Firedoglake Joins Axis of ACORN
My FDL co-blogger Pach explains: "ACORN's Chief Organizer Bertha Lewis thanks the organization's allies and defenders, including Firedoglake. She also asks New York State residents to vote for Obama under the Working Families Party line, row E, to help support other staunch progressives and community organizers." As one of the many FDL bloggers who have been hard at work dispelling the McCain campaign's myths and smears about ACORN over the past few weeks, I couldn't be more proud.
I might have to buy one of these, coincidentally featured today on one of my favorite baking blogs, Baking Bites.
Myths and smears? That's a strange way to describe leaked internal memos about misuse of funds.
Posted by: darren | October 28, 2008 at 06:06 PM
Darren, that didn't come from the McCain campaign. What you're talking about came from a media report about an ACORN staff lawyer expressing concerns that ACORN couldn't prove that ACORN and its sister organization, Project Vote, weren't co-mingling funds. The laywer didn't allege that any such thing was going on, she just argued that adequate internal controls weren't in place to prove that it wasn't, should anyone ask any questions.
ACORN passed a bunch of good government measures a couple weeks ago to manage its finances more rigorously. Good.
That story had nothing to do with the integrity of the election of the McCain campaign's bizarre conspiracy theory about how ACORN is scheming to steal votes around the country.
Posted by: Lindsay Beyerstein | October 28, 2008 at 06:20 PM
That story had nothing to do with the integrity of the election of the McCain campaign's bizarre conspiracy theory about how ACORN is scheming to steal votes around the country.
Using untaxed donations intended for non-partisan purposes for partisan funds has "nothing to do" with the integrity of the election?
Posted by: darren | October 29, 2008 at 02:42 PM
"for partisan funds" -> for partisan purposes
Posted by: darren | October 29, 2008 at 02:43 PM
Uh, no. The McCain campaign isn't even alleging that there's any connection. The McCain smear is that ACORN is undermining democracy because some canvassers registered imaginary voters.
The internal memo story has nothing to do with voter registration.
The memo said that ACORN couldn't prove that money wasn't being co-mingled. It didn't allege that a single penny had been misspent. ACORN has already enacted internal controls to address the problems raised in the internal memo. So, the election is safe on that front.
Posted by: Lindsay Beyerstein | October 29, 2008 at 02:58 PM