Michael Steele's Nutty ACORN Obsession

Michael Steele is still the chairman of the Republican National Committee.

He's just being picking fights with people who don't have microphones.

Instead of stirring it up with the real boss of the Grand Old Party, Rush Limbaugh, or with Arlen Specter and the handful of congressional Republicans who might actually want to extend their party's platform beyond the word "no," Steele has returned to the obsessive focus that made him a favorite of the party's neanderthal wing: picking on poor people, working families and the organizations that advocate for people who do not have closets full of pinstripe suits.

To be more precise, Steele is attacking ACORN, charging that the group Republicans attacked with such determination during their failed 2008 campaign is now part of a scheme to "falsify the U.S. Census and manipulate elections in their favor."

"Our democracy, and the principle of 'One Person, One Vote' are in jeopardy," rants Steele in -- you guessed it -- a fund-raising appeal.

Steele's latest claim goes like this:

It seems the Obama Administration has plans to rig the Census results.

President Obama's old friends from ACORN, the leftist, urban "community" organization with a long history of promoting vote fraud, has been chosen by the Administration as a "partner" with the Census Bureau to determine population counts in cities around the country.

With this group's track record of coming up with countless fraudulent voter registrations in heavily Democrat areas to sway elections to ultra-liberals, you can be sure they'll be manipulating population numbers as well.

And after receiving millions in political payback from the Democrats' recently passed "Stimulus" Bill, ACORN's community organizers are eager to once again take action to aid their old friend in the White House.

Why is this important? The U.S. population has shifted in the last ten years. States like Illinois, Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania (all states Obama won in 2008) have smaller populations, and states like Arizona, Georgia and South Carolina (all states that John McCain carried) have gained population.

The trend illustrates that urban strongholds, which favor Democrats, continue to lose population to more decentralized areas in states more likely to lean Republican.

If the Democrats and their friends at ACORN have their way, the Census will only "estimate" state populations and therefore be subject to political calculations. And surely their estimate will be far higher than the actual number of people, and voters, present.

We must not let the Democrats and their radical leftist allies falsify the U.S. Census and manipulate elections in their favor. Our democracy, and the principle of "One Person, One Vote" are in jeopardy.

Please help the Republican Party's effort to spread the word about the Obama Democrats' misuse of power and plans to end free and fair elections. Support our effort to get the word out about this threat and ensure an accurate, non-partisan Census by making a contribution of $1,000, $500, $100, $50 or $25 to the Republican National Committee today.

Your gift will also help support the recruitment and election of principled candidates who will defeat the Democrats in 2010 and pave the way to send Barack Obama packing in 2012.

Yikes!

Sounds scary.

And that's the point.

For all his talk about diversity and reaching out to communities that have not always been attracted by the Grand Old Party's anti-immigrant, anti-worker, anti-community messaging, Steele knows that the party's donors get excited by, er, well, the Grand Old Party's anti-immigrant, anti-worker, anti-community messaging.

Steele's ACORN obsession is particularly frustrating -- and dishonest -- because it targets one of the few groups in America that has stood consistently on the right side of fights over the census, voter turnout and empowering the poor and working families.

But ACORN/ knows how to fight back.

"Republican Party Chair Michael Steele has finally lost all touch with reality," says ACORN CEO and chief organizer Bertha Lewis. "(He has) sent a message to Republican Party members accusing President Obama and ACORN of scheming to 'falsify the U.S. Census and manipulate elections". He even ridiculously claimed that "Our democracy, and the principle of 'One Person, One Vote' are in jeopardy.'

"Clearly, ACORN's work to help millions of low and middle-income Americans who otherwise wouldn't participate in our electoral process register to vote has Michael Steele scared. And now, he's afraid that the 2010 census will accurately count the entire US population -- including traditionally undercounted minorities and low-income Americans."

Lewis is dealing in hard facts, rather than the fantasies that are Steele's favored political currency. So she confidency declares: "ACORN is not getting billions from the federal government -- and Michael Steele knows it. We are not in charge of the Census -- and Michael Steele knows it. Just like the accusations of the past six months, these ridiculous charges are imaginary and false -- and Michael Steele knows it."

But Lewis is taking things a step further.

She is challenging Steele to meet with her at the home of a family that ACORN has helped fight foreclosure.

Lewis wants Steele to see and hear from "the real ACORN."

And she's betting -- or at least hoping -- that if she Steele and his amen corner in the media was confronted with the reality of ACORN's good works, the RNC chair would back off.

Lewis may be a little more optimistic about the notion that the truth shall set you free.

Steele has a remarkable record of resisting reality. And the media has shown a marked penchant for joining the failed Maryland Senate candidate and his GOP allies in scapegoating ACORN as an alternative to examining real issues related to low-income communities -- a journalistic malpractice detailed in new report from Media Matters illustrates.

But Bertha Lewis and ACORN earn high marks for pushing back at the failed party "leader" who is pushing them around to try and stir up his reactionary base.

Comments (63)

1. I wondered why ACORN was showing up as a red herring the last couple of days. Seems the sheep have their foil hats tuned up and ready to go, willing and able to help spread the propaganda du-jour once again.

   Posted by crabwalk at 04/11/2009 @ 08:55am

2. Let it be what it will be. Mr. Steele's purpose is fund raising, and the GOP needs the money badly.

   Let's praise the GOP for this tactic; because, it's the same tactic that lost in 08. It's a loser again.

