ACORN "is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy."----John McCain
The attack on ACORN is obviously part of the GOP's strategy to create cover for removing voters from the rolls again, like in '00 and '04. The topic is huge and deserves a lot of attention, but first just a couple quick facts on the latest Republican ploy that many conscious Americans are still missing from the mainstream media's coverage:
1) By law ACORN has to turn in a list of ALL new registrants for obvious reasons. They cannot arbitrarily remove names, only report those they think suspicious to election officials.
2) They themselves have alerted election officials about questionable people on their lists.
3) There is not a single case of these "Mickey Mouse" registrants coming to the polls and committing voter fraud. The difference between voter registration lists and actual voter fraud is lost upon the well-paid can't-think-their-way-out-of- a-paper-bag punditocracy.
Eric Alterman and George Zornick have an excellent piece that links to the important work the Brennan Center has done on the issue. There are some very frightening figures on recent voter purges that were not just arbitrary, but secret as well. Also, Mark Crispin Miller has really nailed down this complex, and well organized effort. His Bill Moyers interview is a must see, but he really gets to the nuts and bolts of modern day election rigging, voter purging, and all out disfranchisement on Bob McChesney's Media Matters.
And let's not forget the connection between the U.S. Attorney scandal and the conservative voter fraud agenda. Interestingly, the GOP recently made very publicized allegations that 28 people voted illegally in the New Mexico Democratic primary. ACORN disputed the allegations, and then so did election officials. So Republicans tried to change the subject, even refusing to address these previous allegations when asked. The point isn't about proving any such fraud: It's how the allegations themselves can play into their media strategy, knowing fully well that media "objectivity" will demand two versions of the "truth," plenty of misinformation, and confusion amongst the electorate.
This is all good and well for those devoted to democratic authoritarianism, but much like McCain's desperate and reckless Obama-is-a-terrorist rhetoric, it is causing some easily predictable responses. Are threats on peoples' lives and vandalism surprising when you claim that a terrorist sympathizer running for the office of the president is in league with an organization that "is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country," and "maybe destroying the fabric of democracy"? Why might the people in these interviews respond to a possible Obama presidency thusly: "the black[s] will take over"; "he's not a christian"; "When you got a nigger running for president, he ain't a first stringer"; "he must support terrorists," etc. etc? It couldn't be tactics like those the GOP in Virginia is carrying out to a whole new standard of imbecilic nefariousness.
Note to the McCain camp: Why are deployed military troops giving money to Obama 4 to 1 over John McShame? Aren't they part of the "real-America"?
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