ACORN: Where’s the RICO prosecution?
posted at 8:40 am on October 22, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
The New York Times reveals internal ACORN report written by one of its counsels that anticipates federal prosecution for misuse of charitable funds. Project Vote, which is a tax-exempt subsidiary, transferred contributions to ACORN for partisan activities, which amounts to tax fraud. It should give the Department of Justice plenty of reason to conduct a full-scale RICO investigation into numerous irregularities:
The June 18 report, written by Elizabeth Kingsley, a Washington lawyer, spells out her concerns about potentially improper use of charitable dollars for political purposes; money transfers among the affiliates; and potential conflicts created by employees working for multiple affiliates, among other things.
It also offers a different account of the embezzlement of almost $1 million by the brother of Acorn’s founder, Wade Rathke, than the one the organization gave in July, when word of the theft became public. …
Ms. Kingsley’s concerns about the way Acorn affiliates work together could fuel the controversy over Acorn’s voter registration efforts, which are largely underwritten by an affiliated charity, Project Vote. Project Vote hires Acorn to do voter registration work on its behalf, and the two groups say they have registered 1.3 million voters this year.
As a federally tax-exempt charity, Project Vote is subject to prohibitions on partisan political activity. But Acorn, which is a nonprofit membership corporation under Louisiana law, though subject to federal taxation, is not bound by the same restrictions.
In fact, it looks like the distinctions between ACORN and Project Vote were nothing short of a scam. ACORN employees filled all of the executive PV positions. The last independent director at PV left over a decade ago. People listed as board members for PV don’t know that they’re on it, and more than one never heard of Project Vote.
With more than a dozen states launching investigations into ACORN activities, its defenders claim that the national organization doesn’t coordinate efforts at the local level. However, the internal report shows that local ACORN organizations don’t hold their own board meetings. No minutes of meetings are kept, and no evidence that local directors have independent control exists. If local directors don’t bother to hold meetings, it strongly suggests that all activities get directed by the national organization — which brings us back to potential RICO prosecution for coordinating voter-registration fraud.
Yesterday, I participated in an RNC conference call on ACORN, and Jazz Shaw asked whether third-party registration efforts should be banned and registration efforts returned to county registrars instead. Danny Diaz said no and that many organizations handle this task responsibly, but I wonder whether Jazz isn’t correct in this instance. Citizens who want to vote can certainly put forth the effort themselves to get to the county registrar, and those registrars can do their own outreach efforts while employing people under much closer supervision than given by outfits like ACORN.
If we value the franchise enough to keep fraudsters from diluting it, then we need to put an end to third-party registrations. And if we detect fraud, we need to prosecute it zealously — which should mean that the Department of Justice should start a RICO effort against ACORN, which looks a lot less like community organizers than organized crime.
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I will be shocked–SHOCKED!!–if anything comes of the investigation of Acorn. Anything at all.
TwinkietheKid on October 22, 2008 at 8:46 AM
Wow. Gangster activity coming out of Chicago. Who knew?
manwithblackhat on October 22, 2008 at 8:47 AM
RICO is busy with abortion protesters, please leave a message at the beep.
Hening on October 22, 2008 at 8:47 AM
How much money needs to spent to convince people to do something that they should have enough responsibility and pride to do themselves?
reaganaut on October 22, 2008 at 8:47 AM
Anyone who needs someone else to register them shouldn’t be voting. Anyone who can’t get a photo ID shouldn’t be voting. Anyone who can’t read a ballot in English shouldn’t be voting. Period, dot, bingo.
D0WNT0WN on October 22, 2008 at 8:48 AM
One can only hOpe…
jerrytbg on October 22, 2008 at 8:49 AM
Jazz Shaw, Ed, and D0WNT0WN are…
raaaacist.
misterpeasea on October 22, 2008 at 8:50 AM
If Obama does indeed win (but only by a smallish margin…in accordance with internal polling), will this become the biggest crises that he will face from Day 1?
Will the media dig into this dumpster of corruption?
Will Daily KOS bring the defence onto the field for the next 2-3 years?
Add to that: Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac investigation, plus a tanking economy, and goulash of international crises that gaurantee lower approval ratings for President Obama.
Sounds like it might be good to hector from the sidelines for a few years and recharge.
Waterboy on October 22, 2008 at 8:50 AM
Did you know Sarah Palin has nice clothes? LOOK OVER THERE!!!
