmakers and the internet guru Andrew Breitbart who runs a conservative website and posted the videos. The lawsuit charges the tapings were illegal in Maryland because they were done without the ACORN workers’ consent. We should note that the press club invited both G and O to speak here, but they declined. “

Well, that seems fair. He mentions that Giles, O’Keefe and Breitbart are being sued and then he notes that Giles and O’Keefe were invited to speak as well. Seems reasonable… wait a second… what did I miss? What about Breitbart? HE’S being sued too! Why wasn’t HE invited? He’s actually a member of the media, the people the National Press Club are supposed to be most interested in!

You want the real story?

According to Mr. Breitbart, it’s true that Giles and O’Keefe were invited to the National Press Club. They responded that they would only go if Andrew Breitbart appeared with them. The National Press Club refused. The National Press Club refused. One more time? THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB REFUSED.

Salant continues: The Republicans have gone after ACORN for years accusing the group of voter fraud because of some registration figures (sic) where some of the registrants names were Mickey Mouse and other names. No evidence that any of them have ever voted, but it had been a Republican drumbeat against ACORN who usually registered voters in minority neighborhoods, voters who tend to vote Democratic.

I was considering posting his remarks on their own with no comment or description. Then at the end of my post, I would put up a multiple choice quiz:

What is the title of the man who made this speech?:

(a) Attorney for Bertha Lewis and ACORN

(b) Spokesperson for ACORN

(c) Democratic Representative from Maryland

(d) Past-President of the National Press Club

Sad thing is, I could have easily included: (e) All of the above.