I get very excited when my more politically conservative friends respond to my posts. I actually get sad when those friends don’t respond to my posts at all. It feels like I’m preaching to a choir, that I am not getting the diversity of opinion I need to be a fully rational thinking citizen. When I make a new post based on what my conservative friends say, I am not singling them out to be ridiculed. I have no wish to belittle or dehumanize them for their political beliefs. If I can’t engage my fellow American citizens in dialogue, what hope do I have of doing it across nations and divided peoples?
So in that spirit, I am happy to receive this latest comment to my post on the Low Calorie Palin Power Scandal from Facebook:
“I’m pretty sure every person in any seat of power has practiced nepotism or abuse of some sort. Like getting a speeding ticket taken care of by a “friend” in the force. And this is really reaching as far as “corruption” goes. Now how about this Obama/Acorn thing? Has the media already dismissed that as mere coincidence?”
I wouldn’t look at it quite the findings of the Branchflower report (which you may download via the link at the bottom of this page) that lightly, because whatever the degree of occurrence, its still wrong. The thing in Palin’s case is that the evidence is weak and the “verdict” isn’t all that sensational or relevant to the election (for me, anyway).The Obama/Acorn thing… Has the media dismissed it? I assume you mean specific media outlets. I looked it up, because I hadn’t heard of it getting the bulk of my news from BBC. So here’s what I found in a New York Times article about the Acorn lawsuit against the state of Illinois.
“In 1995, Mr. Obama was on a team of lawyers that represented Acorn in a lawsuit to compel Illinois to comply with federal laws intended to enhance access to the polls. The team also represented Equip for Equality, a group that promotes the rights of the disabled, and four individuals…In fact, the Justice Department was on the same side as Acorn in the lawsuit, as were other organizations, including the League of Women Voters. Those plaintiffs won the case.”
The $832,598 payment the Obama campaign made to Citizen Services Inc., an organization linked to Acorn:
“The Obama campaign initially reported that the payment was for “staging, sound, lighting” and other advance work when it reported its expenditures with the Federal Election Commission. It filed amended reports in August and September to reflect that those payments were for get-out-the-vote efforts.”
I don’t know if there’s significant proof that Acorn is actively and knowingly involved in voter fraud, but this seems to be the extent of Obama’s ties to the organization. The organization has endorsed Obama, but politicians shouldn’t be held accountable for who endorses them (unless they have actively sought that endorsement, like McCain and John Hagee). There really is no proof that Obama was promoting criminal activity with this organization and all of his experiences with this organization have been legal and pretty standard.
Filed under: 2008 Presidential Election, Response to Comments, US Politics | Tagged: acorn, barack obama, john mccain, voter fraud
Surrealist, transitioning environmentalist, faux-liberal, wanna be artsy indie hipster, occasional self-hating Neo-Luddite, post-Orientalism constructivist, pro-theist agnostic(ish) Christian and Miami native gone rogue in DC.
Rezko, Wright, Raines, Ayers … and now Acorn!!! This is over the top. Obama’s a fraud and should not be allowed anywhere near the White House.
I get the feeling that maybe you didn’t read anything I just wrote…or read very much at all
Chris, didn’t Obama represent Acorn in lawsuits seeking to compel banks to make noncreditworthy loans?
I have searched for proof of such a claim and could not find any. Nearly every news source that isn’t reporting on the accusation echoes the NYT article I referenced above. Please READ that, because I don’t think you have.
Yes, there are news stories about the accusation that Obama represented Acorn in such a lawsuit, but I have not seen any proof to bolster those accusations.
I will repeat that, I cannot find any PROOF only ACCUSATIONS. If you have PROOF that I have missed, then please bring it forward.
The Daily Kos had a post that had some insight into the topic: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/12/83238/044. It argues that the Acorn debacle won’t ultimately have any effect on the outcome of the election. Essentially, even if volunteers who want to look good register a bunch of fictional people, those fictional people are still not going to show up to vote on election day; it isn’t voter fraud, it’s voter *registration* fraud, and there’s a big difference. Definitely worth a read.
If Obama is paying Acorn for get-out-the-vote services, and Acorn falsifies voter registration documents that won’t translate to ballots cast, then the person really getting screwed here is Obama, not the American public. There’s no political gain for him, and he gets linked to the unethical, short-sighted mistakes of someone else.
That is a very good and insightful article, thanks so much for posting it.
[...] say that perhaps Obama’s interactions were greater than he lead on. However, I’ve done my own research on that matter and have found nothing to suggest that Obama’s involvement was anything but [...]