Jim Treacher on October 22, 2008 at 8:51 AM
Gonna assume sarc there, as I think you you really mean is: I would be shocked, shocked! if ACORN actually got slapped with RICO in the first place.
But I do hope ACORN and RICO meet. The sooner the better.
BKennedy on October 22, 2008 at 8:53 AM
BO says…
These distractions are a distraction from the distractions that are distracting us from dealing with, uhm, hey everyone, my grandmother is sick.
Waterboy on October 22, 2008 at 8:53 AM
Danny Diaz, read my lips: NO MORE THIRD PARTY REGISTRATIONS
This should be a case of fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.
Registering people who are woefully uninformed about the issues we face is not a good strategy for either party in the long run.
common sensineer on October 22, 2008 at 8:53 AM
Another McCain Opportunity
He could announce that he’ll push the investigation to the point of putting people in jail – and because Obama won’t, voting for Obama amounts to voting to let people get away with massive voter and tax fraud.
This would be good policy based on solid precedents – and, of course, it’s not like the voters affected by ACORN are likely to support him anyway.
Paul Murphy on October 22, 2008 at 8:54 AM
“Where’s the RICO prosecution?”
With this timid, doe in the headlights Dept. of Justice?
HA
localmalcontent on October 22, 2008 at 8:55 AM
…that he will not touch
Fixed it for ya.
Waterboy on October 22, 2008 at 8:56 AM
tell me again, why do we have a republican president? Clinton would have agents surrounding their headquarters with tanks and machine guns, if they were a conservative organization…and he’d be doing it for the children..
right4life on October 22, 2008 at 8:56 AM
Where’s the RICO investigation of ACORN? In the same place as the Democratic Congress’ investigation/prosecution of the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac fraud, corruption, and mismanagement by Congressional overseers: in Never-Never (gonna happen) Land.
AZCoyote on October 22, 2008 at 8:58 AM
Almost everyone knows that the dept of justice(?) is now controlled by liberals as is the dept of state and most of our government. So don’t hold your breath that anything will be done about this. Didn’t bush’s ex-sec of state powell just anoint obama as preferred president. I expect that the present sec of state rice will soon follow suit. We need Sarah Palin and Joe the plumber to get to work getting our government plumbing fixed so we can wash this trash away to the sewers where they belong.
WildBillK on October 22, 2008 at 9:00 AM
…I really have nothing to add…I just think it worthwhile to review when people make good, solid points. You can’t have enough common sense…it’s really not that common.
Puritan1648 on October 22, 2008 at 9:02 AM
I see you’re doing your best to keep the ACORN bogeyman alive.
Now, here’s an honest question. John McCain says ACORN is:
one of the greatest frauds of voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy in this country.
From all I’ve read, there has been ZERO evidence to show that ACORN is attempting voter fraud. There have been numerous cases where it seems people worker FOR ACORN have committed voter-registration fraud by signing fake names to inflate their own numbers.
ACORN is required by law to hand over every signature that their employees submit. In Indiana, ACORN workers weeded out suspect application for the state:
“We ID’d those applications as questionable,” Charles D. Jackson, spokesman for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, said of the Lake County applications.
“We turned them in three separate stacks: ones we had been able to verify, ones that were incomplete and ones that were questionable or suspicious.”
Jim Gavin, spokesman for Secretary of State Todd Rokita, Indiana’s top election official, confirmed that groups that conduct registration drives in the state must turn in all applications they collect.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081018/NEWS0502/810180457
The fact is, I have yet to see ANY evidence that ACORN is attempting to register people to vote fraudulently in this election. ACORN has workers who have inflated their lists with fake names, but ACORN has taken steps to weed those out when they submit the registrations to the state.
This is just another attempt by the right wing to create a bogeyman to scare voters into voting for McCain. You guys skew facts and hope people are dumb enough to listen to the BS you spout.
Tom_Shipley on October 22, 2008 at 9:04 AM
I wonder if Bush asked the DOJ to ‘overlook’ ACORN’s actions – so as to not look ‘partisan’.
Of course this would practically hand the election to Zero….
CrazyFool on October 22, 2008 at 9:05 AM
No, I think it’s gonna happen…but a day late and a dollar short. The net result will be a massive crises in confidence amoung the “undeciders” that seem to be pulling towards Obama and will likely pull the lever for him.
