It was good to see ACORN brought up in tonight’s debate. My frequent attention of late to the topic has brought on Lefty critique (22 comments!) that the group has never actually been convicted of electioneering fraud. But we’ll leave that dispute aside for the time being.
Investigative reporter Stanley Kurtz points us to the deeper problems:
On ACORN, I continue to be stunned by Obama’s denials of his extensive ties to this execrable group. The fact that ACORN came up at all is good. Most folks still don’t know what ACORN is, how bad it is, and how deeply it’s tied to the financial meltdown. John McCain needs to make sure the public learns about ACORN and Obama. Obama’s dissembling on his ties to ACORN shows that he recognizes his vulnerability on the issue.
ACORN is a powerful example of an Obama “association” that has immense policy implications. ACORN is a genuinely radical group. It believes in economic redistribution, the same question raised by the “Joe the Plumber” controversy. And ACORN’s campaign to undermine credit standards in this country was an extremely important contributing cause of our economic meltdown. So Obama’s ACORN ties are part and parcel of the core issues at play in this campaign. [link added]
This is astute commentary. But you have to read Stanley Kurtz’s full-length New York Post column (H/T The Daily Blogster) to see the background on ACORN’s agenda and its dangerous relevance to Barack Obama’s record and program. And yes, Obama’s campaign did give $800,000 to a front group for ACORN.
Serious allegations – and indictments for – voter registration fraud only scratch the surface of the problems with ACORN. Tonight’s debate isn’t the only time Barack Obama has sought to lie and run away from his association with the group.
And it’s not just something that happened in the past that should scare you. It’s the implication of ACORN actions that have contributed to the current crisis, and Obama’s connection to ACORN’s agenda combined with his own words that should scare you. Because the socialist program will undermine an already weak economy and our cherished freedoms.
Or maybe Barack Obama has just spent his career using and lying to ACORN and has no intention of forwarding its socialistic agenda. That wouldn’t really inspire confidence in the man’s character.
Even Michelle Malkin’s co-blogger isn’t buying it:
“How, precisely, do people think ACORN’s going to influence the election? The worry, as I’ve understood it, is that the race will narrow and we’ll end up a la 2000 in a cliffhanger with one or two counties in some swing state deciding who wins. In that scenario, a few thousand phony votes would be monumental. Judging from some of the e-mail we’re getting, though, true believers think something bigger’s going on, as though an Obama win by a few percentage points — which would mean a margin of a few million votes — would be inherently shady. Explain to me how ACORN’s supposedly planning to convert these bogus registrations into actual bogus votes on a mass scale.”.
Can you explain?
“Even Michelle Malkin’s co-blogger isn’t buying it”
Whatever IT is – I might not be buying IT, either, but your utter imprecision leaves everyone guessing, and casts doubt on your credibility. One doesn’t have to believe that ACORN necessarily has the power or capacity to illegally manipulate the results of the presidential election to have concerns.
But there is the potential for other problems (a la Mark Steyn – http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MTg3YzgyNDJjMDU3NDNlNjEzNzA2NDMzZmNhMzRmNjA=): “But that’s the point — like the fellow in Ohio yesterday who said he registered to vote 72 different times because the ACORN reps told him otherwise they wouldn’t get paid. If you swamp small county offices with a gazillion registrations a month before the election, you cripple the system, you make it impossible to do basic background checks, and you make it easier for all kinds of monkey business to go on.”
Anyway, why don’t you ask the person who wrote your quoted passage to explain? And why don’t you address the topic of this post? I know, I know …
I’ll repeat what I wrote in the post for the slow-to-learn, so they might go back and look again: “Serious allegations – and indictments for – voter registration fraud only scratch the surface of the problems with ACORN.”
“One doesn’t have to believe that ACORN necessarily has the power or capacity to illegally manipulate the results of the presidential election to have concerns.”
One doesn’t? What exactly are you worried about then? Do you routinely devote nearly your entire blogging regime (not to mention McCain devoting most of his campaign) to problems that are extremely unlikely to materialize? Kind of a metaphor for the last 8 years now that you mention it – did we ever find those WMD?
