Ken Blackwell the former Secretary of State of Ohio wrote an article for National Review entitled An ACORN Falls from the Tree. He addresses why ACORN is now garnering attention, as it was to be a recipient of ‘Housing Trust Fund’ money earmarked by Democrats in the first version of the economic bill. He goes on to note his own experiences with this radical organization.
As the weekend progressed, reports were constantly emerging of the sticking points preventing a final agreement. One of these reputed points of contention was whether 20 percent of the profit proceedings for asset sales in the future would go to what is called the Housing Trust Fund, subsidizing certain groups for ostensibly nonpartisan activity. One of these groups that this trust supports is ACORN.
ACORN has often been in the news since 2004. Officially, they work to register voters and support housing. In reality, everyone in public life knows that they are hardcore supporters for the Democratic Party, and employ bare-knuckle tactics. Their organization is plagued by repeated investigations of voter fraud and other crimes.
In Ohio, where as secretary of state I oversaw elections for eight years, ACORN has been busy. One ACORN man in Reynoldsburg was indicted on two felony counts of voter fraud, and another was indicted in Columbus. Other such problems surfaced in Cuyahoga County, where criminal investigations are ongoing.
The New York Post notes in their article The Meltdown’s Acorn that Obama is directly connected to ACORN and he said so himself as recently as last November.
“I’ve been fighting alongside ACORN on issues you care about my entire career,” he [Obama] told the group last November.
Indeed, in the early ’90s, Obama was recruited by Talbott herself to run training sessions for ACORN activists.
ACORN also got funding from two charities, the Woods Fund and the Joyce Foundation, when Obama served on their boards, and from the Chicago Annenberg Challenge - the radical “education reform” outfit Obama ran from ‘95 to ‘99.
Ironically, the group stood to be a key beneficiary of the goodies Democrats were loading into Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s rescue plan - including one demand that 20 percent of any profits the feds make from reselling mortgage securities go to fund groups like ACORN.
Stanley Kurtz of National Review article Inside Obama’s Acorn details the aggressive methods of intimidation used by ACORN, as well as a shrewd tactical strategy that has kept them below the radar nationally. Thus ACORN’s radicalism and often illegal behavior garners much less attention than groups like MoveOn or Code Pink who seek the spotlight and in many ways are less radical. Kurtz refers to Sol Stern’s explanation of ACORN and a reply to his explanation by John Atlas and Peter Dreier.
Do Atlas and Dreier dismiss Stern’s catalogue of Acorn’s disruptive and intentionally intimidating tactics as a set of regrettable exceptions to Acorn’s rule of civility? Not a chance. Atlas and Dreier are at pains to point out that intimidation works. They proudly reel off the increased memberships that follow in the wake of high-profile disruptions, and clearly imply that the same public officials who object most vociferously to intimidation are the ones most likely to cave as a result. What really upsets Atlas and Dreier is that Stern misses the subtle national hand directing Acorn’s various local campaigns. This is radicalism unashamed.
But don’t let the disruptive tactics fool you. Acorn is a savvy and exceedingly effective political player. Stern says that Acorn’s key post–New Left innovation is its determination to take over the system from within, rather than futilely try to overthrow it from without. Stern calls this strategy a political version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Take Atlas and Dreier at their word: Acorn has an openly aggressive and intimidating side, but a sophisticated inside game, as well. Chicago’s Acorn leader, for example, won a seat on the Board of Aldermen as the candidate of a leftist “New Party.”
This is a definitively radical organization and Mr. Blackwell correctly states that, “Mr. Obama needs to explain his involvement with them.”
Filed under: Independent, Moderate, Obama, Uncategorized | Tagged: acorn anger, acorn radical, housing trust fund, obama acorn, obama radical
[...] This is a definitively radical organization and Mr. Blackwell correctly states that, “Mr. Obama needs to explain his involvement with them.” More Problems with ACORN and Obama’s Ties to ACORN [...]
[...] This is a definitively radical organization and Mr. Blackwell correctly states that, “Mr. Obama needs to explain his involvement with them.” More Problems with ACORN and Obama’s Ties to ACORN [...]
This man is beyond scary!
McCain/Palin 2008!
[...] This is a definitively radical organization and Mr. Blackwell correctly states that, “Mr. Obama needs to explain his involvement with them.” More Problems with ACORN and Obama’s Ties to ACORN [...]