The media will not be content to cheerlead for Obama once they’ve done their jobs manufacturing and implementing the “poor black kid from Harlem who becomes president” or rather “middle class half-white kid from Hawaii who goes to Harvard and becomes president”. There’s no ratings in cheerleading a winner.
Waterboy on October 22, 2008 at 9:05 AM
There will be no prosecution of friends in Obamaland, believe you me. If such balls as this aren’t already rolling before The Savage Child gets elected you can fugedabowdit.
Akzed on October 22, 2008 at 9:05 AM
Sarcasm? Not at all, I fully expect an investigation that drags on to inauguration day where “President” Obama pardons the lot of them during the acceptance speech.
TwinkietheKid on October 22, 2008 at 9:06 AM
I think our elites cut a deal with each other, Obama gets to be pres. and he has to bring the insane left off its ledge to a more moderate position on Foreign Policy stuff. Price is Socialism
jp on October 22, 2008 at 9:07 AM
So you guys gonna talk about Palin spending $150,000 in two months on shopping?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/22/palin-clothes-spending-ha_n_136740.html
barry norris on October 22, 2008 at 9:07 AM
And don’t forget, Treach, Joe the Plumber doesn’t have a plumbing license!!!!! OMG, Scandal!!!!!
mjk on October 22, 2008 at 9:07 AM
Yeah, from what YOU’VE read and from what YOU’VE chosen to read. It’s your source of news my friend. Who’s in denial here?
Waterboy on October 22, 2008 at 9:08 AM
Right. Nothing like voter fraud ever went on in Chicago, the source of these cretins, so what were we thinking? Those ACORN investigations in twelve states? Pshaw. Purely political. I guess The Savage Child will proseecute all of that prosecutorial misfeasance ASAP after the election, then you can gloat.
Akzed on October 22, 2008 at 9:10 AM
The left has so infiltrated the Washington bureaucracy that too many hoops can be thrown in the path of a deserved legal action. State, Justice, CIA, FBI are all packed with liberals who have sealed their jobs and our fate. We need a national crisis to weed them out.
wepeople on October 22, 2008 at 9:10 AM
Very very important stuff. Yup. Good eye.
Waterboy on October 22, 2008 at 9:10 AM
And I spend close to 200 bucks on dance shoes. And bought a dress for 75 bucks in Athens this year. And one time, I bought a flat screen TV for 2000 bucks. Where’s the media investigation into how I waste my money? If you gots the cash, you can spend the cash wherever you want…… That’s the darnedest thing about not having to justify your own purchases to the whole bloody world….
Where do you spend your money, baby?
mjk on October 22, 2008 at 9:11 AM
Man, open a window. Smells like troll in here.
Waterboy on October 22, 2008 at 9:11 AM
oh yeah the indystar…funded by SOROS, right? its amazing anyone is stupid enough to read trash like that.
right4life on October 22, 2008 at 9:12 AM
hmmm…ACORN incorporated in Louisiana, I have never heard of corruption coming out of Louisiana/sarc
Dr Evil on October 22, 2008 at 9:13 AM
TwinkietheKid on October 22, 2008 at 9:14 AM
The Bush’ Department of Justice would be all over this if it involved Republicans instead of Democrats. Bush goes out of his way not to appear partisan.
neuquenguy on October 22, 2008 at 9:14 AM
Just one more thing for the traitors to bury if they win
trainwife1962 on October 22, 2008 at 9:14 AM
Class warfare. You see, these guys are so concerned what people with money choose to spend it on, they are ripe for the sort of class warfare that appeals to so many (“spread the wealth”). The big problem is that they are under the impression that if the rich give everything to the poor, somehow everyone becomes “middle class” and everyone can go to colledge, buy a flatscreen, etc. Let’s ask citizens in former (and current) socialist states how that all worked out.
Waterboy on October 22, 2008 at 9:14 AM
I guess you wish you had a few of those outfits, don’t you?
You could feel their nice softness, put one on and stand in the mirror admiring your wonderfulness, hmm?
Or would you rather have Hillary’s pantsuits which, of course, nobody paid for, or it doesn’t matter who did or something.
Akzed on October 22, 2008 at 9:15 AM
Akzed on October 22, 2008 at 9:10 AM
OK, so make your case that ACORN is actively trying to register fake voters in an attempt to sway the election in two weeks. Don’t just say “CHICAGO” and think that’s evidence of anything.
