Infiltrating the Obama Administration: A Book Preview for “Subversion Inc.: How Obama’s ACORN Red Shirts are Still Terrorizing and Ripping Off American Taxpayers” (Part 3 in a Series)
by Matthew Vadum(continued from Part 2)
It should come as no surprise that on the campaign trail, President Obama refused to be interviewed about Saul Alinsky, the community organizing guru who wrote Rules for Radicals, a how-to guide for destroying American capitalism and democracy.
Presumably Obama, who taught courses on Alinsky’s brutal, sometimes violent organizing techniques, declined to speak to reporters about the late guru. He must have realized that such an interview would throw an unwanted spotlight on Alinsky’s radicalism, and by extension, his own. Such counterproductive publicity would also have undermined the candidate’s efforts to reinvent himself as a moderate. Alinsky’s adherents now dominate the modern Democratic Party establishment. Apart from President Obama himself, they include Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett, Federal Communications Commission diversity chief Mark Lloyd, Obama’s ex-green jobs czar Van Jones, former DNC trainer Heather Booth, Children’s Defense Fund founder Marian Wright Edelman, former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros, and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to name just a few. “Who the hell isn’t [an Alinskyite] in this administration?” asks conservative author David Horowitz.
And President Obama hasn’t been the only longtime ACORN operative working in the White House. There’s also the low-profile Patrick Gaspard who, until recently, was White House political affairs director, one of the titles Karl Rove held in President Bush’s White House.
In a move that ought to disturb anyone who cares about the integrity of the democratic process, earlier this year Gaspard took over the reins of the Democratic National Committee as its executive director—just in time to begin initial preparations for President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign.
Gaspard hails from the same world of radical left-wing community organizing that made Barack Obama who he is today. Gaspard is an expert in the harsh, street-smart organizing tactics taught by Alinsky. He’s the hatchet man Obama sent to New York over a year ago to strong-arm then-Gov. David Paterson into dropping his reelection campaign. As executive director running the DNC’s day-to-day operations, Gaspard will oversee Organizing for America, a project of the DNC supposedly modeled on Alinskyite organizing principles.
Former Obama White House political director Patrick Gaspard is now ACORN's man at the DNC
Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo to Haitian parents, not much is known about this Rasputin-like power behind the throne. Gaspard studiously avoids publicity and is reluctant to talk to journalists. Look him up on Nexis and you will find virtually nothing about this influential radical leader. But his colleagues hold him in high esteem. “Patrick is the best political mind of his generation in New York and maybe the nation,” according to Kevin Sheekey, a lieutenant of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “I wouldn’t dispute that,” added David Axelrod, at the time a senior advisor in the Obama White House.
Gaspard came to the White House from ACORN’s favorite labor organization, Service Employees International Union. (SEIU Locals 100 and 880 were, until recently, official affiliates of ACORN.) He had been executive vice president for political and legislative affairs for SEIU Local 1199 United Healthcare Workers East, which claims to be the largest union local on the planet, “representing more than 300,000 members and retirees in New York, Maryland, the District of Columbia and Massachusetts.”
Evidence suggests that before he joined the Obama administration, Gaspard was ACORN chief organizer Bertha Lewis’ political director in New York. How do we actually know Gaspard, who goes to extraordinary lengths to shun the public spotlight and scarcely appears in Nexis searches, was Lewis’ right hand man?
Because Gaspard’s employment with ACORN was acknowledged by no less an authority than ACORN founder Wade Rathke himself.
Rathke wrote May 16, 2009, at his blog: “Tell me that 1199’s former political director, Patrick Gaspard (who was ACORN New York’s political director before that) didn’t reach out from the White House and help make that happen, and I’ll tell you to take some remedial classes in ‘politics 101.’”
ACORN founder Wade Rathke
The “before that” time period Rathke is referring to is 2003, when Gaspard was executive vice president for political and legislative affairs for Service Employees International Union Local 1199 (United Healthcare Workers East). It’s also worth noting that of all the entries in Bertha Lewis’ rolodex, a copy of which this writer gained possession of in 2009, the entry for Gaspard is the most extensive.