Are people really scaried of Obama?
HAHAHAHAHAH
I guess if the sun starts falling that means Obama had something to do with it.
This blog is becoming pathetic.
Heavenly - you are just an Obamamaniac - the man will do no wrong in your eyes.
This guy has serious tie connections - you will never see it because you are so desperate to have a black man in office - yes I said it and no I am not prejudice - just calling it like I see it.
Your response has no basis - you can’t even provide an approachable stance - because you have none.
Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.
You are the worst voter out there - uneducated in politics and the world.
[...] More Problems With ACORN and Obama’s Ties to ACORN [...]
HAHAHAHAH
Sparky-”Uneducated in politics and the world” . Wow you can get that from this one comment. Have you even read some of my other comments on this blog?
It’s clear to me what ever Obama does people will see negative parts in it. Me on the other hand knows that no man is perfect not even Obama. But that doesn’t mean that we should go and say he is the cause of everything that is going wrong here in America.
“CRA Only Applies To Federally Insured Banks And Thrifts: CRA did not apply to independent mortgage companies, which were responsible for “half of sub-prime loans.” Only about “one in four sub-prime loans were made by the institutions fully governed by CRA.”
- CRA Institutions Engaged In Less Dangerous Lending: As the president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve points out, “independent mortgage companies, which are not covered by the CRA, made high-priced loans at more than twice the rate of the banks and thrifts.”
- CRA Does Not Encourage Or Condone Bad Lending: According to Ellen Seidman, Director of the U.S Treasury Department’s Office of Thrift Supervision from 1997 to 2001, CRA-covered institutions were warned “that badly underwritten subprime products that ignored consumer protects were not acceptable. Lenders not subject to CRA did not receive similar warnings.”
I don’t know why I even bother to comment here. People here are closed minded anyways.
Wow America really is becoming a better place.-*sacrasm*
You can’t comment. When you use your own words you lose credibility.
When you cut and paste to “try” to project an intelligent viewpoint - you lose credibility.
By the way - your grammar sucks.
We do not want the likes of Obama in the most powerful office of the world – our Whitehouse. He will bring socialism and destruction to America. And he is NOT a Christian. What Obama is – is the precursor to the Anti-Christ. Christian’s don’t criticize Christ as Obama did when he called the Sermon on the Mount a radical message that even our best military personnel couldn’t even live up to. It’s on Youtube if you don’t believe me. No TRUE Christian would say such a thing? First of all, it takes serving Jesus to live up to His Word. The military serves another code and forbids their personnel to pray to Jesus and if the soldier wants to bring a Bible into battle with them they must hide it. I know this from a family member who served in Iraq. Obama is very dangerous – time will prove it – and the people supporting him are just as dangerous because if he doesn’t make it to the Whitehouse in this election I believe he certainly will in the next and the “Pied Piper’s mice” will have put him there.
Anybody associating with or citing to former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell should have to explain that association or willingness to cite. He is a proven radical right abuser of the election laws to skew the results of elections in Ohio, resulting in the election and reelection of our current war criminal president.
Really Arce - where is your proof - becaue it has been known for years (through investigations and indictments) that ACORN has been involved with multiple vote fraud scams across the United States.
You know the same ACORN that Obama worked for before he went to law school as a community organizer and then later on when he represented them as their legal counsel.
Your argument is so weak it is almost laughable given the situation.
Your boy has dirty, dirty, dirty hands.
Fraud and Scams are associated with his name now.
You picked a winner - clean on the outside - dirty on the inside.
Dirty empty suit.
We’ll just say it enough times (kind of like the Palin unintelligent propaganda you spout.
Barack Hussein Obama is a Dirty, dirty Scam Artist.
I thought this site is for people in the middle.
Answer me this then, what exactly do we mean by “radical”. I have been searching online for these reported Acorn and Obama connections and genuinely want an unbiased and objective take on it. So far all I have found is noise from the usual right-side mouthpieces. Not that there isn’t already agenda from that side, but I’d rather make up my own mind about it.
This read from one side to me, imho.
Angelica - this is an indepedent voters site that has researched both candidates and determined that Obama has way to much baggage surrounding him.l
So the moderator has decided to vote for McCain.
In regards to the ACORN/ Obama relationship - I’m not sure what you are looking for - if you go to Search and type in Acorn Obama you will chance upon thousands of stories relating to the relationship.
