I don't know what the penalties under the law are, but with the stories about people being hounded to register multiple times, I'd like to not only see their funding cut off, but a lot of people do jail time.
[Update mid afternoon]
Geraghty has more:
So we have an organization that has been joined at the hip with Obama from the beginning of his career, whose members have been convicted in Washington state, Wisconsin and Colorado, and had various forms of reprimand, investigation, indictment, and other run-ins with the law and state election authorities in Virginia, Texas, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Ohio, New Mexico, North Carolina, Missouri, Michigan, Florida, Arkansas. Perhaps most disturbingly, the organization has repeatedly entrusted convicted felons with voters' most sensitive personal information, sort of a small business assistance program for aspiring identity thieves.
Is it time for Americans to tell ACORN to get out of their faces? Or perhaps for law enforcement to get into their faces? Or perhaps some media entity should get in Obama's face about why one of his longtime allies keeps coming up in investigations of vote fraud?
If people don't care about Bill Ayers, they should certainly care about this. It's happening right now, less than a month before the election, not when Barack Obama was eight years old.
Regarding the penalties under the law, this blog entry on politico puts it in perspective. The essential point is that there is a difference between voter fraud and voter registration fraud, the first is serious, the second is not.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1008/Two_kinds_of_fraud.html?showall
ACORN is very active in West Virginia.
I think that may explain this:
http://americanresearchgroup.com/pres2008/WV08.html
If you believe those ARG WV numbers anonytroll, I have some prime beachfront property in Kansas I will sell you real cheap.
Just days after John McCain scaled back his campaign in Michigan, a new Rasmussen Reports survey of voters there shows Barack Obama with a 16-point lead on his Republican opponent.
You just know that any attempt to stop this will be met with "disenfranchise" claims. The stories are already written. And they don't need to be right to make the claim. In fact, that may get in the way of their umbrage.
I think it is clearly more nefarious ACORN operatives at work in Michigan.
I think they have also infiltrated the pollsters, such as ARG. How else can VA, CO, NC, IA, WI be going for the black guy? Or Palin's unfavourables now lead her favorables by over 12 points?
[Of course remember that this may change when Mike Puckett's tape on whitey comes out.]
No wonder McCain brought ACORN up today, at the urging of his audience who were simulataneously glued to talk radio blasting out in their free ear. This election is being stolen by socialists, immigrants, commies, fags, pinkos, environazis, lefties and Rachel Maddow.
Not even a hypothetical stunt such as offering to buy up all the bad mortgages by the government would probably work when ACORN has infiltrated the heartland.
-Anonymous II
"[Of course remember that this may change when Mike Puckett's tape on whitey comes out.]"
I wish it were my tape, that would be worth a cabinet level appointment.
If you like polls, you should check the RCP averages. Obama's lead is shrinking.
Grasping. At. Straws.
No one cares, haven't you figured that out? Just like Ayers. Most folks just aren't that concerned about associations. Reasonable people don't assign guilt by association, at least not on these pretty flimsy examples. I mean, no one is punishing McCain for "palling around" with the likes of Exalted Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan Robert Byrd (not pals? Why is that important...after all, they've worked in the same chamber together for many years!) or being buds with Strom "The Heck with Them Black Folk" Thurmond, and Charles Keating....
I guess it's a wash.
I hope McCain actually makes more Ads with Ayers and even Wright.
There are some great ads on McCain's associations available, and these aren't guilt by association, they are guilt by guilt. And a fantastic one on McCain's rage that should set everyone on edge. And an excellent one possible on Palin which has the AIP director talking about her as a sleeper agent [Mudflats] for secession. These aren't just suppositions - they are facts!!
There might be a small blip in Obama's numbers downwards but they will come back up. And it will be semi-sad-fun to see McCain completely destroy his credibility and reputation. It's his choice; loos like he wants to go there. He's not much for control of his emotions, so he will.
Although the electorate may not care, when it matters, they may care quite a bit this time next year.