Gaspard’s ties to ACORN, SEIU, and Lewis go back at least to 1989, when he volunteered for the David Dinkins mayoral campaign in New York City. In 2003, he became acting field director for Howard Dean’s presidential bid. He was national field director in 2004 for America Coming Together, a now-defunct get-out-the-vote operation that received a $775,000 fine for campaign finance abuses. In 2006, Gaspard was acting political director for SEIU International. In 2008, Gaspard worked as national political director for the Obama campaign followed by a stint as associate personnel director for the Obama-Biden transition team.
As the old Washington saying goes, politics is personnel. Who knows how many administration offi cials were put in place by Gaspard with direct input from ACORN’s Bertha Lewis? It boggles the mind. Gaspard also worked for New York’s Working Families Party, an appendage of ACORN. Lewis is a co-founder of that party —which endorsed Obama in 2008— and has close ties to Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., who pointedly refused to have the House Judiciary subcommittee he chaired in the previous Congress investigate ACORN.
As news of Gaspard’s involvement with ACORN spread, Rathke changed his blog entry. Where he had written that Gaspard worked for New York ACORN, he inserted two new sentences: “This line used to contain a reference to Patrick Gaspard working for NY ACORN. This is untrue, he never worked for ACORN.”
But Rathke wasn’t able to shove all evidence tying Gaspard to ACORN down the memory hole. If Gaspard isn’t tied to ACORN, why did he sign a letter to the editor of the Nation magazine (dated July 2, 2001) on behalf of the Working Families Party of New York? (Lewis signed the letter on behalf of ACORN and the Working Families Party.)
The party is part of ACORN, according to ACORN’s website, which in 2009 confirmed that in 1998, “ACORN members spearhead[ed] formation of the Working Families Party, the first community-labor party with official ballot status in New York state in more than 50 years.”
Internal ACORN documents obtained by this writer show Gaspard gave ACORN $40,000 before he joined the Obama administration. While Gaspard worked as an executive vice president of SEIU Local 1199, he gave ACORN $15,000 in 2007 and $25,000 in 2008. That’s an awfully large tithe for someone who made $111,894 in 2007 and who has a wife and two children. The $111,894 figure comes from an SEIU 1199 tax return. (If salary and deferred benefits are combined, the total is $151,869.)
Given Gaspard’s longstanding links to ACORN, it’s not at all surprising that Scott Levenson, a lobbyist and spokesman for ACORN, dropped by the White House to visit with his former co-worker. The purpose of the meeting was not disclosed. Another New Yorker in the Obama administration, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan, has close ties to ACORN. Before taking office, Donovan was New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s housing development commissioner. He worked closely with ACORN for five years on several projects.
ACORN's man at HUD, Shaun Donovan
“Perhaps no administration official has had more interaction with ACORN than” Donovan, according to the New York Times. Reinforcing the newspaper’s point, ACORN chief organizer Bertha Lewis praised the HUD secretary. “We grew to respect him, and he grew to respect us,” she said. Roll Call, a Washington, D.C., newspaper that covers Capitol Hill, reported Lewis admitted “ACORN has friends in high places for the first time in a long time.” Lewis acknowledged “that she has particularly good relationships with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and with Patrick Gaspard, the White House political director.”
This writer filed a Freedom of Information Act request with HUD last year seeking all correspondence between Secretary Donovan and ACORN. Instead of the maximum 45 days allowed, HUD responded eight months later. The letter said no such records of correspondence between ACORN and Donovan exist.
That’s hard to believe.
(This article is excerpted from “Subversion Inc.: A new book reveals how Obama’s ACORN friends are still ripping off American taxpayers,” by Matthew Vadum which was published in the May 2011 issue of Townhall magazine and is republished here with permission. Copyright © 2011 by Matthew Vadum.)
