Squirrelly on ACORN, Part II

You forgot to mention John McCain’s connection to ACORN, Jake.
Are you intentionally misleading your viewers?

John McCain’s attack on ACORN is a much bigger threat to democracy than anything ACORN has ever done.
John McCain is also completely hypocritical given his own ties to ACORN.

Suppress the vote, it’s the Republican way!

Voter registration does not equal voter fraud.
Also how many voters will get purged by the repubs this election or stopped from voting like in Ohio in 2004.
Obama like many others has some associaiton Acorn, which equals what Jake? That Obama is detroying the fabric of democracy. That Obama is the reason Acorn hired stupid people?
You know Jake the way you present things sometimes you just seem to fuel the haters.
Acorn flagged those registrations and reported them. Now we have a 24/7 anti minority campaign on Fox and Lou Dobbs.
This is not very American. Everyone should get a vote. The right has always demonized Acorn and you are helping.
What about McCain’s support for Acorn?
Also the majority of subprime lending was done by white people not minorities as Lou and Sean and the rest of the bigots would have you believe.

This is a means by which Republicans suppress votes! They play up the threat of “voter fraud,” which always turns out to be insignificant, so that they can throw out millions of real voters from the registration rolls.
John McCain and the Republicans further hope to scare off any legitimate voters who registered through ACORN by making these absurd accusations against them.

Those cocky Obama supporters will be surprised when the tide is turning in McCain favor.

What is the total of suspect registrations now? Tens of thousands?
“several” says Tapper.

OMG!!! That does it…I’m voting for McCain!!
No wait a minute, he is too out of touch, has poor judgement, and Sarah Palin…nevermind.

Why voters aren’t responding to acorn and ayers is nor acorn or ayers will help them pay the bills at the end of the month. We’ve all been through 2004 and the swiftboat attacks. People just don’t buy it anymore. Expecially with the financial crisis

jake i am puzzled that you would attempt to diminish the relevance of this issue.
tampering with elections is a crime-it is a federal crime.
voter fraud in a federal election carries a 5 year sentence and a 10 thou fine.

SandyB,
This whole thing is a ruse to suppress votes.
THAT is the threat to democracy.
The number of legitimate cases of voter fraud is extremely tiny compared to the number of votes suppressed by the Republicans every election.

Obama never speak the truth about his association.

When will McCain tell the truth about his connections to ACORN?
Apparently never since the media refuses to ask him about it.

Even if they listed several people’s names 2 or 3 times…when those people don’t show up to vote, the charge of “voter fraud” goes down the drain.
Registration fraud maybe…but not “voter fraud”.

Thanks for making the distinction between registration fraud and voting fraud. Of course, it might be good if you, Mr. Tapper, might do this in your television reports, where you conflate the two.
So are you going to comment on McCain’s hyperbole about the danger ACORN poses to democracy somewhere where more than a dozen people are going to see it? That’s the story, sir, not ACORN itself. The story is that McCain and his running mate continue to throw out what can only be characterized as lies, and you and your colleagues let it pass without comment. But that’s what you should report on.
Your television reports are irresponsible, sir. It is incumbent on you to determine if the claims the candidates are making—and that you are reporting on—have any validity. It is NOT enough to have the opposing candidate counter the claims. That gives both claims the same weight, when they really don’t have the same weight.
But even here, you are not representing the situation truthfully. Even if, as you note, Obama’s relationship to ACORN is greater than Obama and his campaign are claiming, your implication is still that there is something sinister about ACORN.
I’m not impressed by your journalism, Mr. Tapper. You are not doing your job.

It’s a shame that an organization that has done so much good is being vilified on the Rovian republican alter of win at all cost.

Yes where to start?
200,000 fraudelent in Ohio?
FBI investigation?
——————–
From where does Geevil get “facts” I wonder?
FOX ran a non story about Cuyahoga county in Ohio and “massive” Acorn registration abuses, which they promptly dropped when they found the election board ‘s chairman was a Republican and that the bipartisan board found that out of 65,000 registrations submitted by Acorn only 50 were in Question

and if someone takes your money it’s not stealing unless they spend it right?
Joe the plumber has more sense than all you obamabots put together.

In the Words of a “Maverick”,
Why FBI is investigating ACORN in 13 States?
Can you EXPLAIN? If it is such a non-issue.

when a ACORN worker
repeatedly REGISTERED the SAME voter even after he said he ALREADY registered (73 times).
************************************
Hmmmm…… Really? Did this guy really register 73 times? Was he forced to register by Acorn? Did Acorn kidnap his children and say they will onmy be released if you give me your name and adress and sign here, or what?
This is crap and you know it.