   The GOP clearly has no message of hope for the American people, so it must go on these rants. If it keeps going like this, it's 'base' will shrink even further.

   It seems that at a time when we need an opposition party engaged to solve problems, we get a truculent bunch. So, they will reap what they sow. Actually, they already have.

   The real problem is that Obama has been willing to engage the GOP. But, it seems they don't understand negotiation. They are like 3 year-olds that think that agreeing with them completely is compromise. They have had opportunities to have their ideas heard, yet they think Obama should just do everything they want to do. Unfortunately, their old, tired ideas are mostly unhelpful.

   Thus, it gets to a point where ignoring them would the best course. Yet, I'm sure Obama will continue to try to bring them into the process, regardless of whether they are helpful or not.

   The GOP forgets that it's not about them...it's about results.

   Posted by erazma at 04/11/2009 @ 09:14am

3. The Obamanation of desolation admin.= ACORN = Voter Fraud = Census = New Demoncrat representative fraud = shredding of constitution = more perversions of government = real national totalitarianism.

   Posted by comancheamerican at 04/11/2009 @ 09:15am

4. I would love to debate any one of these fact-challenged Republican or right-wing windbags, but I'd prefer to do it in writing, with access to the Internet and public libraries, and in a forum in which each participant would get 24 hours to think and to do research before responding. I'm not an expert in anything, but I guarantee you there's no way any one of these clowns could beat me, or any one of us.

   The strength of these opinion-makers lies in their ability to move the debate too fast for the fact-checkers to catch up. Their strategy is to move forward at top ideological speed and to leave the facts behind. In a more deliberate forum, in which every claim could be checked against evidence and research, they wouldn't stand a chance.

   It is certainly true that the power of the radical Right and the weakness of journalism, so well documented by THE NATION (check out the April 6th issue), are connected.

   Thanks are due to John Nichols, of course, for presenting us with ACORN's side of the story, and for providing that helpful link to Media Matters.

   Posted by JakobFabian at 04/11/2009 @ 09:16am

5. Oops, something's wrong with that Media Matters hypertext. Never mind, I'll find it somehow.

   Posted by JakobFabian at 04/11/2009 @ 09:19am

6. ACORN is just the modern reincarnation of old-time politics of bundling up votes for pay. Of course, those for-sale votes generally are concentrated among the poor and lower-income communities.

   The whole endeavor is filled with folks who don't abide by the letter and intent of our laws and regulations. I won't burden readers here with all the instances of ACORN abuses.

   ACORN probably doesn't much care for Ayn Rand!

   Posted by Happy at 04/11/2009 @ 10:13am

7. This blog is dishonest. The census, shouldn't be politicized, period. You wouldn't want the NRA or the Christian Coalition counting heads.

   If Steele criticizes any left group for any reason, you'll say he's "catering to his reactionary base." Disgusting. So f**king glaringly apparent that you do not believe in democracy.

   Stop trying to bring the brother down.

   Posted by gangpapist at 04/11/2009 @ 10:29am

8. "confronted with the reality of ACORN's good works"

   Irrelevant. Hamas and Hezbollah do good works. (Might be bad examples here.)

   Fundie churchies help people all the time.

   Let's recap your logic Nichols: Steele doesn't want ACORN all up in the census----> ACORN loves working families ---> Steele hates working families.

   You get paid for this? Wanna do HVAC for awhile, I think I can do you better than you.

   Posted by gangpapist at 04/11/2009 @ 10:45am

9. I find it truly amazing that there are people who actually believe that ACORN will NOT try to pad the census count with as many "undercounted" people as they can get away with. And of course, they will claim the errors are not ACORN's fault. They just pay people to turn in as many census forms as possible, and these people are just contractors, not ACORN employees. In fact, with the new census data, they will be able to prove that Mickey Mouse should register to vote 100 times, because ACORN contractors counted 1000 Mickey Mice in the census!

   Posted by sntauri at 04/11/2009 @ 10:46am

10. For once Michael Steele gets it right.

    ACORN remains an anti-American, marxist oriented organization that lies and coerces govt and business. That is not disputable.

    It is no surprise to find the Nation supporting them.

    And charges by people like myself during the campaign are now coming true. Obama the ex-Acorn employee is now turning to his marxist trainers to manipulate the US Census.

    Posted by antisocialist at 04/11/2009 @ 12:35pm

11. ACORN probably doesn't much care for Ayn Rand!-----Posted by Happy at 04/11/2009 @ 10:13am

    Neither does the GOP...or else they'd kick out the Religous Right.

    Posted by Mask at 04/11/2009 @ 1:15pm

12. BTW, any of you Repubs think Steele might be a plant?

    Posted by Mask at 04/11/2009 @ 1:17pm

13. ACORN remains an anti-American, marxist oriented organization that lies and coerces govt and business. That is not disputable. Posted by antisocialist at 04/11/2009 @ 12:35pm

    Opinions are irrelevant without evidence. There is no evidence. Lou Dobbs was challenged on that very point last week on his show. He came up empty. You've come up empty.

    That's really the theme of the reactionary right now isn't it? "Running on empty."

