Fourth Acorn Office Caught in Prostitution Sting Operation

Since I don't think you a total moron, I'm assuming we both know that answer: Politics. Everything--especially when it concerns politically tied and motivated organizations--comes back to politics.

This time it's a Republican win. ACORN's funding will be cut off, states will cut their funding in due course. Nothing will change. Someone else will just come and take their place. The name, legal papers and officers are probably already being considered as we type.

~String

 

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The people who thought up, planned,and funded this are in their early to mid twenties. They had nothing to do with travelgate.

 

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We are talking about the media blitz, the use of this to launch - or continue, actually - a political assault on Acorn. The actual pranksters are almost irrelevant - useful, but not running the show.

And all the other times, going back to Reagan. This is the method of Republican win, since the fringe takeover of that Party.

Their place was not taken before they took it - why so sure about afterwards? And what about their past future?

I have seen serious, long term effects from the accomplishments of the people using this strategy in American politics. It ahs not been mere soup stirring. It has been destructive, created trends and set stages. The people who abet it have much to answer for.

 

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"They had nothing to do with travelgate."

It's Travelgate: The 2nd Degeneration

 

i cannot see how they are helping members of the community by giving out advice like that.

 

some allegations

wade covered up dale's embezzlement
unionization drive led to firings
the irs says they owe money
they sued cali for exemption from minimum wage laws

 

This is America, man

My problem with the ACORN uproar is that, as with so many of our political scandals, all logic and reality go out the window and the problem is juxtaposed against some pristine idyll.

For instance, the voter reg problem. That was a direct result of how ACORN trains and pays its agents. And even beyond ACORN, it's a discussion we need to have in the United States. The idea of voter registration being a political tool isn't inherently disgusting; it works to rally your side and get out the vote. But look where we've gotten. ACORN is actually off the peak of the problem. 2004? The Washington gubernatorial election was insane. It took us how long to figure out who the governor was?

And also in 2004, a Republican-associated firm was nailed destroying voter registrations. Whatever else we might say about partisan focus, I think that episode is indicative that voter registration has become too political a weapon.

Haul the whole thing out into the light. ACORN's funding structure is fair game inasmuch as we examine how its agents are paid. They're creating fantasy voter registrations in order to meet a pay quota. As the cliché goes, Mickey Mouse ain't showing up to vote on Election Day.

There is a problem there, but the actual scandal we saw went right by that and into the paranoia.

With the present scandal, it is indicative of poor personnel training, and yes, ACORN should probably answer for that. While poor training is common in America, this time it's particularly ugly a result. ACORN should certainly be embarrassed, but the scandal is taking place light years away from the real issues. It's about a bizarre, prudish idyll we maintain almost as if specifically for such occasions.

Yet this is America. There is plenty of ugly stuff happening here. So, no, I'm not shocked. I'm not appalled. Remember, people think I hate this country. I would say I'm simply seeing what I see instead of what I'm supposed to see, but given all else, who expects me to think the idyll is remotely real?

I mean, hey, I've got an idea: Why don't we go put this kind of scrutiny on a real child prostitution ring?

No, no. I know. This is so much more entertaining.

This is America, man.

 

I can't disagree with a thing you said.

As I've mentioned umteen times, I'm an HR manager for a large retailer. By the time people beat their path to my door, it usually involves the misbehavior (or perceived misbehavior) of an employee. A majority of the time we were either directly at fault or failed to take the appropriate action in avoiding a negative situation. Should the $20 + billion dollar corporation I work for be shut down as a result of some bad employees? No. We still have to answer for it though.

If I were to do a little Monday morning quarterbacking, I'd say that the CEO of ACORN should have come out, on day one, and thanked (even if she didn't mean it) the kid who did this digging. She should have talked about how "it's because of people like him that we continue to improve our organization." But she wasn't seen. We did get two statements, the last one attacking this reporter as an attack artist, which only made her come off as un-repentant.

~String

 

Excellent analysis. That approach might have gone a long way towards defusing this entire situation for them. Instead they circled the wagons and, as a result, may well lose all their government funding.

 

Tiassa's larger point about registration is well taken.

The Democrats, for years, have been heavily invested in fraudulent registration, fraudulent voting and absentee fun and games. To combat that, the Republicans, for years, have been legally and illegally trying to repress turnout and make it harder to vote.

Now I don't know which came first, it's a chicken or egg kind of thing, but both are playing dirty and neither have the interests of the people or the voters in the foremost of their minds. It all goes back to that old Stalin quote about who counts the votes -- and it's high time this issue really be scrutinized. Unfortunately, the only people capable of the scrutiny are those benefiting from the sham.

 

The delusion of "both sides do whatever it is equally" came first, followed by an automatic (apparently unconscious) description of the Republican perfidy being a reaction or response - "to combat that" - rather than a self-generated, overt, and decades old strategy with other goals altogether.

What the Republican Party has been combating is the wrong people voting and being counted. Not false and illegal and wrongly counted votes, which they have abetted in many ways, but legitimate (and illegitimate) votes by people other than the Republican base.

Just for instance: If the Reps were really worried about fraudulent votes and countings, games with absentee ballots, and so forth, they would not put so much effort into setting up voting systems that enable such abuses - such as the touch screen systems the Republican Party attempted to install nationwide, and strongly resisted being removed.

 

If I encountered those weirdos, I would have played along, they might have been on acid or something, and dangerous. Which seems to be a possibility.

 

I give two shits about your anti-Republican bullshit.