Howard Gallas,
Why is “the number of houses” an issue to you?
I thought that we are CAPITALIST nation, aren’t we?
Maybe you need to work harder or smarter to accumulate wealth. Of course, since you seem to be an Obama supporter, the “spread the wealth around” is probably more resonate to you.

Thinking,
He went on TV and stated that fact!
BTW, I didn’t know that FBI investigates ACORN ONLY in the election year!
Good try!

Hey Junior – Don’t you need a matching ID at the polling place?
For instance, if I registered as ‘Mickey Mouse’ I would then have to have a valid ID that verifies who I am when I go to vote.

In the Words of a “Maverick,
I would dismiss the “Mickey Mouse” as a non issue. Since you admitted that FRAUD was committed, would you rather have it clear by the FBI?

He went on TV and stated that fact!
************************************
Yea so? What does that prove? Can you trust the word of a guy who said he registered to vote 73 times?
Why would he register to vote 73 times if he finds it wrong?

I would dismiss the “Mickey Mouse” as a non issue. Since you admitted that FRAUD was committed, would you rather have it clear by the FBI?
——————
I have no problem with registration fraud being investigated. And it should be investigated.
I DO have a problem with the insinuations by the McCain campaign that this was some form of attempt to commit VOTER fraud and “steal” and election. That’s EXACTLY what McCain implied last night.
There is absolutely NO evidence to support this assertion. NONE! It is irresponsible for McCain to dwell in inuendo and accusations. It’s low brow politics. That’s why he will lose theis election. People are tired of it. (Well, that and Palin)

The problem is NOT every voting place has such requirement. That’s the issue.
—————-
Not saying you’re wrong, but WHERE exactly do they not require ID’s?
Do you know of any, or are you just parroting another blogger?

Seems to me someone who said they registered 73 times would also be willing to just say he did for a little cash.
Just a thought.

Oh, please. This is the ultimate non-issue, a total distraction, and the media continues to do the McCain campaign’s bidding.
How about reporting on the fact that McCain’s transition head was involved in lobbying efforts on behalf of Saddam Hussein? Sure, it’s a non-issue and a distraction, but if you’re going to hammer Obama so hard on these petty things, why not give McCain a taste too?
The media already chickened out on the Keating 5 history, which is DIRECTLY relevant to McCain’s economic policies and judgment. Why such favoritism to the McCain camp? Are you trying to perpetuate the illusion of a horse race?

On the subject of voter fraud, what are the possible scenarios?
1. A voter registers in more than one precinct or even state – casting multiple votes in different locations (including absentee ballots and actual votes on Election Day).
2. A voter (or party activist) registers in an area, which is critical for the election, even though he or she has no established residence there (actually already happening in Ohio!)
3. A voter casts multiple votes under assumed or fraudulent names.
4. Illegal residents and legal non-citizen residents get registered and vote.
These scenarios are certainly much more likely under a system, where new voter registration applications are handled by organizations, which are more concerned with numbers than ethics. It is quite clear to me that a “non-profit” and “non-partisan” activist organization should not be allowed to work in the area of voter registration. The temptation for corruption, manipulation and partisanship is too great to be avoided, especially when your neutrality is compromised by one of the campaigns providing you with $800,000.
Voter registration drives, in my view, should function under the umbrella of registered parties, with both major parties receiving equal taxpayer funding for this purpose (which does not prevent the party from applying additional funds from its own revenues). This way the political party vouches for the accuracy of the registrations it submits, and can be held accountable for registration fraud. Having voter registration connected to a party’s reputation would ensure that all parties would do everything possible to avoid having their workers and activists dragged through investigative hearings and criminal courts. Independent voters could register through their local electoral commissions.
What we have now is just plain stupid. Taxpayer funds are applied towards: 1) creating a voter registration problem (by ACORN and other), so that 2) local electoral commissions can waste time and resources verifying applications that shouldn’t have been filled out in the first place.
But hey, if that’s how you like the government spending your money…
Given the present concerns, I think that on Election Day all voters should be required to show proof of citizenship and proof of residence, and have their right thumb marked with indelible ink (just like they do in Iraq) to prevent someone from voting more than once. However, if someone is intent on voting multiple times via absentee ballot – there’s little you can do.

“It is quite clear to me that a “non-profit” and “non-partisan” activist organization should not be allowed to work in the area of voter registration.”
Low lifes like Obama sue so that everyone has an equal right to be corrupt.

So what else has Obama been lying about Jake? He even had the ACORN denial on his fight the smears page until he was found out and had to change it. Now he is trying to blame Fox news because his numbers aren’t higher, but yet he didn’t mind using them when he wanted to intrude on McCain’s big night on the last night of the convention.

ACORN doesn’t matter to us.

Just another way for Republicans to distract from the fact that McCain cannot talk coherently about the economy..