    Posted by davishert at 04/11/2009 @ 3:09pm

14. I had to laugh out loud when I read that "Lewis is dealing in hard facts" and then immediately after read that "Acorn is not getting billions from the Federal Government". Outright lies.

    According to Matthew Vadum of the Capitol Research Center, the stimulus package now under consideration includes:

    $1 billion stashed away in Community Development Block Grant money that ACORN often vies for successfully. $10 million to develop or refurbish low-income housing, a specialty of ACORN's. $4.19 billion to stave off foreclosures via the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Vadum states the current version of the bill would allow nonprofits to compete with cities and states for $3.44 billion of the money. Some $750 million, however, would be exclusively reserved for nonprofits such as ACORN, which is actually an umbrella organization for over 100 progressive organizations. Regarding the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, Vadum writes in American Spectator: "Although ACORN operatives usually get their hands on such funds only after they have first passed through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development or state and local governments, the new spending bill largely eliminates these dawdling middle men, making it easier to get Uncle Sam's largess directly into the hands of the same people who run ACORN's various vote fraud and extortion rackets. And the legislative package provides these funds without the usual prohibition on using government money for lobbying or political activities."

    And the census issue is not that everyone will be counted, but that non-citizens will be counted to tilt the demographics. After all, when you pay on volume instead of accuracy . . . . .

    This article is a joke.

    Posted by Biggeorge at 04/11/2009 @ 3:19pm

15. ACORN probably doesn't much care for Ayn Rand!-----Posted by Happy at 04/11/2009 @ 10:13am

    Neither does the GOP...or else they'd kick out the Religous Right.

    Posted by Mask at 04/11/2009 @ 1:15pm

    The foundational issues to the GOP isn't religion, even if religion do in fact, find the GOP to be much more hospitable.....unsurprising really, when so many Dems and Libs, are atheists or agnostics.

    Posted by Happy at 04/11/2009 @ 3:36pm

16. antisocialist-All of your opinions are disputable just as all peoples opinions are disputable and just because you claim that ACORN is anti American and Marxist does mean that it is and that,like all of your opinions,can be disputed.

    Posted by i'm nobody at 04/11/2009 @ 3:48pm

17. The only way to de-politicize the census, or any other kind of research, is to "scientize" it. We need to make use of survey techniques, the same ones that economists, marketers, and field researchers use, to get an accurate count. "Counting every person" is simply not possible, and it is prohibitively expensive.

    No, I am not recommending that we use these techniques for elections. Votes are important enough that every one should be counted, even if this does turn out to be very expensive. But the census requires the use of estimates. It should be managed by scientists, and it should not pretend to count every person. But it should make accurate estimates.

    It is extreme hyperbole to accuse ACORN of "gerrymandering." Maybe ACORN has done some sloppy counting on occasion, but this organization does not have the power to redraw district lines. This is done by legislatures, though lawsuits (and therefore also the judicial system) are often involved as well. If you want to see some really appalling, politics-based decisions that pervert the democratic process, I suggest that you look at the history of what we call "REDISTRICTING." Google "Texas," "redistricting," and "Republican," and see what you get.

    It goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that with a more proportional electoral system, such as Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), it would no longer be as important where district lines are drawn, since proportionality means that minorities in every district would be represented rather than ignored. Gerrymandering is a direct consequence of the winner-takes-all electoral system, which represents districts and not people.

    Posted by JakobFabian at 04/11/2009 @ 4:34pm

18. "But ACORN/ knows how to fight back."

    Their main talents are extortion, voter fraud and calling people who disagree with them, racists. I guess if the rat population needs a representative, ACORN is available.

    Posted by pyeatte at 04/11/2009 @ 5:20pm

19. From Wikipedia:

    'Throughout the [2008] election season, supporters of Republican candidates portrayed ACORN's submission of invalid voter registration applications as widespread vote fraud. Republican presidential candidate John McCain claimed in the last presidential debate that ACORN was "on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy." Factcheck.org called the claim "breathtakingly inaccurate".'

    I would recommend Wikipedia as a source of (mostly) reliable facts about ACORN and numerous other things. I would not recommend FoxNewsCorp. or the Republican Party.

    If accusing ACORN of gerrymandering is extreme hyperbole, accusing it of "racketeering" (as the Republican Party recently did in the state of my birth, Ohio) is... is... I don't have adequate means of expressing how egregious that is.

    I do, however, have a friendly (though not entirely serious) suggestion for how ACORN might get the radical-right attack dogs off its back: Become a fundamentalist Christian "faith-based" organization. Then you can do pretty much anything you want. For example, your reverend leader can spend all his money on prostitutes, and the religious conservatives will do nothing but forgive you.

    Posted by JakobFabian at 04/11/2009 @ 5:23pm

20. The right sounds like every crazy tin foil hat wearing lefty talking about how George Bush wants to turn this country into a fascist dictatorship. This is quite hilarious to see actually.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 04/11/2009 @ 6:43pm

21. Leave the crack pot theories to the fringes, don't have the leaders of your parties saying it, jesus.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 04/11/2009 @ 6:49pm

22. This is just more proof that most of the fringe folks including the ones on this bored will bite on anything their leaders tell them to. Look at how quick they were to respond and say this is all true and that ACORN stole votes! Without the facts. Here you go from factcheck.org

    "McCain: The ACORN Fables

    In another attempt to paint groups and people with whom Obama has some connection in as unsavory a light as possible, McCain has gone after the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. And we've gone after him, for an ad accusing the group of "massive voter fraud" and for saying in the final presidential debate that ACORN is "now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy."

