thank you, Booman. you can't imagine my disgust with those gutless pussies in Congress.

Imo your blog is the most reliably correct, day in and day out, in its analysis. Posts like this one make it clear why.  Your experience and background really show.  Interesting stuff--thanks.

Great post -- thanks, BooMan.

Thank you Booman for having the courage to defend those that need defending the most.

Solid post and I am sicken that the RIGHT cares so little about the human race to attack an organization like this one.

I watched this interview below with President of ACORN and these undercover jack asses (or patriots to the Fox News crowd) were thrown out of dozens of offices. The cops were called several times on them as well. They duped 5 people out of 700 employees with their fake story and now ACORN's pittance funding is yanked by pompous wing nuts and cowering Democrats while companies like Blackwater, who lawlessly kill innocent people, are still on the government's billion dollar pay roll. Unbelievable.

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/17/acorn_head_bertha_lewis_vows_action

Blue Tidal Wave

good post.
let's remember that bob casey voted to continue acorn's funding, specter and sestak both voted against them.

here's the house Democrats -- Altmire, Y; Brady, N; Carney, Y; Dahlkemper, Y; Doyle, N; Fattah, N; Holden, Y; Kanjorski, Y; Murphy, Patrick, Y; Murtha, Y; Schwartz, Y; Sestak, Y.

John Mccain Called his wife WHAT??

This should have been in Vanity Fair. Seriously, this was great, Booman. You should pitch a longer version of this to them. Great stuff.

"If you look for the social economic motive, you will not have to wait for history to tell you what was propaganda and what was truth." - George Seldes

I have a number of comments about ACORN, although I no longer have my extensive collection of bookmarks to much of the information, so I'll have to be a little sketchy but I can direct people to sources if they're interested.

ACORN became a target of the right during legislative efforts to introduce changes in voting laws, and the thrust these proposed changes in law were voter ID requirements that would -- in effect -- disenfranchise voters who lacked the necessary ID. The majority of those voters are poor and vote overwhelmingly Democratic.

Curiously, the issue of voter fraud gained traction as a result of a spate of suspicious activities on the Republican side.

I'll cut this section short -- the voter fraud issue gains attention through other stories, such as the DOJ'S U.S.Attorney firing scandal, the use of the GSA for political purposes, the Siegelman conviction, Ohio's 2004 & 2006 elections, etc.

There were some convictions associated ACORN's voter registration efforts, most notably in Missouri (which became part of the DOJ scandal when the prosecution were announced shortly before the election in an effort the sway the election results).

The distinction between 'electoral fraud' and 'registration fraud' is pertinent here. although both are usually covered under the term "election fraud." Duplication of registrations are a fact, since people never de-register when they move, so county clerks spend a lot of time 'grooming' their registration lists to remove voters who are deceased or have moved. Highly transient precincts, which are often in inner city neighborhoods, have extraordinary numbers of voters registered, even though few are actually "active" voters.

A handful (I don't recall how many but just a few) of convictions were associated with ACORN's voter registration drives but these were the result of turning in phantom registrations that gave the appearance of work done. In other word, someone turned in names but no voter attempted to cast a vote illegally.

Although turning in fake registrations is illegal, it pales in comparison to the crimes that were undoubtedly committed by the Republicans, but I'll save that topic for another time. I will return to this issue later, however.

ACORN gained attention once again during the recent economic meltdown, as part of a myth spread about the influence of Carter era legislation crafted to prevent "red-lining" by lenders being the cause of banks issuing "liar loans." ACORN's actual contribution consisted of a lawsuit against Wells Fargo earlier in this decade for predatory lending practices, which ACORN won.

Most of the attacks on ACORN are part of a Republican myth that electoral losses were the result of voter fraud. And aspects of the illegal immigration issue are also part of this myth.

There's little to nothing of a factual nature to justify the attacks on ACORN. This is a classic example of "motivated cognition." Like the "stabbed-in-the-back" legend which prevailed in post WWI Germany, the attitude is explainable by the
psycho-dynamics of the conditions under which it formed.

It's true -- apparently -- that ACORN draws its employees from some of worst conditions that this country offers, but I've also worked in these neighborhoods and I'm not shocked by the tapes, especially the one that appears to have a doctored sound track.

