Thursday, October 9, 2008

Have You Heard of Acorn?



They're registering people to vote over and over! What a fraudulous thing to do! One man admits to signing up around 72 times! With only 26 days left until this presidential election, someone has to fix this!

6 comments:

MissCaron said...

Hi friend! Thanks for this post today ... I had heard bits and pieces but didn't realize how serious this was ... goodness. I've linked to you today ... thank you for not being afraid to get the word out :-)

Julie said...

I just don't even know what to say about this.
My mind is reeling from all that's going through it, right now.....
disgusting, typical Democrats.
Oooops, guess I let my political leanings slip...
Blessings,
Julie

Jenny said...

No problems, ladies. I was listening to Fox & Friends talking about Acorn this morning and felt I had to post. It looks to me like this election is going to be more of a cluster---- than the hanging chad, etc. one. Was that 2000 or 2004? Anywho, you know what I mean.

Blessings you guys,
Jen

Anonymous said...

This is interesting but why am I experiencing a strange feeling of déjà vu? Oh, because in 2000 and 2004, each time in October with less than a month to go before the presidential election, the same charges were made against ACORN by Republicans. And each time, it was a stunt. And thanks to voter amnesia and people too lazy to do a little research, here we go again.

So, let's look at 2004. Between 2000 and 2004, ACORN registered 1.15 million voters in 26 states. In October of 2004, Republicans alleged fraud in battleground states, including Colorado, Florida, Ohio, and Wisconsin, with lots of publicity and fanfare. A year after the election -- you won't believe this -- none of those allegations turned out to be true. But you don't have to believe me. Read this: http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/1214-09.htm. I guess Fox missed that story.

Was there voter fraud between 2000 and 2004? You betcha! Don't you remember when James Tobin, New England Chairman of Bush's re-election campaign, was convicted of jamming Democrats' Get-Out-The-Vote phone lines? I guess not. And I guess Fox & Friends missed that story, too. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/12/16/ap/politics/mainD8EH1AQGA.shtml.

In fact, it turns out that Republicans had also demanded that US Attorney David Iglesias of New Mexico announce allegations of fraud by ACORN in October of 2004. He investigated and refused to make any such allegations, finding no evidence of fraud. And he wound up being one of the US Attorneys fired by Alberto Gonzalez. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/opinion/21iglesias.html. The Justice Department's Inspector General later found that Iglesias was fired for only that reason. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008214699_usattorneys30m0.html. Same thing happened to US Attorney John McKay in Washington State when he refused to seek charges against ACORN in October of 2004. As he said, "There was no evidence, and I am not going to drag innocent people in front of a grand jury." He was fired, too. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003615329_mckay13m.html. I guess Fox missed those stories, too.

Now, these latest charges? Well, don't take it from me. In Montana, Federal District Court Judge Donald Molloy, who was hearing these baseless challenges in that state, wrote that, "The timing of these challenges is so transparent that it defies common sense to believe the purpose is anything but political chicanery." http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/10/09/news/local/news03.txt. Yesterday, Republican officials withdrew those bogus challenges to voter registrations. Fox News sure misses a lot of stories! But why doesn't Fox News at least remember making the exact same reports four years ago and four years before that? Obviously, "common sense" is hard to come by these days.

Between 2004 and 2008, ACORN has registered 1.3 million new voters. Over those four years, rare allegations of voter fraud have been dealt with swiftly and sternly, with ACORN flagging suspicious registrations, bringing them to the attention of officials, and fully cooperating with authorities to convict the guilty. In Nevada and Missouri, ACORN has attempted for four years to flag suspicious voter registrations for election officials, often sending them multiple copies of suspicious registrations. Nothing was done. Is it worth noting here that ACORN is required by law to turn in every voter registration form it collects, even if it is plainly fraudulent? Anyway, in July of this year, ACORN set up a meeting in Nevada with Clark County elections officials and a representative of the Secretary of State’s office to urge them to take action on voter fraud. Again, nothing was done. Until now, a month before the election after registration is closed, when ACORN is needlessly raided in Las Vegas and is at the center of a highly publicized and politicized investigation in Missouri. And Ohio. And Indiana. Strangely, though ACORN has workers in 26 states and tens of thousands of employees and volunteers, it seems it is investigated only in battleground states. In October. With a lot of publicity. This would all be such an incredible October Surprise if it didn't happen every single presidential election year, with ACORN vindicated each time after the election.

All the shocked, inflammatory reactions, political amnesia, and poor research on the part of certain people aside, want some real stories about voter fraud? How about tens of thousands of people being illegally purged from the rolls in nineteen states? http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/us/politics/09voting.html. How about Republican Colorado officials falsely and illegally telling students they can't vote? http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/53024.html. Or how about the same exact thing being done in Virginia? http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/08/education/08students.html. And in Washington State? http://www.marshallnewsmessenger.com/hp/content/shared/news/stories/2008/10/VOTING_COLLEGE05_1STLD_COX.html. Why no posts about these incidents?

Oh, what's the point? No need to engage in actual research or even simply to remember the same thing happening every presidential election year, always in October, before expressing incredulity at these charges. Fox News will tell us all the truth we need to know, right?

Yes, someone has to fix this! These October Surprises are no longer a surprise. They have become a normal part of our political process except that some people still fall for the same old tricks. I think the solution may be a well-informed citizenry that has a working memory and won't put up with criminal abuses of power by officials for the sake of political gain. So I guess that means we are doomed.

Blessings,
stoogepie

Jenny said...

How can they be vindicated though when you plainly have evidence of a 7 year old, a cat, Mickey Mouse, Tony Romo, a man registered 72 times, a woman harrassed until she signed 12 times etc. happening? I just watched an interview of a female Acorn worker who said she tells people to vote for Obama, and she says the people say they will. It's repulsive. I guess it's just a huge coincidence that the majority of this is happening in swing states, huh?

Anonymous said...

@Jenny: Four things First, people will say a lot of smart and wonderful things when you stick a camera in their faces. Second, ACORN hires people and sometimes people do stupid and dishonest things. That's terrible, I know. Believe it or not, this has even happened to our president! He hires some people and they do stupid and dishonest things. Those people should be prosecuted as they have in the past. That does not mean that ACORN (or the president) is systematically committing fraud. Third, believe it or not, if someone presents a voter registration card to ACORN, it has a legal obligation to turn that card in. It has no choice. ACORN's policy is to hand over cards it suspects are fraudulent in a separate batch flagged for election officials. They get a lot of crazy cards. Fourth, I highly doubt that Mickey Mouse or any cats are going to show up to vote for anyone on election day, even if lazy elections officials register them. So some people filled out stupid voter registration applications. Every election official in the country sees dozens and dozens of those fraudulent cards that someone thought was funny. How does this either implicate ACORN or affect the process?

And maybe you disagree, but it's not illegal to tell people how to vote. It's perfectly fine for canvassers to stand on a street corner and say, "Would you like to register to vote for John McCain?" I passed one just yesterday. Many pastors tell their congregations how to vote. That may be repulsive to you, but it's legal.