“G. Gordon Liddy -the guy from Miami Vice?”
One and the same. He’s still not minding the pain after all those cigarette lighters.
All civil servants aspire to be actors.
Some actors work on the campaigns of civil servants.
There is rough justice in that. If Liddy knew anything, he knew a lot about rough justice.

Thank you. The army of unemployed ultra conservatives who sit around and watch Fox News and listen to Rush all day are certainly getting a different story about ACORN.
Rush somehow thinks there is vast conspiracy between the sub-prime lenders (say, Countrywide), Bill Ayers, Obama, and ACORN to turn America’s children into anti=capitalists and destroy democracy. He believes this is a unified effort that has been going on for 30 years. Do you think Rush has ever met an American kid? They are wildly capitalist. Where does he think the sub-prime lenders and Obama met when he was 17? Does he think they flew to Hawaii to see his basketball games? Does Rush not understand that they weren’t allowed to make those loans 30 years ago? Because there was regulation – which the trickle down economists and people like Reagan and Bush and Gramm and McCain got rid of? Does he know hhow many cases of actual voter fraud there are in a given year? SIX.

Those who would insist that ACORN and OBAMA are NOT coordinating efforts to turnout voters via any method, have drunk far too much koolaid.
Obama is corrupt, ACORN is corrupt.
Obama is a LIAR, ACORN is LYING.
200,000 KNOWN registrations thus far in Ohio, with a Democratic SOS trying her best to make sure those go into the system, can you say CORRUPT?
Dishonest, immoral, deceitful, lack of integrity, and the EGO to match another so called “leader” in history.
Whether Obama wins or not, and I do not believe he will, at least I will know that I did nothing to put him in office.
For those of you who do, you can blame yourself for the ugliness that will come of it.

“so I think everyone should show proof of who they are”
Unfortunately, Paula, the Democrats don’t want this method because it somehow discriminates against the homeless, fugitives, and bums. They need this voting base to win anything.

The biggest problem out there is why we have 50 different state criteria for registration and even for who can vote, for FEDERAL elections. If there was ever
proof of how dysfunctional this country can be, this is it. Let’s have one universal set of standards and requirements. Then we can work on “voter registration fraud”….including fraud perpetuated by political parties themselves.

When someone purporting to be Mickey Mouse shows up at the polls in Ohio and the entire starting line-up for the Dallas Cowboys tries to vote in Las Vegas, then I’ll believe all this nonsense the GOP is spewing about ACORN.
Until then, it remains just that – utter nonsense, and the desperate work of unhinged Republicans on the verge of being swept aside by an increasingly disgruntled electorate.
Electoral fraud occurs at the back end where the votes are counted, and not at the front end where people try to cast their ballots. Voter fraud is not a problem; voter suppression is. You would do well, Jake, to focus your attention on the latter, and not chase after something that has been repeatedly debunked, and now approaches the level of smear.
ACORN has been around for three decades, and has done consumers a tremendous service in highlighting and challenging the predatory lending practices perpetrated against the poor and lower middle class in our society.
Rush Limbaugh is now trying to blame ACORN for the sub-prime meltdown and the current economic crisis. This whole ACORN business is nothing but a bunch of racist GOP crock.

You know, maybe I will give a flying fig about this story when McCain sheds more light on his involvement in the Keating scandal and the nature of that relationship and whether he still profited financially after Keating was convicted.

Tapper,
You are misrepresenting the nature and use of the payments to CSI, as well as the distribution of the funds. CSI and ACORN have many of the same employees, and the ACORN 80K you report has no basis in economic reality as it was one division paying another. Also, you FAILED to mention Obama had to AMEND HIS FEC REPORTS to accurately state the 800K was for GOTV and registration efforts.
Using a corporate form to show distance is a petty attempt to throw people off – you are supposed to see through that, not buy into it.

TRW-McCain was one of two of the Keating 5 who were exonerated. The other three were sanctioned by the Ethics Committee. The other person exonerated? Democrat John Glenn, who introduced Obama at a rally last week.
Silly Democrat.

ACORN + Democratic party involvement = voter fraud in the US as bad or worse than in many 3rd world countries.
How can we criticize Russia, Iran, Venezuela and others when the voter fraud in the US is so bad?
Why is Jimmy “world wide election observer” Carter so silent on ACORN and its relationship to Democrats????

With all the technology at our disposal, why can we not definitively identify people registering to vote and accurate count their votes?
We should all be demanding a better system and holding the politicians with their vested interest in re-election accountable. There are a lot of things that they cannot fix. This is one that they can.
Demand it of them. Your vote only counts if it is counted correctly.

mara,
“Thank you. The army of unemployed ultra conservatives who sit around and watch Fox News and listen to Rush all day are certainly getting a different story about ACORN. Rush somehow thinks there is vast conspiracy between the sub-prime lenders (say, Countrywide), Bill Ayers, Obama, and ACORN to turn America’s children into anti=capitalists and destroy democracy.”
Yes, I agree. The “conservatives” are getting loonier every day. Any organization that is perceived by them to help minorities is vilified. Sad that these are the ONLY things that get the republican base riled up. (And they wonder why minorities have left their party in droves!)