    Both claims are breathtakingly inaccurate. There's a huge difference between voter fraud and voter registration fraud. And while ACORN, which hires part-time, $8-an-hour canvassers to go door-to-door and register people to vote, has had widespread problems with phony registrations invented by employees who don't want to work, the problem has never been that it sent people to the polls using bogus identities or to vote in any other fraudulent manner. Even the Republican prosecutor of the largest ACORN case to date said the shenanigans of ACORN workers were "not intended to permit illegal voting."

    To be sure, Obama's interactions with the group have been greater than he has let on. But whether those ties can accurately be called "long and deep," as McCain's ad claims, is highly questionable."

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 04/11/2009 @ 6:54pm

23. http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/acorn_accusations.html

    There is the whole of the factcheck article about this issue. At least if you are going to make claims bother to check your facts.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 04/11/2009 @ 7:18pm

24. antisocialist-just because you claim that ACORN is anti American and Marxist does mean that it is and that,like all of your opinions,can be disputed.

    Posted by i'm nobody at 04/11/2009 @ 3:48pm

    I posted plenty of documented evidence last year during the campaign about the marxist leadership in ACORN. It's a marxist org who's goals have always been to bring down capitalism.

    It's founder, Wade Rathke

    http://www.waderathke.com/

    Former draft-resistance activist for the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) Former activist in the National Welfare Reform Organization (NWRO) and protegé of its founder George A. Wiley

    Rathke and his ACORN co-founders enlisted civil rights workers and trained them in a program (at Syracuse University) patterned after Saul Alinsky's activist tactics.

    http://tinyurl.com/ytdvh7

    http://www.capitalresearch.org/pubs/pdf/v1225222922.pdf

    http://tinyurl.com/5bwuq5

    It is no surprise that ACORN preaches a New Left–inspired gospel, since it grew out of one of the New Left's silliest and most destructive groups, the National Welfare Rights Organization. In the mid-sixties, founder George Wiley forged an army of tens of thousands of single minority mothers, whom he sent out to disrupt welfare offices through sit-ins and demonstrations demanding an end to the "oppressive" eligibility restrictions that kept down the welfare rolls. His aim: to flood the welfare system with so many clients that it would burst, creating a crisis that, he believed, would force a radical restructuring of America's unjust capitalist economy.

    The flooding succeeded beyond Wiley's wildest dreams. From 1965 to 1974, the number of single-parent households on welfare soared from 4.3 million to 10.8 million.

    http://tinyurl.com/37falt

    Posted by antisocialist at 04/11/2009 @ 8:15pm

25. Posted by Cccomfo1 at 04/11/2009 @ 7:18pm

    Good fact check. It's a mystery to me why people want to vilify ACORN so much when not one case of actual voter fraud was found. But all of us Americans have something to hate. It may actually be a necessary evil, considering how screwed up our country is. And, of course, they have got to find the root cause of why they lost the election. It's really strange, as well, that people who were happy with the way George Bush won two elections are very UN happy about and possible wrongdoing in the last one, though no actual mischief has been verified beyond those lazy workers.

    For another shot of outrage, go to my favorite 'off the wall' site, theexistentialistcowboy.com and check out the two part Bill Moyers article from YouTube about right wing radio shock jocks. There's hardly any liberal media owners, yet conservatives constantly perpetrate the lie that there is. Fascinating. Michael Savage is a real peach.

    The Civil War never really ended. In fact, it may be just beginning again. It was about slavery, for certain, but mostly about attitude and entitlement. And the viciously held concept that ignorance is some sort of weird family value.

    Posted by ficheye at 04/11/2009 @ 8:25pm

26. I posted plenty of documented evidence last year during the campaign about the marxist leadership in ACORN. Posted by antisocialist at 04/11/2009 @ 8:15pm

    You went to some level of effort to post websites to verify that you have evidence, but the websites themselves are nothing more than diatribes against poor and minority organizers which offer no evidence.

    To be fair you did offer the website for Wade Rathke, but his website mentions nothing about socialism. In fact economics is not even his bag; activism is; in the political system; not the necessarily economic system.

    Citing someone else's blog is not citing evidence. What is the evidence that ACORN committed voter fraud?

    Posted by davishert at 04/11/2009 @ 9:14pm

27. Obama is particularly fond of his marxist friends in the investment banking industry. ANti, do you have links showing the marxist leaders and connections in the AIG and UBS groups?

    Can anyone with a straight face say that ACORN has done anywhere near the damage Standard and Poor or CITIGROUP has done? Do they even come close to Bernie Made-Off?

    Time to check the sights on your Outrage-O-Meter there cons. You seem to be shooting to the far right.

    Posted by crabwalk at 04/11/2009 @ 9:57pm

28. Delicious. Look at the coloration here. Black man flies in the face of the core of whitey world, interprets his selection as some mandate for going 'urban' and 'off the hook' AND gets slammed!!

    Steele'd barely walked on to center stage, made this outrageous play and was laughed off stage by no other than comic Colbert.

    This on top of Limbaugh cleaning his clock and Steele's kiss up.