Show me something. ANYTHING that gives credence to the argument that ACORN is trying to register people who should not be so they can inflate the vote in certain areas.
The reality is, all evidence shows that this is NOT the case. But you guys either ignorantly or dishonestly — going all the way up to your presidential candidate — continue to say or imply that this is the case.
If you guys are going to make the charge, be men enough to back it up with facts or STFU.
Tom_Shipley on October 22, 2008 at 9:15 AM
I’m SHOCKED, SHOCKED, Sarah Palin bought some nice suits for the campaign trail. SHOCKED!
why don’t we ever get idiot stories from the left like this over say Obama’s suits, Michelle’s luxury Dining in the Waldorf Astoria, etc??
jp on October 22, 2008 at 9:16 AM
I’m sure the investigation will proceed with all possible haste, right after the election.
MikeA on October 22, 2008 at 9:17 AM
No need to. When Obambi gets elected he will let us know how we are allowed to spend whatever money His graciousness allows us to keep.
neuquenguy on October 22, 2008 at 9:17 AM
I quite like Hillary’s “jailhouse” bright orange number during her DNC speech…Caged Heat. Yowsa.
Waterboy on October 22, 2008 at 9:18 AM
tell me again, why do we have a republican president? Clinton would have agents surrounding their headquarters with tanks and machine guns, if they were a conservative organization…and he’d be doing it for the children..
right4life on October 22, 2008
Good question. Somehow GW can get in right on SCOTUS appointments and partly right of GWOT, but cringe and cower in the face of Democrats and their calumny. I’m so sick of his cowardice, I hope his retirement is short.
SKYFOX on October 22, 2008 at 9:19 AM
Tom_Shipley on October 22, 2008 at 9:04 AM
I guess that’s why Ohio’s Secretary of State Brunner has (at least) 200,000 “mismatched” registrations sitting on her desk that she is refusing to release so they can be checked at the polls. Absolutely no chance of fraud there.
This election is going to make a mockery of our electoral system, and with the liberals in control, there will be no chance to fix it, since it is already fixed in their favor.
loudmouth883 on October 22, 2008 at 9:19 AM
“of” = “on”
SKYFOX on October 22, 2008 at 9:19 AM
If you’re not concerned about Palin’s spending spree, you should be concerned about her stupid answer about what a VP does. If she thinks a VP runs the Senate, our enemies will surely test us!
barry norris on October 22, 2008 at 9:19 AM
Nice strawman, Tom. This post actually has to do with potential tax fraud between PV and ACORN, leading one to question the specious argument that these “isolated incidents” of voter registration fraud are anything but isolated.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and the shades can’t be drawn back quick enough on these shady organizations.
common sensineer on October 22, 2008 at 9:22 AM
You got it all backwards. Investigations are underway, and if warrented, charges will be laid. That’s how the system works.
What we are talking about is the utter denial of any wrongdoing by ACORN whatsoever by you and your fellow travellers. Look, there is already evidence that warrented these investigations (see Ohio, et al). I realize that you are on the defensive on this thread, but this isn’t KOS, and if you can pull yourself away from the Kool-Aid stand for 5 minutes, maybe you’d acknowledge that this issue has the potential to be very bad for Obama, the US and democracy in general.
Geez man, this is an issue bigger that politics, it goes to the very root of democracy.
Waterboy on October 22, 2008 at 9:23 AM
Im not sure but I think the Gaffemaster has already declared that The One will be tested by our enemies, he predicted nothing in that regard for Cuda and the Maverick.
Besides youve already discredited yourself with that ridiculous “Palin spent 150K” argument.
Next.
Viper1 on October 22, 2008 at 9:25 AM
Wow. Judging by the depth of thought displayed here, one would have to assume that the daily Kos has already become the official purveyor of education in some sectors of our society. I thought the public school system was bad enough. Just a natural progression I guess. They should try to come up with a couple a new taking points a month though, maybe not, it might be too much to ask of the obamatons to have to learn something new that often.
neuquenguy on October 22, 2008 at 9:25 AM
You RACIST! Report to the nearest
DNC OfficeTemple, say 10 “Hail Barrys”, and tithe 100% of your income to make amends!Vic on October 22, 2008 at 9:26 AM
Again, your fingers are moving, but all that comes out is “Help me! I sniff tricycle seats at the playground because I’m a liberal troll and I have a spray-on tan! Wahhhhhhh!!!”