An award-winning investigative journalist, Matthew Vadum is a senior editor at Capital Research Center, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C. Vadum is author of the new book Subversion Inc.: How Obama’s ACORN Red Shirts are Still Terrorizing and Ripping Off American Taxpayers (WND Books), from which this piece is adapted. Of the book Andrew Breitbart says, “For too long the institutional left has been allowed to operate under cover of darkness because the Democrat-media complex refuses to hold them accountable. But these radicals who have been sticking it to Americans for decades scatter like cockroaches under the harsh spotlight of Matthew Vadum’s great new book, Subversion Inc.”
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58 Comments
Let's make ONE thing perfectly clear. Obama is a LIAR. A LIAR that doesn' t tell the WHOLE truth. A LIAR that TWISTS the truth, and a LIAR that LIES for political gain. Vote him OUT! IMPEACH HIM!
LIARS have NO PLACE as leaders of the nation of WE the PEOPLE.
This is a good article.
Parts one and two were just as good. It puts things into perspective, yet true to form, following Red Saul Alinskey's tried and true tactics, what you see in front of you, is but a snapshot, a snippet of the much larger picture yet to be revealed.
Yesterday afternoon, I made this post on Big Government, that left people scratching their heads:
"Publius,
Not to tell you how to run your business; I have been out all day, yet have had access to the radio. I'm somewhat surprised to come in here and not find a thread on the real current events of the day.
Mark this day on your calendar, Tuesday 10 May, 2012, is the day it all ended. The party is over.
The GOP caved.
Every newly elected GOP Senator and Congressman who rode in on the coattails of the Tea Party, have abdicated their responsibility.
It is time for a Third Party.
One that will listen to the people that elect them."
I searched the news last night, and today, and finally found someone that picked up on what I was referring to, and articulated it better than I did http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/neil-... .
Ok, you are wondering to yourself "why is the crazy cowboy loon posting that nonsense here?"
Well, I 'll tell you. Everything is connected.
Alinskey, the Clintons, ACORN, Obama et al.
Over the weekend, there was a thread here (I forget where, and which one) where a couple of us exchanged opinions that during the recent Easter Town Hall Meetings, that the DNC had sent "plants" in. Plants with their sob stories. Bawling and squalling about "don't touch my Medicare!", "Don't you dare touch MY entitlements".
I have been watching this unfold now, as we all have, going back to the Town Halls in 2009 when the Tea Party came into its own. That was the summer that Madame Pelosi made her famous statement that the "Tea Party was not grass roots, it was 'astro-turf'.
If one continues to connect the dots, yes, you will think "this is a little issue", you will think I am making much ado about nothing. On the contrary. Little issues grow into larger issues, if they pick up the right head of steam. Look what Nick Santelli's rant on the floor of the stock exchange did for the Tea Party.
The DNC, the Obama Propaganda Machine, George Soros and John Podesta, Bertha Lewis and Wade Rathke, and yes, the storm troopers of ACORN, are all lined up against US.
They know, that by front loading any Town Hall held by a Republican, with tear jerking stories,that the GOP will capitulate.
There is a bright side to this issue. Had it not been for Obama and his Communist partners, many would not have known who Aulinski was 3 years ago. Now, Ol' Saul is a common name and many of the "informed" people recognize immediately these tactics used by the left.
It has also created "citizen journalists" who capture these organizations committing their atrocities. Now, the only question which remains for me is, is it too late to stop this Communistic movement?
We need to guard our nation carefully from these subversives.
The CPUSA and its front organizations gained serious footholds in the 30's in this country as people reacted to the Depression, the Spanish Civil War between the Spanish left and fascism, and the rise of fascism under Mussolini and Hitler.
Reagan et al outed the commies' attempts to infiltrate Hollywood, unions, and every other potentially fertile acre within our body politic. They may have been exposed to daylight then, but they persist, like roaches, as we now see in the horrendous damage done to our youths' understanding of elementary concepts of democracy and republicanism (with a small "r") perpetrated over decades by the Hard Left Academic Archipelago. Their nearly complete takeover of teaching in the social sciences in this land displays elements of consciously or unconsciously submitting to "party discipline." So many tenured profs have become Lenin's "useful idiots."