“If you swamp small county offices with a gazillion registrations a month before the election, you cripple the system, you make it impossible to do basic background checks, and you make it easier for all kinds of monkey business to go on.—
And given the huge advantage Democrats have had this cycle in new voter registrations, this hurts Democrats more than Republicans when the small county offices can’t keep up.
“And why don’t you address the topic of this post? ”
What topic? You allege allegations but have *no* concrete evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of Senator Obama, and only voter registration fraud allegations against ACORN.
“Whatever IT is – I might not be buying IT, either, but your utter imprecision leaves everyone guessing, and casts doubt on your credibility.”
Exactly. What is IT? If these voter registration fraud problems only scratch the surface, why hasn’t anyone found anything under the surface? John McCain keeps repeating that “We need to know the full extent of Sen. Obama’s relationship with ACORN”. Does John McCain know the full extent? If so, why isn’t he telling us what it is? If he can’t, he’s just alleging allegations with no proof to back any of it up. McCain had his chance last night to demonstrate all the evil that the right apparently believes goes on between Obama and ACORN, and the best he could do was to continue alleging allegations. Last night was the time to put-up or shut-up. He didn’t put-up, so…
No, but I do care about the integrity of our elections. And your response that flooding small-town clerks with registrations would hurt Dems more than the GOP is fallacious, and you know it. Are you willing to argue that ACORN is so messed up as to hurt Obama’s chances?
You can continue being a blind apologist for ACORN, and you can continue to ignore the topic of the post. That’s fine. Most of my readers are intelligent.
The voter fraud was a sidelight, not the main theme (all you have to do is scroll up and try reading again). In the meantime, your silence speaks volumes.
But even so, we’ll wait and see what the FBI investigation uncovers (or maybe, that’s part of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, too):
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hSQRQM34d7S1eOAiEdP7GAxlwf_QD93RPFPG0
The topic of the post, as far as I can tell, is that you are scared of ACORN for various reasons unsupported by reality. Support them by reality and I’ll be happy to engage.
“Most folks still don’t know what ACORN is, how bad it is, and how deeply it’s tied to the financial meltdown.”
Allegations with no substance. Please provide substance if you want to actually convince anyone. Like I said, McCain had his chance last night to actually present the “dangerous” facts about Obama, but didn’t do so. You know why? There are none.
Please, be sure to keep us posted on the FBI investigation. I await the biennial discovery that there is nothing see here.
“And your response that flooding small-town clerks with registrations would hurt Dems more than the GOP is fallacious, and you know it.”
I know what? Apparently you haven’t been paying attention. The Democratic registration effort this year has been like nothing seen before. Just as an example, Arapahoe County is now majority Democratic thanks to these efforts. Even El Paso county is starting to look a little purple. And we can all see which way the unaffiliated are breaking…
They’re called hyperlinks. Follow them. If you don’t want to read the evidence, just concede you are too committed to your predetermined conclusions to care.
Kudos to the Democrats on their registration efforts – legitimate and otherwise. We’ll see who turns out to vote. But it doesn’t change the original point, like you are so good at changing the subject at breakneck speed.
If I were a Democrat, I’d be tempted to hire an ambulance-chasing lawyer to sue for whiplash.
The topic is that you are scared of an Obama presidency. Is it not? That is certainly what the title would indicate.
<a href=”http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/10/10/mccain.not.scary.cnn”Even John McCain thinks that’s nonsense:
“I have to tell you, he is a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared as president of the United States”
Clearly your either so scared as to be immune to facts, or you’re a good enough Republican agent to continue to pretend there is something to be worried about.
I’m getting very bored with all this. I look at the facts and see nothing to support any of Kurtz’s allegations. You look at the allegations and quake in your boots. Who knew Republican operatives were so terrified of folks simply advocating for poor folk and minorities, like ACORN and “ambulance-chasing” lawyers, rather than pretending that redistributing money upwards through tax breaks for the rich will somehow magically help the less fortunate. Oh, I guess everyone knows that, because they’ve been running on it for years – yet another reason why the Republican party is in such dire straits.
I’m scared of out-and-out socialism, you’re right. Sorry to hear your head’s in the sand. For being so “very bored with all this,” you sure are mighty obsessive about leaving comments here. I don’t have any time in my life for things that bore me.
But as always, I’m flattered by the attention.