Obama, Community Organizers, ACORN and Voter Fraud

by Curt Mercadante

In recent weeks, there has been much discussion about the definition (and responsibilities) of the "community organizer."

As the Democrats have touted, Obama started his "career" as a community organizer. 

And, Obama has close ties to one of the largest "community organizer" organizations in the country - ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now).

As Stanley Kurtz writes in National Review:

Obama has had an intimate and long-term association with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (Acorn), the largest radical group in America.

In her convention at the Republican National Convention a few weeks ago, Sarah Palin sarcastically hinted that community organizers don't have any "actual responsibilities."

But a story in today's Detroit Free Press shows one of the responsibilities of an ACORN community organizer:  voter fraud.

Several municipal clerks across the state are reporting fraudulent and duplicate voter registration applications, most of them from a nationwide community activist group working to help low- and moderate-income families.

The majority of the problem applications are coming from the group ACORN, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which has a large voter registration program among its many social service programs. ACORN's Michigan branch, based in Detroit, has enrolled 200,000 voters statewide in recent months, mostly with the use of paid, part-time employees.

"There appears to be a sizeable number of duplicate and fraudulent applications," said Kelly Chesney, spokeswoman for the Michigan Secretary of State's Office. "And it appears to be widespread."

... In recent years, ACORN's voter registration programs have come under investigation in Ohio, Colorado, Missouri and Washington, with some employees convicted of voter fraud.

You can learn even more about ACORN's questionable activities at www.RottenAcorn.com.

Once again, we see an Obama tie to a radical and/or corrupt group, person or organization.  Rev. Wright...Bill Ayers...ACORN...the list goes on and on.

And, as the Obama-Biden camp continues to attack Sarah Palin, the contrast between her record of reform and Obama's corrupt ties couldn't be more clear.

Comments

[Carl Nyberg]

Curt, this is all guilt-by-association smear jobs.

Has Obama done anything illegal? or unethical? with respect to the issues you've raised?

If not, you're just being a sleazy propagandist.

[Curt Mercadante]

Carl:

Your arguments are made all the less convincing through your cheap insults.

The point is this: Obama has an awful lot of questionable associations.

Do I think Obama has done anything directly illegal or corrupt? I don't know.

But for someone running as a reformer on a mantle of change - he certainly owes his career to status quo machine politicians.

What has he done to reform the corrupt Cook County political system from whence he came? Nothing.

Why would this "reformer" and "change" candidate refuse to endorse a Democrat reform candidate - Forrest Claypool - and then endorse a hack political insider like Todd Stroger?

And then Richard Daley?

He could've easily remained silence and not endorsed Stroger and Daley.

But he actively endorsed them.

You liberals want to launch dishonest attacks on Palin? Fine.

But she actually fought corruption within her own party.

Obama has embraced the corrupt within his.

[Mark Rhoads]

Good post Curt. Obama has supported ACORN, has never disavowed them, and they have been involved in vote fraud.

Does everyone remember the big deal when the Bush Juctice Department fired some Democratic holdovers who were federal prosecutors. One of the ones who got fired was the Democratic prosecutor in Washington state who did NOTHING to investigate slow motion fraud there.

People who organize vote fraud are foolish even if they think they can get away with it at the state level. Vote fraud is not only a crime under state law, which might not be enforced, but it is also a crime under federal law. The 1965 Voting Rights Act provides for prosecution and serious penalties for those who try to "dilute the votes of legal voters." The definition of who is a legal voter is set by the state but the federal government has power to prosecute if someone tries to "dilute" the effect of your lawful vote with a fraudulent one. That is why it is important to have honest U.S. Attorneys across the country who will not step back from investigating voter fraud in their respective jurisdictions.

[David P. Graf]

Fraudulent voter applications are nothing to be proud of, but it's hardly something unique to community organizations. Unless you can directly tie Obama to this, it's a just guilt by association. Let me illustrate this with an example from my life.

Many years ago I worked for Boeing. I never ran into a company that was more concerned about doing business in an ethical fashion than that place. They even walked away from business if they knew they couldn't meet the customer's requirements. And now, look at how far Boeing has fallen ethically. Should I be tarred with it's current problems even though it was a quite different place when I worked there.