AubieJon on October 22, 2008 at 9:26 AM
Waterboy,
I admit that some ACORN workers used fake names to inflate their head count. That’s a crime. And those people should be punished.
What I will not admit and what I have yet to see ANY evidence of is that ACORN as an organization is taking part in any coordinated or even uncoordinated effort to falsely register people so that they can illegal VOTE in the election in two weeks.
This is what is implied when John McCain says stuff like:
one of the greatest frauds of voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy in this country.
And I bring this up in this thread because you guys have branded ACORN as this election fraud group, and that’s just a complete distortion of reality. I don’t really know much about this tax fraud allegation, but I do know that the crux of the charges against ACORN are unfounded.
Tom_Shipley on October 22, 2008 at 9:27 AM
Yup. If Obama wins, what in God’s name is KOS going to rant about every day? So played….sooooo played.
Waterboy on October 22, 2008 at 9:28 AM
Troll. Don’t you have an appointment with your parole officer this morning…or is today the welfare appointment.
AubieJon on October 22, 2008 at 9:29 AM
Put on some antiperspirant.
Jim Treacher on October 22, 2008 at 9:29 AM
Higher.
Jim Treacher on October 22, 2008 at 9:30 AM
hey moron, how hard is this…do you think acorn workers volunteer as poll workers in democRAT areas? and then they use those fraudulent names they registered to stuff the ballot box….or they send in absentee ballots for those fraudulent names they register.
of course they’re good democRATs, they’d NEVER do anything like that….
right4life on October 22, 2008 at 9:32 AM
Fair enough. In my defense, I don’t think McCain implies that the entire activities of ACORN are geared from the top down towards fraud, but that they are lousey with key leaders that appear (again, based on preliminary evidence that launched, you have to admit, quite a number of investigations so far). He’s playing politics just like Obama.
What I would like to see however, is ACORN come out strongly, act like the non-partisan entity that they claim they are, and throw a couple of these bad eggs to the curb. I (and even the media, for the most part) see ACORN as a partisan group primarily registering Democratic voters, and I think that however their original intentions, that is the image they have.
Waterboy on October 22, 2008 at 9:33 AM
yeah I’m at the point where I hope he gets hauled up for war crimes, not because its true, but to show him what 8 years of bending over for the dems gets you…
right4life on October 22, 2008 at 9:34 AM
Hey barry, check this out….
Preside
take the chair, chair, control, supervise, lead, direct, manage, run, oversee, reign, govern, head
Just sayin’….Not since John Adams, I believe, maybe, have we seen anyone even contemplate taking the job seriously.
jerrytbg on October 22, 2008 at 9:35 AM
damn wrong thread…
jerrytbg on October 22, 2008 at 9:38 AM
it happens…
Waterboy on October 22, 2008 at 9:39 AM
no… right thread…just off topic
jerrytbg on October 22, 2008 at 9:40 AM
Instead of engaging in a pointless exercise in arguing with mindless Obamabots on this issue I will instead refer all of you to this article in the American Spectator changed my mind. It is a survey of Democratic Party conducted vote fraud.
http://www.spectator.org/archives/2008/10/22/voter-fraud
Here an excerpt about a Federal Prosecution of vote fraud in Chicago (of course) in 1982. The Feds laid out how it was done. It is a much better explanation of how fraudulent registration gets translated in vote fraud.
Chicago
Extensive voter fraud has persisted to this day. Former Justice Department official Hans von Spakovsky discusses in a recent Heritage Foundation report a shocking 1982 election for Governor in Illinois in which 10% of the votes cast in Chicago, 100,000 overall, were found to be fraudulent by a federal grand jury investigation that produced 63 criminal convictions for vote fraud. Spakovsky writes:
What particularly struck FBI agent Ernest Locker was how routine vote fraud was for the precinct captains, election judges, poll watchers, and political party workers he interviewed. They had been taught how to steal votes (and elections) by their predecessors, who had in turn been taught by their predecessors.
