Lies and the Lying Liars Exposed
Yesterday Media Matter for America released a well-researched report showing that conservatives have repeatedly resorted to blaming ACORN in place of substantive discussions of causes and solutions, even where the organization has little or nothing to do with the issue.
For us at ACORN, the findings in this report come as no surprise. Since the 2008 election, when ACORN became the focus of a coordinated series of attacks from partisan operatives seeking to derail then-candidate Obama's presidential campaign, we've become something of a beast of mythic proportions, casting magic spells, mesmerizing elected officials and the traditional media, all the while destroying the fabric of democracy one strand at a time.
Specifically we've been accused of everything from causing the global financial meltdown to getting billions in Federal payouts to voter fraud to manipulation of the US Census. As I said back in January, this is all just a big bag of overheated partisan fever dreams. Media Matters took the time to cut through the right-wing bamboozlement chorus with some cold hard facts. Here are a couple of examples from the report.
Global Financial Meltdown
Conservative media figures repeatedly invoked the specter of ACORN when discussing the causes of the financial crisis. For example, several in the media have claimed, suggested, or uncritically reported that ACORN contributed to the housing crisis by "bullying" banks into irresponsible lending to minorities. In many instances, media figures asserted that the group used the threat of the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) to intimidate banks into making risky loans. But as Media Matters documented, the media-promoted myth that the financial crisis was caused by banks lending irresponsibly to comply with the CRA has been widely discredited. According to housing experts, a large number of subprime loans were not made under the CRA, which applies only to depository institutions.
Billions in Government Money
In their coverage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the conservative media latched on to the false Republican talking point that the bill would provide funding for ACORN. In fact, the act does not mention ACORN or otherwise single it out for funding; ACORN itself has said that it is ineligible for the funds and has no plans to apply for them.
But, of course, silly little inconvenient things facts have never really stopped our right-wing friends from indulging in their creative writing exercises. The latest bit of nonsense comes from the wingnutosphere, where we are supposed to be gearing up to infiltrate and disrupt something called "tea parties". Adam Serwer over at the American Prospect's TAPPED blog has a quick run-down.
"So I was interested in finding out where the rumor started. It turns out, it started on somewhere on the Internet. I don't mean that someone reported ACORN activists showing up at a tea party and wrote about it on their blog, or that some local newspaper published a story to that effect, I literally mean it started on the Internet. Michelle Malkin linked to this post on a conservative blog, which linked to this post on an online tea party Internet forum. Meanwhile, Malkin has been twittering about this for days, hyping the ACORN/Kos/Obama conspiracy axis. All because someone wrote something on the Internet. I believe this policy can be explained as "trust, but don't verify."
When I first heard about this, I was like, "Why would we care about a bunch of old white women tittering about their chauffeurs over crumpets and clotted cream?" I don't even know what a crumpet is.
When I found what they really are, it was clear that they just aren't a priority for us. Look at my to-do list:
* Text buddies in The Illuminati re: one world government
* Secret meeting at Trilateral Commission re: one world currency ps good get on Geithner!
* Call Jimmy Hoffa re: belated b-day wishes - ask if Caribbean weather good for a 96-year old
* Remember to kick puppies
* Check-in with staff re: making babies cry. Only 7 on last trip. Why so few?
Seriously, I wish this was a simple laughing matter. But the truth is that our country is in the grip of its worst economic crisis in 80 years. Foreclosures are still happening at a rate of one every 13 seconds. Unemployment is above 8 percent.
Instead of engaging in a vigorous debate over combating the wave of foreclosures, or getting people back to work, or expanding access to health care or investing in our children, what we get from conservatives is scapegoating and scurrilous attacks based on paranoia and fantasy. Just a bunch of obfuscation and obstruction.
But we won't let that stop us. We are still engaged in our Home Defenders campaign to help foreclosure victims stay in their homes. We are still fighting for a national budget that starts prioritizing working families and invests in health care and education. And we're fighting the civil and human rights abuses occurring daily in Maricopa County at the hands of Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
The challenges confronting the United States are immense. But the American people are up to it, just as we have been up to it throughout our history. It would serve everyone if conservatives could join as honest partners in moving America forward. Given the evidence so far, I wonder if they are capable of it.
The GOP is so devoid of any actual solutions to the many crises we are facing they find themselves grasping at the vaguest hint of a talking point or, failing that, making stuff up out of thin air.
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For the last 20yrs. there have been no true conservatives only nationalist The left doesn't seem to be any different. I live in Chicago where the mayor has been in office for 20yrs. Nothing but greed for profit and glory. The American way some may say. We need more government control, for what? So we can all wear matching outfits and sing songs praising whoever is our chosen leader for the moment?
Facts used to matter in our political debates. No more in the age of right wing talk radio and the lack of substance from a political party that brought us Lincoln and TR. Republicans have allowed their party to be hijacked by intolerant, uninformed reactionaries. They lash out at our President and ACORN and spout lies and encourage hatred. We are in a critical time with a troubled economy; two wars and people out of work. The Republican response? Rail against ACORN. Aren't there any reasonable republicans left? So long GOP, wasn't ever all that good to know ya.
Ronald Reagan did indeed cut the top marginal tax rate on the wealthiest Americans. At the same time he eliminated almost all of the deductions that were available for the average American effectively giving a huge boost to the amount of dollars paid by them. This represents one of the first shots fired in the unrelenting Republican war on the middle class that is designed to secure the place of the ultra rich and turn America into a third world style economy. Not to mention his driving the deficit to dizzying hieghts and saddling untold future generations with his lunatic economic policy. Trickle down indeed.
Reagan is dead. His policies live on but we are in the process of doing something about that too!