[Curt Mercadante]

Guilt by association is my exact point.

He is running for elected government office under the mantra of "reform" and "change."

Yet he came from a corrupt political system which he has done nothing to reform.

He continues to endorse status quo machine politicians.

Has he spoken out against ACORN as part of his reform efforts?

Has he spoken out against domestic terrorist Bill Ayers? No - he defended him.

Has he spoken out about Todd Stroger, Richard Daley and Chicago machine politicians? Nope - he endorses them.

That's not a new kind of politics. It's go along to get along.

Contrast that with McCain - who has repeatedly stuck his finger in the eye of his own party.

Or Palin, who actually took action to weed out corruption in her own party.

[Jaibones]

Curt, the liberals have nowhere to hide with Obama, other than the quite desperate "guilt by association" canard, which is why we have heard it so very many times.

In fact, Obama is profoundly guilty, and not just by association. He associates with scumbags, terrorists, Marxists, and corrupt politicians. They do his bidding, donate money, run interference, support his (remarkably rare) initiatives, donate money, control the press, and give him money.

Oh, and did I mention that they give him money?

Good on you for your post on ACORN, a frequently criminal organization to which Obama has directed tax money. You are quite right to call him out on this rather obvious form of corruption.

Change we don't believe in, and which seems strangely familiar to those of us who live in Crook County.

[David P. Graf]

Curt,

Speaking about guilt - when is Palin going to remove her "gag" order which keeps her employees from talking to investigators about "troopergate"? Seems to me like Palin is channeling her inner Nixon when she tries to obstruct legislative investigations into possible wrongdoing by her and members of her staff. Until she and her people start cooperating with the investigators, her supporters ought not to be trying to pin guilt upon Obama.

[spintreebob]

"By any means necessary", "the end justifies the means".

Not all of us live by the same ethical guidelines. If some see that the basketball ref never calls a little traveling, they will push to see how much they can get away with. And when coach Phil Jackson brings Dennis Rodman to Chicago Phil does not need to tell Rodman what to do, Rodman knows he wasn't brought to Chicago to pop three-pointers.

Some see politics in the same light. If the ref doesn't call it, it's not a foul. If the other guy on the team throws an elbow to the kidney, just pretend you didn't see it. In fact, try not to see it.

Vote fraud has never been called by prosecutors, except for one symbolic indictment each election cycle. That is true of Republicans and Democrats. We handed Republican Bernard Carey large scale vote fraud on a platter. It was not Carey's priority.

Vote Fraud is not Patrick Fitzgerald's priority. It isn't the priority of prosecutors in DuPage or Kane or anywhere.

[Jan]

B.O. is a "cleaned up" (to quote Biden)2000 version of Jesse Jackson. I just think he was more naive than Jesse by thinking that people would "just accept" his associations and he believed his own publicity. That people would just accept him as "the Messiah", taking him at his word and not his actions- what there is that we know..

If I were an independent and just listening to his talk, totally ignoring his associations or his constant crying "don't say anything critical towards me or my family or my associations or my....", I'd highly advise him, to either look into newsbroadcasting or a career in human resources at some corporation.

I really don't want to picture Mr. C.O. (community organizer) going toe to toe with our enemies...it would be like a baby bunny (BO) trying negotiate with a wolverine (Putin) to share food (energy). Scary

Obama is a neophyte in rose-colored glasses living...MacCain has been a survivor and we need someone with a background in Real Life.

Barack is running the first national campaign convincing the public to just trust him. Rather than looking closely at his basically non-existent voter record which is usually what Senators run on..His promises are as empty as his "record"..

[Dr. Linda Shelton]

You are all mixing apples and oranges. Palin wouldn't have a chance getting into the Senate or Governor's office in Illinois. The corruption here is far greater than in Alaska and controlled by a cabal of both Republicans and Democrats. The tangled spider web here and the tentacles of corruption are clearly hidden and so very deep. Those who seek office must at least tolerate them or they do not have a chance of winning.