The present circumstances, as so clearly elucidated by Rahm Emmanuel, are a crisis they are not allowing to go to waste. In many ways, they parallel the economic hardships of the 30's and the world-wide political upheaval that made CPUSA's and its front organizations' recruiting easier.
This is fertile ground for nurturing a whole new generation of communists, socialists, and totalitarians within our midst.
The remedy is to get their clawed hands off the levers of our economy and government revenue systems and allow the entrepreneur- and business-friendly free market forces that have given us this economic miracle to regain momentum. We need to resume the path that creates jobs for all those now experiencing the economic fear that destroyed the hopes of so many in the Depression.
This cabal seems intent on steering us towards something like the statist and merchantilist dictatorship model now being pursued by the Chicoms. If it continues, we'll be living in the morass of a semi-command economy with all the irrational elements that implies metastasizing throughout our once-free nation.
Wake up, America! Re-read the Constitution and the Bill of Rights!! Learn them! Live them!
WoW, This blows my socks off, some of the same line of research Beck was following, tying all these
worms together. This Vadum book is important, and needs to be widely read by the voting public before
the end of 2011.
IMO these folks are quite serious about the destruction of the REPRESENTATIVE REPUBLIC form of
government our Founding Fathers designed. A good question to ask is, after we get rid of them, can we
ever restore it?
FIGHT on PATRIOTS!!!
.
FYI: It was Newt Gingrich's 1994 Congress who was the FIRST to fund ACORN.
And Obama was NOT a "student" learning Alinsky Tactics …he was one of the BEST TEACHERS of Alinsky Tactics the Socialists EVER had.
Primary challenge every friggin one of them. Can't beat them there, openly run against them. They're cowards!
"A good question to ask is, after we get rid of them, can we ever restore it?"
Buck up.
We will never get rid of them.
Keep the bright lights shinning in, and America will finish the job we started in 2010. All we need is the information that the complicit MSM will never provide…good work.
The town halls over health care were transformative. The radicals known as the modern Democratic party are the ones with the "astro-turf", and they are creative if nothing else. Lastly, demagoguing entitlements has been a Democratic staple for decades. Given all that, it should be expected that Dem plants will try to co-opt or negate town hall discussion on this issue going into 2012.
Obama loves divisive politics. We saw it in his remarks at the Mexico border yesterday. He'll play that game all day long with entitlements and budget reform so long as he believes it'll give him an advantage going into 2012. The fact the nation's finances are headed for disaster only matters so much as it may provide a future exploitable crisis, in the country he seems to despise.
This is a great series of articles and I thank you for them, Mr. Vadum. The democrat party has been taken over plank by plank by the socialists and the Republican party is now the old democrat party. The time is now to shed them both.
Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive!
Sir Walter Scott, Marmion, Canto vi. Stanza 17.
Scottish author & novelist (1771 – 1832)
Why wait until 2012? I am just waiting for sufficient numbers to join and march in DC and demand his removal.
The most burning question is…
Are there ANY constitutional law and order patriots with exceptional credibility and integrity ANYWHERE in this administration that will step forward to spill the beans on Chairman O and his communist pals?
So pessimistic this early today CL?
So which foreign country should we embrace for our expat status, you know they mean to rule the
WORLD… once they get the pesky Federal system of the USA out of the way…
Are you saying we should all embrace our Communistic side, LOL, and just roll with the flow?
Happy Trials!
; )
I believe the weekend thread you are talking about is the Paul Ryan one where the dim-wit in the audience was asking if she was going to be cut off her medicaid and he asked her how old she was and he told her "no, you won't be cut" and she still kept up her tirade.
GOP is now government over people, not the grand old party, you can stick a fork in their a.. too.
Jail time is the answer!
Vermin will always be a problem…..
A fair tax would eliminate the single biggest tool the Left uses. Class warfare.
Part of me wishes I had a crystal ball to see the future in November 2012, and part of me doesn't want to know. If ever in my lifetime there was a moment which could more profoundly affect my life, it would be election day 2012.
Things must get turned around in 11/12 — or else. Another four years of Obama and a cooperative Senate would be enough to bury the country for a generation or more. Complete Obama's "fundamental transformation" of the United States. Hopefully, we can make it to 11/12 without federal finances blowing up.