One primary method of perpetuating such fraud was for impersonators to vote in the name of dead people, people who had moved away, and fraudulently registered names. Impersonators were sometimes paid in cigarettes, liquor, or cash, known in the trade as “walking around money.” Votes for a straight Democrat ticket, regardless of the actual voter’s preferences, were also cast for the elderly, the disabled, and the sick who were unaware of what was going on. Then Chicago U.S. Attorney Dan Webb estimated that 80,000 illegal aliens were registered to vote in the city at the time, and that was 25 years ago.
Precinct captains filled out absentee ballots obtained by others, and absentee ballots with Republican votes were trashed. Another method was to alter the vote count by repeatedly running straight party line ballots through the counting machine, or altering the counting machine vote totals.
Unfortunately, as Spakovsky notes, the Justice Department has never again engaged in such a thorough investigation of vote fraud. Most likely, the practice continues in Chicago today. Moreover, similar practices have recently been exposed in Philadelphia, where sometimes more votes are cast than the number of residents, and in Wisconsin and Tennessee.
Only those capable of actual thought will be convinced by this article but it stands as a refutation of the “it’s only registration and or Republican voter suppression memes.”
jerryofva on October 22, 2008 at 9:40 AM
Oh. Well, then have another beer.
;)
Waterboy on October 22, 2008 at 9:41 AM
Right on, Tom! After all, McDonalds wasn’t held liable when one person they hired served coffee that was too hot to safely spill into some woman’s lap.
James on October 22, 2008 at 9:44 AM
When The One becomes president-for-life, you’ll drink hot coffee and YOU’LL LIKE IT.
Waterboy on October 22, 2008 at 9:48 AM
Aw heck, come January 22, 2009 ACORN will be the sole place to go to register to vote. And they’ll have helpfully checked the “D” for party affiliation for you. And any questioning of it is racist and remember, racism is a crime.
rbj on October 22, 2008 at 9:48 AM
Too early…besides, that was for barry norris, he bought it up.
I’m surprized there isn’t a thread about this. It’s splitting hairs, I know… but John Adams didn’t think so…even though he gave it up for the most part out of fustration… but I have to ask the question…
Why did the Founders use the word?
jerrytbg on October 22, 2008 at 9:52 AM
Welp, proof democracy is a fraud. Here comes Caesar to save the ‘republic’…
jp on October 22, 2008 at 9:53 AM
Little known facts about Wade Rathke.
*Former member of SDS.
*A founder of the Tides Foundation. This is from Wade Rathke’s website:
Since 1976, Tides Foundation has worked with donors committed to positive social change. We put resources and people together–strengthening community-based nonprofit organizations and the progressive movement through innovative grantmaking.
We define “progressive” as creating a positive impact on people’s lives in ways that honor and promote human rights, justice, and a healthy, sustainable environment.
Tides Foundation has awarded over $300 million in grants to nonprofits working for social change in the U.S. and abroad. Most grants are made on the recommendation of one of our individual, family or institutional donors who are interested in funding specific issues or strategies.
AND
Wade Rathke’s work as an organizer for social justice includes leadership roles in a number of community, union, and educational organizations. To learn more about the work of these activist organizations, visit these websites.
ACORN
Local 100
SEIU
Site Fighters
Tides
Organizers’ Forum
Social Policy
WARN
Buy Danish on October 22, 2008 at 9:57 AM
I’m not holding my breath over this one.
I really don’t don’t think we ought to be letting any organization BUT the county registrar take care of voting registration. No one else should be involved with it. Obviously, it can lead to corruption & voter fraud.
Let’s give registration back to the counties.
If you as a voter are too stupid to register at your county registrar, then you’re too stupid to vote. Period.
Badger40 on October 22, 2008 at 10:03 AM
From a constitutional view point the the Vice President is the “President of the Senate” which if your explaining the role to a 3rd grader “control” is a reasonable explanation.
One question, are your loins properly girded?
The office of the Vice President is established under “Article I The Legislative Branch Section 3 The Senate” of the constitution. “The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.”
Under “Article II of the Executive Branch Section 1 The President” of the Consititution “the term of the Vice President to coincide with the President is established.”
From a Constitutional view point Sarah Palin’s response to the 3rd grader is more right then wrong. From a mom’s point of view, it was a very good answer.
How about that time President Roosevelt went on television and calmed everyone about the 1929 stock crash ~ that was a moment (wince).
We only get the trolls, who never were paying attention in high school civic classes. They got the part about civil disobedience, and that is about it. Sarah Palin prefaced her answer, that the question, sounded like a question, her younger daughter would ask…context is a bitch troll boy.