Unfortunately, I suspect you are probably leaning toward Obama and you are searching for a story that you want to find “your” end result.
No sugar coating here. It is what it is.
You may choose to have an open mind and review and determine for yourself or move on in search of your chosen result..
Good luck.
I assume this group has already checked into it, but it’s very related to the Obama-ACORN connections and radical ‘alliances’, (not just associations).
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/09/barack_obama_and_the_strategy.html
Hi Angelica,
I’d recommend reading Stanley Kurtz’s articles at NationalReview.com . National Review is a conservative publication, but it is also a reputable one. Mr. Kurtz has been at the forefront in researching the Obama Ayers connection, and has been repeatedly denied access to documents. I certainly would never recommend anyone get their news just from one source particularly online, but I do believe that is a good place to start.
Wow! This Acorn thing really has blown up out of poporsion.
As for you Sparky, this moderater obviously wasnt going to vote for Obama if he’s gonna say he has to much “baggage” to be president.
Knowing full well that has nothing to do with his plans nor what he stand for as a democrat presidental cannidate.
“Baggage”???……..I don’t see how that has anything to do with his plans or message.
On a serious note, the republicans should be the LAST PEOPLE ON EARTH complaing about voter fraud.
Considering that they stole the 2000 and 2004 elections.
But what ever.
As you said Sparky:
“it is what it is”
Here’s a good factual source for Obama’s “links” to ACORN: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/11/us/politics/11acorn.html?scp=1&sq=obama%20acorn&st=cse
“Lewis Goldberg, a spokesman for Acorn, said Mr. Obama conducted two leadership training sessions of roughly an hour each for Acorn’s Chicago affiliate over a three-year period in the late 1990s. He was not paid for that work, Mr. Goldberg said.”
Here is a more interesting article about voter SUPPRESSION, which also documents the using the false registration fraud campaign to distract from voter suppression: http://www.slate.com/id/2166589/
References in this article link the US Attorney firing scandals to the fraud, and provide references that after 5 years the DOJ was unable to document substantial evidence of voter fraud.
Obama’s registration effort is called the Campaign for Change. The CFC has not been accused of a single registration violation.
http://www.slate.com/id/2202428?nav=wp
“Large-scale, coordinated vote stealing doesn’t happen. The incentives—unlike the incentives for registration fraud—just aren’t there. In an interview this week with Salon, Lorraine Minnite of Barnard College, who has studied vote fraud systematically, noted that “between 2002 to 2005 only one person was found guilty of registration fraud. Twenty others were found guilty of voting while ineligible and five were guilty of voting more than once. That’s 26 criminal voters.” Twenty-six criminal voters despite the fact that U.S. attorneys, like David Iglesias in New Mexico, were fired for searching high and low for vote-fraud cases to prosecute and coming up empty. Twenty-six criminal voters despite the fact that five days before the 2006 election, then-interim U.S. Attorney Bradley Schlozman exuberantly (and futilely) indicted four ACORN workers, even when Justice Department policy barred such prosecutions in the days before elections. RNC General Counsel Sean Cairncross has said he is unaware of a single improper vote cast because of bad cards submitted in the course of a voter-registration effort. Republican campaign consultant Royal Masset says, “[I]n-person voter fraud is nonexistent. It doesn’t happen, and … makes no sense because who’s going to take the risk of going to jail on something so blatant that maybe changes one vote?”
I love this!
The complete ignorance of political system is awesome! No wonder we have so many stupid voters.
very simple
Acorn helps people fill out forms. You’ve seen them, they hang out the malls. They actually helped me re-register because I moved. I checked online, I’m good.
Then those forms get sent to local registration boards, and get approved or rejected.
This is the crime. Not an Obama/ McCain issue. It’s a wow these people decided to be idiots and have delayed our process.
The big fear is that people who are suppose to vote may not,
but certainly there will be no voters who aren’t suppose to that will be.
I mean if you want to talk about actual party crimes when it comes to voting we can just look at what Bush did to Gore in 00 (by the way I voted for Bush in 00 so its ain’t like that)
Gee Lyla, let me guess, you must live next door to Mickey, Minnie and the Dallas Cowboys too.,,,because ACORN helped them register. As a matter of fact they helped people move into a condo (all 2000 of them) in Ohio so that they can register when they were coming in from another state.
Fraud, fraud, dirty, dirty fraud.