ACORN - the truth

Much huffing and puffing about 'voter fraud' as McCain's campaign falls over. For those interested....

Now watch this. Republicans are demonising ACORN - but the real vote suppression culprits are not ACORN at all.


Steal Back Your Vote! from Greg Palast on Vimeo.

Newsweek has an analysis from factcheck.org

'The McCain-Palin campaign accuses ACORN, a community activist group that operates nationwide, of perpetrating "massive voter fraud." It says Obama has "long and deep" ties to the group. We find both claims to be exaggerated. But we also find Obama has understated the extent of his work with the group.
Neither ACORN nor its employees have been found guilty of, or even charged with, casting fraudulent votes. What a McCain-Palin Web ad calls "voter fraud" is actually voter registration fraud. Several ACORN canvassers have been found guilty of faking registration forms and others are being investigated. But the evidence that has surfaced so far shows they faked forms to get paid for work they didn't do, not to stuff ballot boxes'.

In other words, ACORN has been defrauded, by a few of its employees, who've been paid after they filled in voter registration forms with the names of Dallas Cowboys stars and Disney characters, rather than bother to go out and register real people. Filling in forms falsely is not the same as fraudulent voting. It would only be fraudulent voting if Micky Mouse and the Dallas Cowboys turned up and repeatedly voted.

This diary from Daily Kos shows how those most likely to vote Democrat - young people, students, first time voters, poor people, ethnic minorities - are being systematically disenfranchised, especially in swing states, as part of a Republican strategy to remain in power.

When people make outrageous accusations - it's quite often the case that they are guilty themselves of what they accuse you of. The person calling 'fraud! liar! bully!' may well turn out to be the fraud, liar and bully themselves for example. So we see the Republicans cry 'vote fraud!' and 'foul', or complain that the Democrats are running a negative campaign, or whatever, it is enlightening to see what they are up to. Projection, projection. Normal people are most likely to use projection when feeling threatened; the narccisistic or sociopathic personality type employs it most of the time.

I can see why the Republicans feel threatened; they have been outgunned by a passionate army of networked enthusiasts, who have raised far more money and registered far more voters. And they are also at the mercy of financial world events. All they have left is fear-mongering and muck-chucking. I want them to implode spectacularly. Because of their relentless lies, their sociopathic disregard for anything other than profit, and their relentless human rights abuses including the widespread use of torture. There needs to be a landslide, big enough to smash through the attempts at vote fraud, an avalanche of votes and voices to sweep away the stench of blood and oil and corruption and to send a message out: no more, this is not America, you are not us. And then maybe conservative Americans can rebuild their party, shorn of free-market extremists and theocratic fascists

Meanwhile, thankfully, someone has been arrested for real, proper voter fraud. A Republican. Will this shut up the ACORN nonsense McCain's campaign is spewing ? No, of course not. But the message is getting out; CNN showed voting machines that switched to 'McCain' when you pressed 'Obama' last night. Armies of lawyers are assembling. This time, the vote will not be stolen, and the people will speak and be heard.