The enemy is within!
All the while…. the government is "running roughshod over the people by manipulating laws, transforming our system of government, destroying our currency, our economic and military superiority and generally forcing the people to accept a lower standard of living in order to make the rest of the world feel more equal to America, may seem like a good idea to the elites in charge, until the people lose all trust, faith and confidence in their government." http://www.newswithviews.com/JBWilliams/williams1...
There is only one thing which will stop them, and we both know what that is.
Every one of these radical treasonistic pricks need to be hauled out and hung in the public square. They are frauds that have perpetrated the biggest fraud on the American people in history. His whole presidency is based on lies, half-truths and conjecture. This is NOT the American way we all grew up on. The game has changed dramatically and we need to change with it to keep up and remove this azzhat from office before he destroys our beloved country beyond all repair. I fear it might already be too late.
No Missy, there isn't. It all comes down to money and power and the lust for more. Every one of these pricks in office are traitors to the flag and should be hung.
Petro and Dues, this is something that will make you go huh? Accuracy is a bit questionable, but sure would like to know more specifics. Thought you may enjoy the read.
http://www.patriotactionnetwork.com/profiles/blog...
Cowboy, it is time for a third party, you are most correct. I look at the darling of MA Scott Brown and he is actually a rat bastard! Look how cozy he has become in DC. He rode the Tea Party to victory and played us all. He is just one example, a man without the courage of conviction. Whether his "principles" win the day matters not a bit because either way he still wins. Look at all career politicians and the same is true. As long as they can get re-elected all is good, who gives a f about the people.the machine has outplayed us. In 2012 I will vote against Brown even if it means voting Dimocrat argh! I cannot give the coward my vote ever again and live with myself.
Phuck Alinksky and those who use it…addicts from Hell…one cure…asap
Romney the MSM darling is going to try and set things square tonight in MI. Another rat bastard! Mitt has the unique position, unintended, to be able to stick a spear through the heart of Ozerocare. Who else can say how bad it really is? Alas he would have to honestly admit he screwed up and admitting a mistake apparently is not considered Presidential. Romney is worse then McCain and if he is the nominee Zero gets a four year pass. What are you fellow Patriots prepared to endure? Where I am sitting it looks like the Republicans are just laying down!
I disagree, we need some examples made here. Not jail, rope. Maybe rope and chains.
Thank you for the link. Leux sent us a preliminary one last week when this first was starting to come out. Panetta's decision is more remarkable than people think. It shows the military doesn't have faith, nor will they follow Obama when the chips are down.
I've had some discussions with dcase about this as well. We need to make this go viral, someone, an actual journalist may pick it up and make it known. Obama dithered as he always does, he was more concerned with his damn poll numbers than protecting U.S. citizens. This needs to be known.
Nice P2O, thank you again.
dittos.
You are absolutely correct.
"Lastly, demagoguing entitlements has been a Democratic staple for decades."
That was the single one issue that got Ol' drunken Teddy elected in perpetuity.
Yes!
Thank you.
That was exactly the thread.
It didn't take Scott Brown long to get co-opted, did it?
Who is next?
Ryan, Rubio, Cantor, Issa?
Mitt Romney is an effing joke.
Speaking of Issa, I've been wondering WHERE THE HELL IS HE?
Big talk before the elections; nothing done after.
You notice that as well?
Prior to the elections, they were all here trolling for support.
Daryl Issa, John Boehner, Tom Coburn.
Mucho grande!
Muy Macho' !
Muy Malo !
Pfffffffffttttt!
They fizzled out like a wet silver salute on a rainy Fourth of July.
Cowboy, yesterday I read an interesting article concerning the potential of a third-party challenger released by Gallop. According to the jest of the article, the time is now — and the Tea Party movement should merge together and be at the forefront of this effort. FYI http://www.gallup.com/poll/147461/Support-Third-P...
