The GOP is hammering the organizing group ACORN, in part because it wants to create the imrpession that Sen. Obama is somehow a propagator of manipulations and shady dealings. It is a vital part of the Republican psychological fabric to make sure that somehow, no matter how dishonest or sinister in essence or intent, the Republican zeal must be directed like a lightning strike at something its adherents believe is morally degenerate, irresponsible and against all decency.
They will do anything to be able to tell lies with that sharp tone of condescension in their voices, in order to convince voters that they can vote their bias, vote their ignorance, and take shelter in the fabrications of the Republican party. This may sound exagerrated, but it is a consistent pattern and it is visible in every single election where Republicans feel it will not be an easy win. The ACORN issue is also part of the Republican strategy to accuse voters of defrauding the electoral system, when in fact it is a top-down organizational manipulation that they have been working to carry out in every presidential election since 1968.
We need to take this challenge seriously. They will not relent, and they will become increasingly vicious with every passing day. The more shocking their tactics, the more press they will get. If individuals working with ACORN falsified registration forms, there needs to be transparency, the group needs to take action against those individuals, and the Obama campaign needs to be clear about its absolute opposition to any such tactics.
But, we must also keep in mind that legitimate voter-registration drives are absolutely essential to our campaign, to the message of hope, renewal and change, and to the integrity of our democracy, as such. The Republican party counts in most elections on insuring that fewer citizens vote. That is not democracy, it is voter suppression, it is Bolshevik. We need to make this point and make it stick. Democrats, Barack Obama and community organizing groups that help register voters, want our democracy to work, want everybody to have a voice.
The issue here is ACORN was defrauded by volunteers or paid contractors. Someone for some reason decided to forge registration forms. It is likely that there is a trumped up Justice probe going on (this has been part of several corruption scandals for years, including the firing of US attorneys), and that ACORN is being blamed for individual actions, but we need to separate the wheat from the chaff and tell the truth to the American people. Government officials involved in pursuing false or trumped up prosections should be prosecuted, and now.
But the central note we need to strike is: election fraud of any kind is wrong; we need absolute transparency on all related issues, including the misuse of prosecutorial powers, the intimidation of voters, voter profiling for "challenges" and insecure electronic machines, plus links between the corrupt bosses of certain manufacturers and the GOP. Do with this what's been done on Keating: get the resources together, get the story ready, and if they try to use this to smear Obama or to suppress the vote, get the message out on what is known about these other issues.
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