We all know now that Joe the Plummer is actually a Republicans plant aka “Joe the Republican”. This stunt raises questions about ACORN. What a convenient connection between ACORN and Senator Obama since he was a community organizer. It would be so easy for the Republicans to plant workers within ACORN to manufacture the fraudulent forms. This would create the appearance of a criminal activity and Obama connection. It is strange that we have not seen any actual ACORN field worker involvement. The workers who actually turned this fraudulent forms in. That could be easily tracked. The attempt is to put ACORN the organization on trial. So much could be accomplish by the Republicans from this new stunt; disenfranchise thousands of legal voters, tarnish the image of Senator Obama, and steal some key battleground states, won the election. If this ACORN mess is not resolve within the next 2 weeks, than this theory becomes something more. We all know what happen to our democracy in FL 8 years ago. Those facts are now clear. Most of our recent calamities have been man-made. These are the stunts that causes our calamities. If this is true, don’t blame the Republican. We have no one to blame but ourselves. We got fooled once (2000 via FL) , than twice (2004 via OH) and now here we are in 2008 (via ACORN).

HAVING PERSONALLY RUN A SUCCESSFUL VOTER REGISTRATION EVENT FOR 7 MTHS IN ONE LOCATION…WE SIGNED UP OVER 4,000 NEW VOTERS.WE WERE VOLUNTEERS AND WORKED IN A NON-PARTISAN FASHION.WE ALSO PAID FOR OUE OWN GAS TO GET THERE. I AVERAGED $285.00 PER MONTH.
DURING THE GENERAL ELECTION, WE WERE HARRASSED BY THE UNAUTHORIZED INVASION OF ACORN WORKERS. OUR POSITION WAS HELD EACH WEEKEND IN THE SAME SHOPPING MALL WITH AUTHORIZATION BY THE MALL OWNERS.
ACORN WOULD ENTER THE PREMISES WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION. WE HAD THEM EJECTED BY SECURITY GUARDS EACH TIME THEY INVADED THE MALL. THEY WERE AGGRESSIVE AND SEVERAL SHOP OWNERS WERE INSULTED. THEY TRIED TO INTIMATE THAT THEY WERE WITH THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN IN ORDER TO GAIN ENTRANCE. WE KNEW BETTER BECAUSE WE WERE WITH THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN. OUR VOTER REGISTRATION EFFORTS WERE CONDUCTED WITH NOTHING BUT RESPECT AND HONESTY. WE WERE NOT ALLOWED TO DISPLAY ANY OBAMA BUTTONS,SHIRTS,ETC…OR DISPLAY OBAMA CAMPAIGN MATERIALS.I LOVED THE NON-PARTISAN LEVEL BECAUSE IT GAVE ME THE CHANCE TO LISTEN TO OPINIONS FROM BOTH SIDES OF THIS VERY IMPORTANT AND HISTORIC ELECTION. I ALSO LOVED IT BECAUSE I AM WHITE, ABSOLUTELY DETEST RACISM…AND I HUGGED AND TO THIS DAY HOLD ONTO MY OBTAINED RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY. I LEARNED SOME LESSONS IN THERE..SO MUCH SO…THAT I TOLD A FRIEND..GOD HAD AN ACCIDENT WHEN I WAS BORN…AND DROPPED ME IN A BUCKET OF BLEACH. I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO LOVED AS I WAS BY THESE AMERICANS OF A DIFFERENT COLOR.
JUST LAST WEEK…I LOST A 10 YEAR-WHITE GIRLFRIEND..WE HAVE BEEN THRU SO MANY MEMORIES TOGETHER..NOW…SHE HAS CALLED ME ‘HITLER’ BECAUSE I BELIEVE IN THIS BLACK MAN. MAY GOD HELP US ALL!
I LOVE SENATOR OBAMA AND HIS FAMILY WITH A PASSION. WE DESPERATELY NEED HIS VISION IN THE WHITEHOUSE. SENATOR OBAMA HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH ACORN. IN FACT WE WERE AFRAID OF LOSING OUR MALL LOCATION DUE TO THE FACT THAT MALL GUARDS HAD TO SPEND SO MUCH OF THEIR TIME TOSSING THESE PEOPLE OFF THE PREMISES. THE MALL MANAGEMENT OFFICE LOVED OUR PRESENCE…BECAUSE WE BROUGHT ALL RACES TOGETHER WITHOUT PUSHING ANY SPECIFIC CANDIDATE DOWN THEIR THROAT.