I suspect he was safely in the fold before election night. He is really pretty similar to Zero, he ran a great campaign with no real accomplishments before the election bid and he is reall an empty sack of $hit which makes him identical. If anyone was thinking of donating money to Brown don't bother, he has a big war chest of soft special interest money. Let's see who stands out in the rain next time in support of Brown. Oh yeah and he "wrote" a book just like Zero.
I believe that.
There is a very small window of opportunity, and it is closing fast.
If the Republic is to survive, a third party must emerge, to wrest control away from the DNC and the RNC.
Mitt stands for nothing other then Mitt. Pick an issue, any issue, you need a friggin weather vane, a savant, a gypsy, a case of vodka,… And you still won't have a clue where he stands.sadly neither does Mitt, until his handlers tell him where he stands.
The only one who really knows Mitt, is his dog……………..
(Remember that story?)
Sorry cowboy, I can only give one thumb
From what I understand, we have three different Tea Party groups who for all intents and purposes support the same goals. They will need to merge with a common goal of creating a third party to challenge the status quo. They must be flexible enough to include the independents and libertarians, and select a candidate who can win the electoral college. My personal choice is Herman Cain.
A third party needs only to amass between 36-40% of the vote to win. The time has never been better.
CL. I agree. All of Washington is malfeasant. As I stated yesterday, I am beginning to believe that those that run for office have a character defect. VERY few get into politics to do the right thing unless it is the right thing that enriches thier portfolio, prestige and power over another. I say remove most of the perks and then see who is left standing. Im so sick of the spineless republicans and lying and corrupt democrats that I'm afraid unless America marches up those steps in Washington and physically remove these thieves there is not much hope for the future of America. We vote them in and 100% of the time they pander to each other leaving us out in the cold. Issa is a complete failure in prosecuting the malfeasant. Both republicans and democrats alike care only about one issue. Order and control over the masses.
Unfortunately, prison is only for us serfs. Issa will let them all skate. None of the malfeasant in Washington ever pay the price. Sad.
There is one dark horse (his words) running for the presidency, right now – - Herman Cain, who will not be co-opted by statist Washington. We must be very careful about a redo of ’92. My wife, and I voted for Perot, and by extension we elected Slick Willy with a slim plurality.
Negative. They all swap spit in the shower.
Don't give up on them yet, but be ready to steamroll them if necessary – meaning keep the teapot steaming, run independents where necessary, and give the media the middle finger every chance you get.
against this monster called statism.
Who took the photo of Gaspard? Artistically speaking, that is one of the best portrait photos I have seen in a very long time.
Cavuto is fantastic, as usual. Thanks for the link.
You are absolutely correct. You must use their very own tactics against them. Do unto others as they would do unto you.
I saw Herman Cain on Cavuto FBN yesterday. His economic solution is basically 10% across the board cuts; then vertical cuts where you delve into the various departments, delete unnecessary departments, do away with redundancy and furlough Federal workers if necessary.
I've felt this way for a long time. If the individual bureaucracies cannot find 10% cuts themselves, then fire the lot. I like Herman Cain. Makes me feel like…..raising Cain!
More and more, it's clear.
This is not about working families, unions…..or making people's lives better; as the progressives would want even their own followers to believe.
It is purely about control. These people are driven by an unquenchable thirst to control other people. While some would say that my point of view is a demonstration of paranoia, neurosis. It's clear that those striving to take us over suffer from a psychosis.
You can't destroy the wealth created in the Nation, and destroy the means to create it…..and expect to better the lives of anyone. How can you re-distribute wealth if you destoy its creation? What is there left to distribute?
Much like the Mullahs in the middle east who preach strict adherence to Shariah Law (and, of course the Mullahs are the only ones 'qualified' to interpret that law); this is all about control.
AMEN Bro'– Just get him OUT!
Heh heh! "Happy Trials"? Seems appropriate to the topic…
Why aren't these people in prison? Oh, I know it't like the companies that sell the ticket red lights who paid both Democratic and Republicans in the Florida legislature to vote their way.
Picky, picky, picky… horses rear ;-P,',',',',',',','
Yur gunn'a get the EE back some day, bud…
.
Get a rope! Indeed!
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