    So now --- so desperate not to lose out on the power high, he's going totally whitey. Jones'n for the spotlight, especially after his public humiliation by the Rush and intellectual centerpiece of the Right... Desperate in fact to prove he's no urban off the hook darkie, no not like those socialist lazy ACORN census corrupting welfare, he's whipping up the core pug fear of people power. The heart of the lie that is the NEOCON.

    Posted by winyahn at 04/11/2009 @ 10:18pm

29. To be fair you did offer the website for Wade Rathke, but his website mentions nothing about socialism. In fact economics is not even his bag; activism is; in the political system; not the necessarily economic system.

    Citing someone else's blog is not citing evidence. What is the evidence that ACORN committed voter fraud?

    Posted by davishert at 04/11/2009 @ 9:14pm

    1. Rathke trained new activists as I noted in the Saul Alinsky methods

    But it is not enough for the organizer to be in solidarity with the people. He must also, said Alinsky, cultivate unity against a clearly identifiable enemy; he must specifically name this foe, and "singl[e] out"[44] precisely who is to blame for the "particular evil" that is the source of the people's angst.[45] In other words, there must be a face associated with the people's discontent. That face, Alinsky taught, "must be a personification, not something general and abstract like a corporation or City Hall."[46] Rather, it should be an individual such as a CEO, a mayor, or a president.

    Alinsky advised the radical activist to avoid the temptation to concede that his opponent was not "100 per cent devil," or that he possessed certain admirable qualities such as being "a good churchgoing man, generous to charity, and a good husband." Such qualifying remarks, Alinsky said, "dilut[e] the impact of the attack" and amount to sheer "political idiocy."[50]

    Alinsky died in 1972, but his legacy lives on as a staple of leftist method, a veritable blueprint for revolution (which he and his disciples euphemistically refer to as "change"). Two of his most notable modern-day disciples are Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

    http://tinyurl.com/6aek69

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Alinsky

    Posted by antisocialist at 04/11/2009 @ 10:23pm

30. "It's a marxist org who's goals have always been to bring down capitalism"

    it is claims like these with will further solidify the GOP's self-destruction.

    is anyone else thoroughly enjoying their slow demise?

    i mean, you cannot make this shit up. the downward spiral of the GOP, as tragi-comic narrative, is one of the greatest karmic paybacks in my lifetime.

    Posted by darladoon at 04/11/2009 @ 10:32pm

31. ... Desperate in fact to prove he's no urban off the hook darkie, no not like those socialist lazy ACORN census corrupting welfare, he's whipping up the core pug fear of people power. The heart of the lie that is the NEOCON.

    Posted by winyahn at 04/11/2009 @ 10:18pm | ignore this person | warn this person

    Another fine display of blatant leftwing RACISM. No wonder they fling the word about so freely being the national standard bearers of the obvious deep-seated hatred of intelligent black Americans. Next will be the cartoon charactorizations to accompany their charactor assassinations of black conservatives! We remember the witch hunt and burning at the stake of Condelezza Rice quite well to name one!

    Posted by comancheamerican at 04/11/2009 @ 10:56pm

32. antisocialist-I read your evidence and it was lacking just as all of your attempts to label everything as Marxist never come to anything.You see Marxism everywhere and read Marxism into everything.If an organization has one Marxist and 10000 capitalists in it you label that organization Marxist.

    Posted by i'm nobody at 04/11/2009 @ 11:00pm

33. "We remember the witch hunt and burning at the stake of Condelezza Rice quite well to name one!"

    she did support the most radical (and stupid) president in our nation's history.

    oh, and she wasn't hunted or burned.

    Posted by darladoon at 04/11/2009 @ 11:02pm

34. antisocialist + comancheamerican + glenn beck =

    the GOP

    Posted by darladoon at 04/11/2009 @ 11:05pm

35. commancheamerican-Being against a black conservative would not make a person a racist.It would make them anti conservative.There was no anti Condi Rice witch hunt or burning at the stake.She was,actually,given more slack than most in the Bush administration.

    Posted by i'm nobody at 04/11/2009 @ 11:07pm

36. So she confidency declares: "ACORN is not getting billions from the federal government -- and Michael Steele knows it

    Here's what the Demoncrats packed in the stimulus! So who is the REAL LIAR here?

    $1 billion stashed away in Community Development Block Grant money that ACORN often vies for successfully.

    $10 million to develop or refurbish low-income housing, a specialty of ACORN's.

    $4.19 billion to stave off foreclosures via the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Vadum states the current version of the bill would allow nonprofits to compete with cities and states for $3.44 billion of the money. Some $750 million, however, would be exclusively reserved for nonprofits such as ACORN, which is actually an umbrella organization for over 100 progressive organizations.

    Regarding the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, Vadum writes in American Spectator: "Although ACORN operatives usually get their hands on such funds only after they have first passed through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development or state and local governments, the new spending bill largely eliminates these dawdling middle men, making it easier to get Uncle Sam's largess directly into the hands of the same people who run ACORN's various vote fraud and extortion rackets. And the legislative package provides these funds without the usual prohibition on using government money for lobbying or political activities."

    The charges of partisan political payback appear to be resonating in part due to Obama's longstanding association with partisan get-out-the-vote operations. He was endorsed by ACORN, and during the campaign paid an ACORN affiliate $832,600 to get-out-the-vote assistance. Early in his career, he led a voter drive for an ACORN-affiliated group called Project Vote.

