October 20, 2008

By Andrew L. Jaffee, netwmd.com

Barack Obama is desperately trying to distance himself from ACORN, but there’s no question that he is linked to the group. His campaign has even added a page to its website which denies all connections to ACORN, and makes it easy for visitors to copy and paste an obfuscatory sound-byte and email it to their friends. This blurb has already started to show up verbatim all over the Web.

ACORN is becoming an even bigger problem for the Obama camp, as it was revealed by The New York Times that, “Acorn’s top management is separately facing questions over its handling of the embezzlement of $1 million of its money by the brother of the group’s founder.”

Andrew C. McCarthy, writing for the National Review Online, ACORN’s White Horse, Obama to the rescue. pointed out today that Obama’s legal team has concocted a diversionary strategy to get out from under the big, heavy falling ACORN. These lawyers are twisting a supposedly legal issue into a purely political smokescreen meant solely to obscure the truth about the “grass-roots” organization’s nefarious activities. McCarthy provides a mountain of evidence documenting Obama’s relationship to ACORN, shows the extent to which the group has meddled with the voter registration process, and demonstrates how the Obama campaign is obfuscating, for example, trying to blur the lines delineating state and federal laws. The article also contains evidence of the Obama campaign’s disturbing funding sources. You should read the entire article, but I’ve selected some of the best sections below:

… When not scorching the earth to destroy ordinary citizens who have the temerity to ask the messiah blunt questions, or threatening political opponents with prosecution for campaigning against him, or promising war crimes investigations against the opposition party if Americans are daft enough to put his toadies in charge of the Justice Department, Obama comrades can be found editing the amendments to the last modification of their most recently restated campaign-finance reporting errors.

One day the candidate is taking money hand over fist from fictitious supporters like “Good Will” and “Doodad Pro.” The next day, he is illegally raising funds from foreigners (perhaps more than a staggering $63 million), including from Palestinians — who figure a candidate who pours tens of thousands of dollars into the coffers of a terror-supporting former PLO spokesman like Rashid Khalidi is a safe bet to make a prophet out of Jesse Jackson. On still other days, Obama finds himself having to explain his campaign’s misrepresentation of the $800,000 payday it gave his old pals at ACORN. …

Which brings us to ACORN. Obama’s longtime ally is now being investigated in at least 14 different states for election fraud. Cynically, Obama is banking on the fact that most people don’t grasp the state/federal distinction. By taking aim at the Justice Department, his letter obscures the fact that the numerous investigations of ACORN have been undertaken not by DOJ but by state authorities — and in some instances by Democrat law-enforcement officials who find themselves unable to turn a blind-eye to ACORN’s blatant tactics.

For example, in Nevada, where ACORN appears to have submitted thousands of phony voter registrations — including filings on behalf of the Dallas Cowboys’ star players — the FBI participated with other agencies in a raid on ACORN’s Las Vegas office. But the investigation is being run by state authorities, not the feds.

The choice to use the Cowboys makes perfect sense, for when it comes to fraud, ACORN truly is America’s Team. As Jim Hoft details in a useful Pajamas Media account, “The Complete Guide to ACORN Voter Fraud,” state agencies are examining ACORN’s activities not just in Nevada but in North Carolina, Ohio, Indiana, Connecticut, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas, Michigan, and New Mexico (where Iglesias may be gone but ACORN is alive and well).

This year alone, ACORN has filed 1.3 million voter registrations, and already — without thorough scrutiny by forensic law-enforcement investigators — tens of thousands of them are known to be fraudulent. The group, moreover, is known to have bribed voters to register dozens of times and to have hired convicted felons as registration recruiters. …

Cross-posted at netwmd.com and IsraPundit