Dr Evil on October 22, 2008 at 10:03 AM
From a constitutional view point the the Vice President is the “President of the Senate” which if your explaining the role to a 3rd grader “control” is a reasonable explanation.
One question, are your loins properly girded?
The office of the Vice President is established under “Article I The Legislative Branch Section 3 The Senate” of the constitution. “The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.”
Under “Article II of the Executive Branch Section 1 The President” of the Consititution “the term of the Vice President to coincide with the President is established.”
From a Constitutional view point Sarah Palin’s response to the 3rd grader is more right then wrong. From a mom’s point of view, it was a very good answer.
How about that time President Roosevelt went on television and calmed everyone about the 1929 stock crash ~ that was a moment (wince).
We only get the trolls, who never were paying attention in high school civic classes. They got the part about civil disobedience, and that is about it. Sarah Palin prefaced her answer, that the question, sounded like a question, her younger daughter would ask…context is a beatch troll boy.
Dr Evil on October 22, 2008 at 10:04 AM
“But unlike ACORN/Project Vote, Citizens Services is not a 501c3. 501c3s, being “charities” are forbidden to participate in partisan politics.
Which is probably why the Obama camp paid the $832,598,000 to Citizens Services, rather than risk losing ACORN/Project Vote’s tax exemption.
As Mr. Obama recently put it, “the acorn does not fall far from the tree.”
So in summation, it is overwhelmingly clear that Mr. Obama is lying about his relationship with both Ayers and ACORN.
Which begs the question:
If Mr. Obama will lie this facilely about something this blatant, why should we believe him about anything?”
Update!
Even ACORN has had to admit that Mr. Obama is lying about having never worked for them.
Johan Klaus on October 22, 2008 at 10:06 AM
What I would like to see however, is ACORN come out strongly, act like the non-partisan entity that they claim they are, and throw a couple of these bad eggs to the curb. I (and even the media, for the most part) see ACORN as a partisan group primarily registering Democratic voters, and I think that however their original intentions, that is the image they have.
I think ACORN is partisan because of the areas they choose to get people registered to vote in. They’re goal is to get people from inner cities — “traditionally underrepresented” areas — to register to vote. Of course, those happen to be Democratic strong holds. I think most people who work for ACORN are liberal. I think that when they do registers Republicans they either A) don’t know or B) don’t care. I also think you won’t see ACORN registering people in rural Utah.
But that’s OK. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. This does not “corrupt” the election process.
What has happened is that ACORN has had workers who have padded their lists with fake name for whatever reason — but this is not an attempt to sway the election, but to get out of work or earn more money. According to ACORN those people are fired:
In a few cases ACORN has caught part-time workers falsifying cards in an attempt to get paid for doing work they didn’t do. When this happens, ACORN fires the workers involved, alerts election officials and law enforcement about the problem, and cooperates fully and enthusiastically with investigations and persecutions.
· Such cases constitute employee fraud, not election fraud.
· Nearly all of the former ACORN workers who have ever been investigated or convicted were uncovered and turned-in by ACORN itself.
Now, I don’t buy your explanation that McCain was saying ACORN was committing “one of the greatest frauds of voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy in this country” because they are partisan. That doesn’t make sense.
There’s been a coordinated effort by the GOP — going up to McCain — and right-wing bloggers to distort the facts of these ACORN voter-registration fraud cases to make it seem like ACORN was a corrupt organization trying to rig the election. And that’s just shameless.
One last note, I do appreciate you actually engaging me in conversation instead of just calling me names.
Tom_Shipley on October 22, 2008 at 10:07 AM
So in summation, it is overwhelmingly clear that Mr. Obama is lying about his relationship with both Ayers and ACORN.
How is that overwhelmingly clear? I don’t see that from your post.
Tom_Shipley on October 22, 2008 at 10:09 AM
And, let’s not forget about Enron.
Johan Klaus on October 22, 2008 at 10:11 AM
Read it for yourself.
Johan Klaus on October 22, 2008 at 10:14 AM
Yeah, you think she’d be more like that Constitutional Scholar Joe Biden, who says that the VP’s job is defined as part of the Executive branch in Article I:
Oopsie.
The Monster on October 22, 2008 at 10:16 AM
McCain has to bring it up and push for a full scale investigation. What’s he got to lose?