    Posted by comancheamerican at 04/11/2009 @ 11:08pm

37. Folks here are missing the point. It's not about ACORN: good or bad? No political activist group of any persuasion should be counting heads.

    I smell a rat. Dems put a left-of-center group, mostly urban-based, high minority representation, front-and-center of a controversial politicization of the census, wait for cons to react (which they have a legitimate reason to), than cry racist. Is the point here to "educate" the right-wing brethren and lift them from their mental ghettoes, or is this a cynical attempt to radicalize both sides, with a dangerous racial component added to boot.

    I pray to God I'm wrong, but at best this is a highly improper politicization of what should not be political, at worst it is a purposeful exercise in cultural/racial division. There has always been a current within the Left that wants "Helter Skelter." They need to take their rightful place with the Helms and Buchanans of American politics, and fade into irrelevance.

    Posted by gangpapist at 04/11/2009 @ 11:33pm

38. There was no anti Condi Rice witch hunt or burning at the stake.She was,actually,given more slack than most in the Bush administration.

    Posted by i'm nobody at 04/11/2009 @ 11:07pm | ignore this person | warn this person

    Question is were you in an undisclosed location during the past 8yrs? Here is the "light stuff";

    Progressive org."Common Dreams" described Rice as the midwife from hell in 2006

    Progressive org. "crooks and liars" described Rice as a "sideorder" in the oil for food scandle

    An anti-war protestor, whose hands were painted red to look like blood, stormed up to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as she arrived to testify on Capitol Hill this morning, shouting "war criminal" before being hauled away by bodyguards.

    Sen. Barbara Boxer says she is the real victim of last week's confirmation hearing for Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice, yet continued yesterday to question the national security adviser's honesty.

    Senator Barbara Boxer (Dem, Cal) verbally attacked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for not having children as Rice appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

    A former translator for the FBI with top-secret security clearance says she has provided information to the panel investigating the 11 September attacks which proves senior officials knew of al-Qa'ida's plans to attack the US with aircraft months before the strikes happened.

    Lets NOT forget all the leftwing cartoon charactorizations of Rice!

    Posted by comancheamerican at 04/11/2009 @ 11:45pm

39. In an ACORN voter registration drive during the 2008 election, 400,000, or about 30 percent, of the registrations proved to be faulty, and some were fraudulent. The activity triggered investigations in 13 states.

    The Obama campaign denied that ACRON was involved with its own voter registration drives.

    Funny how ACORN had the list of Obamanation DONERS and worked it again for more money! Now, what is the mathmatical probability for that occurring???

    Posted by comancheamerican at 04/11/2009 @ 11:54pm

40. Life is short-for those who like music, check out some of the selections from B Kool and myself on the Occupy Everything thread

    Posted by antisocialist at 04/12/2009 @ 12:02am

41. The fact the Republican Party has turned to fanaticism as its new message to America is interesting. Only a few months ago they knew they had no platform and began seeking one, to become the "new" Republican Party. Instead they have gone even further backwards. Granted there are those who will buy into the ranting of Bachmann, Beck, Steele and even Limbaugh. But they will remain the minority and even face the possibility of becoming the lunatic fringe. It is unfortunate there are still many of these visionless people who can communicate their fanatical message to those susceptible to extremes.

    Posted by ROinReno at 04/12/2009 @ 08:00am

42. "An anti-war protestor, whose hands were painted red to look like blood, stormed up to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice....."

    she (the protestor) would be a friend of mine.....that was an awesome moment.

    Posted by darladoon at 04/12/2009 @ 10:15am

43. "In an ACORN voter registration drive during the 2008 election, 400,000, or about 30 percent, of the registrations proved to be faulty, and some were fraudulent"

    that would be nice, only there's no evidence of any wrongdoing whatsoever on the part of ACORN during the 2008 election.

    the use of the word "fraudulent," in and of itself is, in fact, false.

    Posted by darladoon at 04/12/2009 @ 10:16am

44. this is all you need to know about the lack of evidence against Acorn:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9Sfq1EjGlU

    Posted by darladoon at 04/12/2009 @ 10:19am

45. snowball, i really have no idea what you are attempting to do here......

    Posted by darladoon at 04/12/2009 @ 11:06am

46. You have yet to show any evidence of wrong doing LVL and you have yet to show evidence of socialism. You showed that one of the leaders belonged to several organizations none of which are socialist programs officially. Keep trying though.

    "Alinsky advised the radical activist to avoid the temptation to concede that his opponent was not "100 per cent devil," or that he possessed certain admirable qualities such as being "a good churchgoing man, generous to charity, and a good husband." Such qualifying remarks, Alinsky said, "dilut[e] the impact of the attack" and amount to sheer "political idiocy."[50] "

    Sounds like all of the right wing who calls the left evil socialists who want to destroy America.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 04/12/2009 @ 12:08pm

47. snowball666, is your name some cryptic reference to the proverbial snowball's chance in hell?

    Posted by canaro71 at 04/12/2009 @ 12:52pm

48. I'm going to be a broken record here, so put me on ignore if you like.

    ACORN: good, bad, left, right, poor, rich, black, white, marxist, capitalist, fraudin', non-fraudin'. Don't matter.

    Not a proper activity for ANY activist group.

