The Whole Truth
By Mitch Berg
I remember discussing the Obama/ACORN link, and some of the allegations against ACORN, before and immediately after the election – and especially after allegations surfaced that ACORN was going to directly and indirectly benefit from Porkulus – and being told “There’s just no story!”. (“Told” was, let’s just say, a nice way of putting it – it was usually more of a “sneer”).
And I’d look at the evidence on the one hand, and see and hear what I was being told on the other, and wonder – why don’t these people think this is a problem?
I realized it when I read this bit the other day; when the New York Times claims that it’s “All The News That’s Fit To Print”, American lefties just take that very, very literally; if it doesn’t appear in the NYTimes, then it must not be news:
Acknowledging what the blogosphere has known for weeks, the New York Times finally went on record to admit that just before last Election Day it killed a politically sensitive news story involving corruption allegations that might have made the Obama campaign look bad.
But the admission on Sunday, which came seven months after NYT staff reporter Stephanie Strom’s reporting about possibly illegal coordination between the Obama campaign and ACORN last year, took the form of a snarky column from Clark Hoyt, the Old Gray Lady’s “public editor.” Hoyt used the word “nonsense” to describe the allegations of impropriety leveled against ACORN and the Obama campaign.
Read the whole thing.
And observe the pattern,which follows Bill Clinton’s old pattern for dealing with issues; Deny, Delay, Destroy (or at least Denigrate). It’s a pattern every lefty, in the media and politics, big and small (remember how the Minnesoros Monitor/”Independent” reacted to allegations they were on George Soros’ payroll? delays, denials and, finally, snark?).
Eventually America will get tired of getting led, and informed, by a pack of ethical greased-pigs who learned english from Jon Stewart.
Won’t they?
Ya gotta have faith.
May 21st, 2009 at 8:38 am
All the news that fits the narrative.
May 21st, 2009 at 8:59 am
Why has ACORN received millions of dollars over the past 15 years?
May 21st, 2009 at 1:22 pm
And why was John McCain a supporter of ACORN? Clearly this is an organization that needs to better police itself, for having paid individuals to promote voter registration when they obviously didn’t register actual living breathing people. It does not appear that this is a distinctly democratic or even liberal organization, having had the support from a broader base for the legitimate purpose of promoting genuine voter registration. Assisting people to register to vote is no guarantee of determining HOW they vote or for whom.
It does not appear that any of the bogus paperwork to register people dishonestly ever resulted in either an actual registration being accepted, OR an attempt by anyone to vote illegally. Personally I wouldn’t support an organization that is so lax in how it spends funds, and I don’t think anyone else should either. I suggest that their sloppiness should earn them a review by the IRS tax exempt organizations division to determine if they should continue as a not for profit for not conforming to their own rules about registering voters and how they spend their donations. It certainly wouldn’t break my heart to see ACORN go away.
But beyond that this seems like a very small tempest inside a very small tea pot, and just not the damning conspiracy that it has been portrayed to be.
May 21st, 2009 at 1:39 pm
“It does not appear that this [ACORN] is a distinctly democratic or even liberal organization, ”
You’ve got to be joking.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDZiMjkwMDczZWI5ODdjOWYxZTIzZGIyNzEyMjE0ODI=
May 21st, 2009 at 3:28 pm
MoN:
“http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDZiMjkwMDczZWI5ODdjOWYxZTIzZGIyNzEyMjE0ODI”
Read it – and found it interesting, thank you. (sincerely)
What I read did not actually find anything improper done by Obama, and at least some of the conduct that was indicated as objectionable was attributed to the actions by a previous organization that was viewed as similar.
The article did clearly point out that there was a NON-partisan branch to ACORN, as well as a partisan branch. The voter registration activities have actually been supported by people across a range of political idealogies. According to the article – ACORN according to the article was found to respect and abide by the rules regulating that separation. I would agree with the recommendation that the separation of the partisan and non-partisan ought to be stronger; preferably into two entirely separate entities.
I repeat, to the extent that there is anything improper in the actions of anyone, including ACORN supporters or employees, in protesting something, they should be prosecuted appropriately under the existing laws. If anyone is using funds inappropriately – again, let them be dealt with fairly by legal means, including the IRS. If that isn’t being done, then you should be addressing your displeasure to the enforcement entities to advocate for them doing their jobs.
In the scope of bad conduct, this is so much smaller in scale and significance, compared to oh, say the fraud committed by organizations such as AIG (or whatever they are calling themselves this week in an effort to rebrand) that it is less important to me, relatively. Given that caveat as to relative scale, I share your objection to thuggish goon-like behavior that attempts to steamroll others.
May 21st, 2009 at 10:18 pm
“In the scope of bad conduct, this is so much smaller in scale and significance, compared to oh, say the fraud committed by organizations such as AIG (or whatever they are calling themselves this week in an effort to rebrand) that it is less important to me, relatively.”
I see, MadDog. Voter fraud is such an insignificant infraction vs AIG fraud. Oh, wait, exactly what fraud did AIG commit? What law did they break?
May 22nd, 2009 at 5:30 am
Dog Gone, I am mystified how anything AIG has done or you think that they have done compares to voter fraud. In order for a vote to count, it must be cast by a registered voter. Do you have any idea how having an extra thousand or three registrations can be used to sway local elections? Voter fraud is the fuel that feeds political corruption.