If O'Messiah can't deliver on his hopey-change stuff, the political value of this info will increase. A restive population, whose hopey-changes have dashed themselves upon the cruel rocks of reality, will be looking outside themselves for a scapegoat.
These past associations will be tools of manipulation of the handsome, self-described Rohrshach Inkblot.
Here's a Paean to cheer Rand Up - He doesn't like Sean Hannity either.
A complete change of topic, if I may kindly beg your forbearance.
Ode to Sean Hannity
by John Cleese
Aping urbanity
Oozing with vanity
Plump as a manatee
Faking humanity
Journalistic calamity
Intellectual inanity
Fox Noise insanity
You're a profanity
Hannity
Gotta luv campaign fantasy wet dreams like the oft cited non-existant Michelle Obama "Whitey Tape" Points for posting the most creative excuse explaining why it fails to surface before the election. Dogs eating the tape is out.
There is so much real information of concern about Obama's questionable associations and his repeated lack of judgement that fantasy tapes distract from the issues.
Love the ode to Sean Hannity.
I don't get why the McCain campaign, Republicans, or conservatives in general would go after ACORN or Ayers on the Woods Foundation. They were both funded by one of their own, Walter Annenberg, a billionaire Republican who introduced Reagan to Thatcher. Obama may have served on a board with Ayers and may have represented ACORN in court. But it was Annenberg who put Ayers on that board, and it was Annenberg who provided the funds to keep ACORN and the Woods Foundation going. If this is really all so bad, why aren't conservatives denouncing Annenberg's legacy -- he's way more responsible than Obama for any of these alleged evils.
Joe, all foundations turn liberal over time, the prime example being the Ford Foundation. My dad worked for a "conservative" John T. Macarthur, and his foundation, although younger, is also following the same pattern. Ditto for other liberal hangouts, such as news (i.e., Fox News) and academia. The founders, being dead here, are not to blame. Nice try.
"The founders, being dead here, are not to blame. Nice try."
Annenberg was alive during the tenure of both Ayers and Obama -- he picked them, not to mention funding these organizations through his foundation (which continues to be run by family members today).
I'm not trying to tar Annenberg, whose record of fighting corruption and supporting generous philanthropy stands on its own. I just don't understand why, if Ayers and ACORN are such terrible transgressions, arrows are being shot in Obama's direction but not Annenberg's.
I just don't understand why, if Ayers and ACORN are such terrible transgressions, arrows are being shot in Obama's direction but not Annenberg's.
I hate to belabor the obvious, but it seems to be necessary. I understand that it may be a stretch for your mental capacity, but consider the possibility that Annenberg is not running for president.
@ Mr. Blow -
I'm going to go out on a limb, and suggest that unlike certain parties speaking from Chicagoan pulpits, conservatives do not, *in general,* deify still-living humans. We all make mistakes, and Annenberg's just happens to be a screwup of somewhat larger proportions than most. I don't know Annenberg, or his work. I do read history and news, though - and Ayers should be damned grateful to whatever he does worship, that conservatives do not, *in general,* go for the whole "direct action!" bit he apparently enjoyed so much, either.
"I hate to belabor the obvious, but it seems to be necessary. I understand that it may be a stretch for your mental capacity,"
There's no need to throw insults. I've thrown none at you.
"but consider the possibility that Annenberg is not running for president."
It has nothing to do with who is or is not running for President. Either Ayers is or is not a threat to our nation's security. Either ACORN is or is not a major threat to the integrity of our states' voting systems. If the answer to either of these questions is affirmative, then someone should be calling the Annenberg Foundation to the mat for why they're selecting these people and funding these organizations. If Ayers and ACORN are evil enough to warrant the persecution of a Presidential campaign by association, surely they're evil enough to warrant the persecution of the major philanthropic entity that directly selected and funded them.
Get used to it, Joe. This is a standard Simbergian response to anyone who does not share his particular brand of Wingnuttiness.
Bring back medieval stocks.