    Everybody should oppose this. To call opposition to an egregiously improper mingling of activism and what should be an objective endeavor "fanaticism" is demagoguery.

    I'm becoming convinced that this is meant to be divisive. The intent is to "fanaticize." This is low-intensity Helter Skelter, and absolutely unforgivable.

    Did anybody ever wonder why Wright and Ellison spent more pages criticizing the radical Left than the common racists? The answer is in this blog.

    Posted by gangpapist at 04/12/2009 @ 1:25pm

49. I believe it's not WHO does the counting that matters. It's HOW the counting is done (as I've already said above; please check out posting #19). Besides this, there needs to be oversight, preferably by several organizations checking each other.

    An organization does not become more or less trustworthy merely because it identifies itself with the political left or right. It does become less trustworthy if it doesn't allow other people to look at what it is doing.

    ACORN has been caught making some sloppy mistakes, but I have never feared this organization, because it has never kept any secrets. Its records are an open book, and not even its most embarrassing blunders have been hidden from view. Its errors have nearly always been caught, and there is no reason that they represent anything other than sloppiness and incompetence.

    Again: The solution is sound methodology and oversight, perhaps with the help of the well-respected League of Women Voters, which has collaborated with ACORN in the past. Or would you rather entrust the work of the census exclusively to government bureaucrats?

    Admittedly, it has happened on occasion that Mickey Mouse, with the help of a few incompetent ACORN workers, has tried to register to vote. But if you believe Mickey actually showed up and VOTED somewhere, thereby changing the outcome of an election, I'm sorry to say that you are paranoid. And you have to be completely off your rocker to call this kind of sloppiness "racketeering" or a "conspiracy against democracy."

    Posted by JakobFabian at 04/12/2009 @ 3:43pm

50. "Or would you rather entrust the work of the census exclusively to government bureaucrats?"

    Posted by JakobFabian at 04/12/2009

    Yes! That's what bureaucrats are for.

    "I agree on the fanaticization, but doesn't that accusation cut both ways vis a vis the children of the (a)korn?"

    Posted by snowball666 at 04/12/2009

    Yes! I think it may well be a cynical ploy to set these groups at each other's throats.

    As far as "getting black folks to vote," ACORN can do that all day long. The demagoguery is the helter skelter use of ACORN by the elites who concocted this scheme, and then the predictable "they're racists!" response to the predictable (warranted) backlash from cons.

    It invents an unnecessary beef - ACORN is then put on the defensive, so that if they do end up being head-counters, there will be every incentive to do damage (any means necessary when dealing with "fanatics") to the other side, thereby intensifying anti-ACORN sentiment... vicious cycle.

    Then, with the anticipation of a child on Christmas Eve, the Hard Left waits for a bonafide racist to come out of the woodwork and up the ante. The asshat can be used to broadbrush middle america which in turn gets more acclimated to the idea that no matter how nice they are to their neighbors and how often they donate to christian childrens fund they are perceived as vicious racist monsters.

    This is straight out of Ayers/Manson's playbook. Even if the hatred the radicals who cooked this up have for tens of millions was justified, it would still be evil. This is about breeding hornets and then stirring up the nest.

    Posted by gangpapist at 04/12/2009 @ 5:47pm

51. <i>Posted by JakobFabian at 04/12/2009 @ 3:43pm </i>

    OK, so here's what I don't understand. Let's say we even put all the politicization arguments aside. According to acknowledged statistics, there were huge numbers of incorrect ballots. Assume for the moment that none of them were fraudulent and that all were due to incompetence. Why would we want this organization within a thousand miles of the census?? Neutrality may be a criteria, sure, but you know what else is? Competence! You know what's better than overseeing an incompetent organization? Not putting an incompetent organization in the mix to begin with!

    Posted by Thrawn at 04/12/2009 @ 9:14pm

52. Exploitation of the combo of ACORN and the Census =

    An ingenious / cynical play of establishment whitey's fear of the swelling ranks of the poor, colored folks...

    Remember the coded racism of the campaign by the MSM, white owned mega corporations like NBC/war profiteer Lockheed (same company, Lynn Cheney on the Board for years)...

    They echoed the Wright video endlessly, antisocial/Happy/Comanche ate it up.

    Then all the slime, Obama not black enough, not white enough

    Muslim, Magic Negro.

    Steele's just towing the line... in the words, more or less, of the Rush template, dittohead, one-size fits all, stunningly repetitive liberal boogey man spewing comanche:

    "Another fine display of blatant neocon RACISM. No wonder they fling these coded claims about so freely being the national standard bearers of the obvious deep-seated hatred of intelligent black Americans"

    Posted by winyahn at 04/12/2009 @ 9:18pm

53. Thrawn, Seems like maybe you have an embeded fallacy... you imply that A (the official / government apparatus producing the census numbers) shouldn't be sullied by B (ACORN because you say they're incompetent).

    1- If A is competent and B is incompetent, why would A, through their sheer competence, not disallow any involvement with B out of hand?

    2- Can you prove one of these to be more competent / less incompetence than the other for derivation of population on the lowest end of the SES demographic? Both, I believe, hire / train imperfect / marginally educated humans to attempt to what is implicitly a complex empirical task.