"..the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. .. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked.." - Goering

Come down out of your Ivory Towers and stop trying to cover your ass. Most of us got into politics to help people. ACORN is doing that every day as well as they know how.

The things is, most people don't want to try and understand.  

They just want those "dirty, cheating, lazy, lying black people" to go away and stay over there on their side of the street.  Where people can feel free to criticize and demonize them from afar.

It is much more convenient if they can just keep the ACORN stereotype plugged into the minds of the country and in the conventional wisdom of the political world and punditry.  That's why we are seeing such a concerted effort to make this one videotaped incident be perceived as representative of ACORN's standard operating procedure.  Because it fits with what so many people want to be true.

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity"

Thanks booman, as others have said this is the very best defense and writing about Acorn I've read to date.  We all know your history with Acorn and your passion for it and as LM said I come here because in my mind this is the number one blog on the 'internets' for the best writing, passion combined with levelheadedness to be found.

Voting to defund Acorn is like a fucking punch straight to the gut and makes me ill-especially that so many cowardly dems were in on it.

'Poverty is the worst form of violence'--Gandhi

You're there when it counts, BooMan.  My hat is off to you.  Acorn helps those who have so little while it gets sucker punched by those who have so much. America is becoming a caricature of the land it once was. Why are the Democrats so cowardly and the Republicans so mean and selfish?  Strange times, indeed.

Suppose you scrub your ethical skin until it shines, but inside there is no music, then what? Kabir

This morning on the NJ radio, there was a report about a teacher murdered in Monmouth County. The reporter said that people expected this type of thing to happen in Camden...I switched the dial.
I'm with Jimmy Carter. He is right.
The couple that own the small apartment building I live in are prime examples of the holier, we have money, than thou parade.
They have rights that the rest of us don't. There is nasty condescension is their dealing with the tenants. They lie with ease. The laws don't apply to them. If it's inconvenient, it also does not apply to them.
These smarmy cheaters are like so may of those who are jumping on any social helpers. It's not only blacks or Hispanic people, I'm white and have had my share of snotty attitude pointed my way.
I do stand up to people like this. I do hope that what goes around, comes around.
Take away the houses, cars, credit cards and all of the trappings and put these better than us snobs into a survival situation. Then we'll see how they behave.
It's scapegoat time and the politicos on the right are looking for any excuse to point their fingers and yell about shameful things. Of course, if they get caught doing the dirty, well then, that's okay, because it's them.
Great post, Boo.

Nicely said, booman.  Thank you for the education.

Thanks for this BooMan.  I've posted it to my FBook and Twitter.

tweeting at http://twitter.com/VanFitz

This has been linked around, but I decided to put it up in orange, too, because people seem to like it.

Fantastic job, my man.  I've had similar experiences.

If we had an actual "Press," you'd be sharing this story on every network to give actual balance.  Hopefully we can rally enough support for this amazing group to make them stronger than ever after this hit-job.

Do you mind if this gets copied this in full on Democratic Underground? With link, of course.

Some final comments --

Much of what has been shown on Fox is extremely dubious in nature. I invite people to take a look at the videos and listen to them carefully rather than assume they know what's happening.

And the excerpt below is not even the problem I was thinking of. I was thinking more along the lines of how easy it is to engage people in a discussion of hypothetical or imaginary scenarios and present that discussion is if it represents a certain intent. Casual conversation frequently includes comments that are in no way intended to be taken seriously.

I will return to this issue later, since there are enough problems with the videos to warrant further discussion.

http://mediamatters.org/columns/200909180055

More important, Fox News failed to vet the tapes. This was made painfully clear with the case of the San Bernardino ACORN office, which was featured in the fourth video to be released. In the footage, ACORN employee Tresa Kaelke claimed that she had murdered her former husband following a period of domestic abuse.

But Kaelke's ex-husbands are alive. The San Bernardino Police Department confirmed this simple fact on September 15, releasing a statement that read: "Investigators have been in contact with the involved party's known former husbands, who are alive and well." (Kaelke was soon quoted in an ACORN press release saying that she had made the claim because she was seeking to mislead the undercover videographers, whom she was suspicious of.) In spite of these developments, the next day, Hannity was still treating the San Bernardino tape as fully credible.

"..the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. .. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked.." - Goering