Look at the strategy of the African-American politicians in Crook County. The anti-Daley (Stroger), Madigan, Burke crowd are tolerating and accepting help from the machine until they get critical mass and then they will do a 180. This is tactics. Sometimes you have to work from within until you can force change. Fitzgerald is too little too late. Obama must have at least tolerated the cabal or he would not be a Senator.

Palin is from such a sparsely populated State 870,000 yet largest land mass 500,000+ square miles. The shear number of corrupt officials is so much smaller in Alaska that Palin's task is exponentially easier (they have only 1 U.S. Representative) The corruption was more blatant and clear than the tangled web in Crook County that includes many judges, prosecutors, police, Jim Thompson, Burkes, Madigans, Daleys, Sheahans, etc.(orders of maginitude greater than in Alaska) She has a real chance in Alaska to reform without the help of others. She'd be chewed up and spit out, marginalized, and defamed in Chicago with impunity, if she tried to reform anything here. Obama may be able to help reform Crook County if he is in a position of real power.

[George Kocan]

We've been told that Jesus was a community organizer, just like Obama. To find out what that means, we go to the holy scripture of organizing, two books by Saul Alinsky. There we find wonderful parables to follow: go to a symphony concert where rich people hang out and make a big production of passing gas. Brag about stealing an election, as Alinsky's right hand man, Ed Chambers, did. Yes, Obama, The Organizer, is the Messiah who will bring Democrats salvation. This is not guilt by association. It is guilt by imitation.

[This blog sucks]

Are you kidding me? The most radical group in the US? I think there are probably one or two SLEEPER cells that would argue that point, you yahoo's really need to find something better to do than wallow around the midwest with your flannels on. I like the ad on the ride side of the frame of the eight in '08 - real nice cross-section of the country you got displayed there. Oh wait! One of the eight is actually a WOMAN? Not too conservative if you ask me...

[Douglas Lindsey]

States do not validate US citizenship when people register to vote. The California, Nevada, New Mexico and Florida non-citizen vote will put John McCain in the White House. The Democrats who have allow non-citizens to vote since HAVA 2002 (only a utility bill as a means of identification meets the standards outline by HAVA 2002) are now indirectly allowing non-citizens to elect John McCain to be the next President. Non-citizen Hispanics will not vote for Obama and they do not tell people taking the polls who they are going to vote for because the are under the radar, remember the States DO NOT VALIDATE US CITIZENSHIP when people register to vote and rarely prosecute because liberal judges will not find them guilty unless they admit their guilt so there not fear of getting caught. John McCain will be the next President of the United States not because of White Racism but non-citizens who think Blacks (in their mind) are getting a free ride, while they have to work at slave labor wages. Remember the TV ads directed at Spanish speaking voters, to be a citizen you have a basic understanding of the English language these ads where for the non-citizen Spanish speaking voter.

Stand by on election night when Barrack Obama has up to 8 point leads in California, Nevada, New Mexico and Florida and then John McCain wins those STATES.

I go my Senate voting data at http://www.SenateReports.com

[HOWARD]

ARE THE POLLS TO BE BELIEVED ???
I, like many Americans believe that character, honesty, and integrity really do go to the foundation of who the next president should be.Obama is ahead in the polls because Obama is dramatically outspending McCain with television advertising ... he has a biased media in the tank, who provides him with more and better exposure, and editorial endorsement ... Obama has 96% of the black vote ... he enjoys the relentless support of a completely biased entertainment industry, plus the left wing educational community, plus massive illegal, or unethical fund raising, and voter registration drives, by groups like Acorn ... not to mention the fact that thanks to democratic propaganda, McCain has to carry Bush's weight. At this point in time, many Americans are also beginning to question the validity of the POLLS. Are they skewed, like the biased media? Do they truly reflect reality? Are the sample groups mostly black voters? If the Democrats are so sure they've already won, how come they keep trying so hard to make the rest of us believe it? Just like they did against Hillary! There is a good chance that if we can keep voter fraud out of this election, that on November 4th, the actual voters, in the privacy of their booths, will elect McCain/Palin, by a comfortable margin. If you vote for Obama, you are also voting for voter fraud and a crooked media.
On November 4th cast your vote for McCain/Palin !!!