    Posted by winyahn at 04/12/2009 @ 9:39pm

54. Posted by snowball666 at 04/12/2009 @ 9:22pm

    Charlie's racist scheme was to kick off a race-war that he believed 'inferior' blacks would win - then his 'superior' clique would step in to guide the blacks. The Family re-enacted Birth of a Nation with 'blacks' with white-faces replacing whites in black-face.

    Billy and Bernardine praised Charlie's play despite their "anti-racist" stance, because their own was not much different - rob banks and promote chaos in support of the Panthers and the BLA, the noble savage human wave they saw as the suicidal vanguard of the Revolution. Bill hasn't changed much: his ideas of revolutionary education for the kids aren't directed at middle america.

    Same paradigm, same disregard for who gets hurt.

    It squares rather neatly with the rad Left's response to the violent degradation of the ghettoes in the decades since MLKs vision was derailed by the movement that bastardized Malcolm and reduced him to a caricature of macho posturing. Cry only about stereotypes and profiling but never the actual trigger-pullers that spill black children's blood in the streets. Huey saw a soldier in every "brother on the block." The hard white left was content to give him the frontlines.

    Deja vu all over again, but this time the sacrificial lambs aren't revolutionaries out to overthrow the state, they are left-of-center activists chosen by the state to overthrow its critics.

    If the Hard left ever gets its race-war wishes, those of us whose people are too "mongrelized" to pick a side will have them and the extreme right racists to thank equally. But all my bullets will be for the honkees in Hyde Park.

    Posted by gangpapist at 04/12/2009 @ 10:16pm

55. Is is any worse than preachers intentionally endorsing McCain during the last election before their flocks despite their tax-exempt status?

    Posted by snowball666 at 04/12/2009 @ 09:10am | ignore this person | warn this person

    I don't think any "religous" organizations were ever promised or awarded billions in taxpayer dollars for their help, just THREATS of taxation!

    Posted by comancheamerican at 04/13/2009 @ 07:02am

56. Posted by Happy at 04/11/2009 @ 3:36pm

    HAPP...what was Ms. Rand's take on religion and sexual morality?

    Posted by Mask at 04/13/2009 @ 08:05am

57. I have never known a more self destructive man as Michael. He says he has a plan and is doing and saying everything intentionally. WOW, he must be trying to totally destroy the republican party along wth You-Be-The-Man-Michael Bachmann.....They must be getting their advice from Newt and Pat

    Posted by julien38 at 04/13/2009 @ 08:16am

58. Posted by julien38 at 04/13/2009 @ 08:16am

    If the Dems really want to lock up 2012, they need to get some posers to form a "Bachmann in '12" Presidential PAC and start pushing Michele to run.

    She'd out-Looney and out-wink Palin and even if she didn't get the nom, she'd paint the GOP as so wacko, they'd "cut & run" and just throw the election and wait for 2016.

    Posted by Mask at 04/13/2009 @ 09:17am

59. <i>Posted by winyahn at 04/12/2009 @ 9:39pm </i>

    I'll deal with (2) first, because it seems a little bizarre. You seem to be suggesting one of two things:

    a) People who work for government are also incompetent-->if so, why in the world would you want to put government in charge of more than you have to?

    b) Incompetence doesn't really mean anything because no one is completely competent-->silly.

    As above, I don't see how either of these makes sense.

    As for one, imagine you're a government employer seeking someone to, say, contract with. You have a choice of two companies. One of them is competent, and one of them is incompetent. Which do you choose? If the government is seeking someone to in some way help them with the census, and there are competent individuals/organizations out there, why would they ever want to choose an incompetent one? Yes, oversight exist, but if the government has to constantly watch over everything the partner is doing, that defeats the purpose of having them.

    Posted by Thrawn at 04/13/2009 @ 11:14am

60. *oversight exists

    Posted by Thrawn at 04/13/2009 @ 12:08pm

61. picking on poor people? you might as well call Michael Steele a RACIST! ACORN is NOT non-partisan, as they claim to be. They are a liberal activist group, funded with our tax dollars illegally. They have committed gross acts of voter fraud! Please, they are as corrupt as it gets and should not be eligible for ANY tax dollars.

    Posted by barry25 at 04/13/2009 @ 2:55pm

62. They have committed gross acts of voter fraud! "-missingyou barry25

    List them please. Also list indictments related to ACORNS voter fraud, and any convictions.

    Posted by crabwalk at 04/13/2009 @ 3:48pm

63. Census Shows Wyoming Now Most Populous State

    The 2010 census has turned the table on historic views of demography. The Wyoming Census Bureau, which contracted census-taking to the John Birch Society, has discovered that the state population is actually 38,000,073, up from the previous count of 532,668. A spokesman for the JBS claims that the huge discrepancy was due to vast under-counting of the state's Norwegian-American population,

    Senate Democrats have questioned the numbers, implying that the census could have been politically motivated. Wyoming's governor has fired back with a report from the John Birch Committee on Census Oversight that he claims proves that nothing improper took place.

    Conservative talk-show host, Rush Limbaugh, used his radio show to blast the DNC as racist for "trying to disenfranchise the Norwegians in Wyoming," as well as casting aspersions on the 10,000,000 strong Lost Tribe of Caucasius, discovered by the Christian Coalition in Idaho's Sawtooth Mountains.

    Posted by gangpapist at 04/13/2009 @ 4:34pm