Well Researched and Media mattes is an oxymoron..
The lenders must have been very incompetent, too get scammed by everyone.
People on the right always seem to blame everyone but the people whose job it is to determine who is qualified for a loan.
WAWAWAWA..
Your entire premise makes no sense.
Your contention is that the public scammed the lenders into giving them mortgages which they wouldn't be able to afford and which, in many cases, would lead to foreclosure.
Why would the people want to take loans they knew they couldn't pay?
No actually, the lenders were greedy but they were also coerced by the race card and thuggery of ACORN into making loans in a perverse form of affirmative action
Obviously you didn't read the article.
ACORN had nothing to do w/ getting people mortgages that they didn't have any business getting. As a sometime ACORN volunteer.
Your next question is REALLY easy to answer. Detroit may have more registered voters than citizens because people have recently left are still on it's voter rolls. Most names are only removed AFTER the registrant has not voted at a particular precinct for a set number of election cycles.
Before you start questioning others... maybe you should educate yourself on how things work. One good place to start.... acorn.org.
I work for an elections office in a city of about 55000. We have 7000 or so more voters on the roll then we have actual electors. People pass away, move, or decide not to vote. They are not purged until they have not voted for a few years. By law, we have to keep them on the rolls until we are notified that they are either dead or moved or no longer wish to be registered.
If you are just going to ignore all the information supplied to you on this website, why do you bother coming at all? Do you actually think you are promoting your cause? And, by the way, just what is your cause? Are you fighting to keep American uninformed and ignorant or do you have a real purpose?
Your comments are uninformed and, in this case, an outright lie. Why are you spreading lies like this?
kathy... you should look into Acorn. It's not worth defending this organization.
If this were a conservative organization, you would be outraged by what they've been doing...
What is with right wingnutters and their complete lack of reading for comprehension? Media Matters debunked all of your lies, with actual facts. You know those little blue words in the post? Those are links, click on them and then read them. She has no reason to answer your questions because they're based on lies. There is no correct answer to a lie.
Finally, why would you want to purge voter rolls? Is it because you want to make it difficult for eligible voters to go to the polls? Because voter purges end up purging more eligible voters than ineligible voters. It also tends to target certain demographics - the poor, elderly, and minorities.
http://www
Every instance of bad voter registration were found and turned into the county BOEs by ACORN!!!!! Your false implication of voter fraud has been debunked ad nauseum.
http://www
What kind of American would want to keep eligible voters from exercising their right to cast a ballot? Not a very good one that's for sure.
Greed is not good. Greed distorts. Greed poisons. It makes people do the wrong thing as a means to an end. Liberals refuse to learn. We should be moving toward a seperate union. This one no longer works. The fundamental flaw in conservatism is that they need us. We don't need them. Conservatives think they know the right way to live and they want you to live that way too. Liberals don't care how you live, just let me live the way I want. Without us they would have no one to tell what to do since presumably all of them are living the "right" way. They could tax cut themselves to their heart's content. Seperate from them. Permanently. Then they can pick themselves to pieces since turning off the "Don't do that" or "That's wrong" or "You hate America" protocol will prove impossible. A conservative's day is not complete unless he corrects something or someone. They call it "Leadership". They will devour themselves while we live happily ever after. In fact it will be fun watching them cry over not having anyone to tell what to do anymore.
Perhaps we need some new descriptors for people's positioning.
There are a growing number of typically independent voters (neither Democrat nor Republican) who are socially liberal (don't want government involved in telling people how to live their lives...ma
I don't know if ACORN promoted having banks loan to people that they otherwise would not have, but if it doesn't do it going forward, then fine.
Political greed is worse than economic greed.
Liberals are politically greedy... they wish to spend the people's wealth irresponsibly.
The liars have been debunked so many times, you'd think they'd move on to the next lie. Unfortunately McCain and the other repub talking heads have never been held responsible for their lies about acorn, nor has the FBI's political motivation for harassing acorn (as far as I'm aware) been called to task for their actions, so the lies continue. I'd love to see someone get McCain in front of a camera, show his lies about acorn, and then put him on the spot about every one of those lies...
Keep fighting the good fight.
The GOP formula. If you can't get the voters' attention any other way, lie your fanny off.
The republicans think they can stop forclosures and get people back to work by giving tax cuts to the rich. If they can't get what they want then they will do whatever is necessary to make this country fail.
superfrog,
You forget 1 thing . What got us out of the disaster that was the Carter administration?
Reagan and TAX CUTS. But you will never hear Librals talk about that.
I'll talk about it. Raygunz is dead. Trickle down economics only makes the rich richer and doesn't work along with Repub's big business deregulation. The majority of thinking people have seen the results of Rayguz tax cuts and rejected those tax cuts for the rich arguments. The republican need to cling to the past and refuse to come up with their own new ideas that apply to the present has made them the party of the walking dead living in the past. Time to move on into a bright future.
And you forget it was a short term solution that has caused a long term problem.
An increase in the national debt.
That is why the economy started to tank at the end of Bush number one's first term.
Maybe because Liberals would rather speak the truth and talk about Reagan who RAISED taxes.
What Republicans never talk about is the fact that after he cut taxes, Reagan had to RAISE TAXES.....
http://www
Reagan created a disaster by cutting taxes then had to dig out by raising them. Also, Bush I raised taxes during his only term. So please give up this notion that Republicans don't raise taxes and that Reagan saved the day by cutting them. It's a complete fabrication.
I KNOW! I hate to hear the lies and people trashing ACORN who know NOTHING of that fine batch of people! Every group has some bad people, and maybe some get some clandistine agent provocatours, but ACORN does Good Work.
Keep the Faith!
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