Star20 on October 22, 2008 at 10:17 AM
Mr. Shipley:
I find it interesting that you have avoided commenting on my post. I can an only assume that the information presented so undermines your meme that you have no choice but to ignore it.
jerryofva on October 22, 2008 at 10:22 AM
Here is Discover the Network’s page on Wade Rathke.
Pssst. Tom_Shipley-
Speaking of “shameless”, how do you rationalize the fact that Drummond Pike of the Tides Foundation covered up Dale Rathke’s $948,607.50 embezzlement by repaying it, and treating it as a loan on the books of Citizens Consulting, Inc. (the firm Obama employed for over $800,000 for
staging and lightingGOTV efforts)?Buy Danish on October 22, 2008 at 10:23 AM
All they need to do is hang on until Nov. 5…
right2bright on October 22, 2008 at 10:32 AM
Obama ‘admits’ Kenyan birth?
Campaign doesn’t respond to claims in lawsuit over birth certificate
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=78671
AdrianS on October 22, 2008 at 10:41 AM
Gee, one of the most pressing issues facing our Republic today. /sarc
Sekhmet on October 22, 2008 at 11:07 AM
This is a lame duck issue-President bush won’t be around long enough for this investigation to even get started. There’s no way for the Justice Dept. to investigate Acorn that doesn’t result in their being called Racist.
If either Liberal gets in, Obama or McCain, this gets swept away…until next election.
Doug on October 22, 2008 at 11:09 AM
Oh hell, they are coming to Louisiana now?
Shreveport and anything South of I-10 is Democrat territory.
If you see Bossier Parish go blue, you know something is up.
TheHat on October 22, 2008 at 11:27 AM
jerryofva on October 22, 2008 at 10:22 AM
I didn’t respond because I don’t see what it has to do with ACORN.
Show that the vote-fraud discussed in your post is tied to ACORN somehow or present evidence that ACORN is executing an organized campaign (or an unorganized one) to committed election fraud, and I’ll gladly respond.
Tom_Shipley on October 22, 2008 at 11:42 AM
Too bad there is not a Republican in the White House to order a Dept. of Justice investigation of these allegations.
Wait, there is….
Unfortunately Bush has been a lame-duck President for how long?
And is Dick Cheney still the VP? Haven’t seen the guy since when?
albill on October 22, 2008 at 12:09 PM
The votes have only just started being cast. We know from Ohio that some non-residents who came to Ohio for GOTV activities have already voted early and illegally. This is small but perhaps the tip of the iceberg. Fraudulent absentee ballots will not be screened. If Mickey Mouse votes by absentee ballot how is this stopped after the fact? The same goes for ‘repeat’ or ‘imposter’ voters if not stopped at the voting precincts. The extent of VOTER FRAUD will only be know AFTER the votes are cast and counted. We know significant VOTER REGISTRATION FRAUD is occuring because registrations have already been taken.
jerseyman on October 22, 2008 at 12:22 PM
The out of state voters in Ohio that voted were working for PROJECT VOTE (associated with ACORN). Our current voting system reduces the chance of voter fraud by compartmentalizing polling into many, relatively small polling precincts and voting on a single day. Each precinct counts its votes and submits them to the State official in charge of elections independently, usually within a limited time frame (example: 1 week Florida – 2000). This limits the amount of votes that can be altered in any one precinct, causing many precincts to be in on the fix for any significant vote count. This is why Gored chose 3 very large districts in Florida for recounts. It is much easier to find votes in a 10,000-15,000 voter precinct, than in precints with 300-500 voters. The real problem lies with the fact that it is hard to manufacture votes AFTER the votes are counted. At the same time is is HARD to know how many votes you need BEFORE the actual votes are cast and counted. Imagine the pain at stuffing the box with say 100,000 cemetary votes then coming up 100 short at the end of the day. I believe this is what happend in Florida 2000 and this is why the Democrat precinct leaders just couldn’t find the time to count all the votes. They knew they were sitting on ‘bad votes’ already and any further scrutiny would bring even bigger problems (like jail time).
jerseyman on October 22, 2008 at 12:36 PM
Shipley:
Because all the practiced used by Acorn have one purpose in mind. Create the kind of chaos in the voter rolls to facilitate vote fraud. You don’t answer because it destroys your meme of what does voter fraud have to do with Acorn.
jerryofva on October 22, 2008 at 12:57 PM
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