ACORN: Our national organization is alive and well

By GottaLaff

Earlier I posted a segment from The Rachel Maddow Show in which she blasts the GOP for out and out lying about James O'Keefe's Big Pimpy ACORN Moment. She also slammed the media for perpetuating those and other lies, and went on to report the real news, correcting the misinformation about the organization (and other topics).

Good for her. She deserves a damn medal for that and all the other work she does to expose all the "bull pucky", as she put it.

Here is some more truth for you. It's a rarity, so enjoy it while you can:

After months of budget problems and criticism from the right, the community organizing group Acorn plans to release a letter next week clarifying its path forward and stating that its local chapters may be closed, but the national organization is alive and well.

“You will continue to hear from Acorn — in the mail, on the Web, and in the media,” says the letter, a draft of which was provided to The New York Times. “And we need your continued support to counter the vicious antifamily, antiminority, anti-immigrant attacks of the Republican right.”

Ding!

That's really what this is all about, isn't it? The Rushpublics feel threatened by the possibility of a white minority, and by a diverse electorate that tends to vote Democratic.

Their remedy? Lie, turn voters against an effective group, a grassroots organization, that gives people who might not otherwise have one, a voice... or at least the means to muster one up.

The letter, which will be sent to the 120,000 or so members on Acorn’s e-mail list and to tens of thousands of dues-paying members, says that in many of the states where Acorn’s local chapters closed, 16 new, independent but allied organizations have been formed to continue grass-roots organizing.

Know what else? California Representative Darryl Issa is bellowing and kvetching about how this new team is not severing ties with Old ACORN. Wrong.

They're not using ACORN money, and the lawyers and accountants they are using have not been involved with ACORN previously. Plus, their boards of directors are nearly all non-Acorn members.

And that's the truth:

ACORN cleared... again

By GottaLaff

Thanks to my pal Brad, we get some good reporting on something that will not be mentioned by the Tee Vee Machine's news dee jays.

ACORN, that evil commie Marxist fascist socialist African American Muslim organization, as it has been before, is cleared yet again:

And today, once again, ACORN is cleared of wrongdoing vis a vis yet another independent investigation, this one by the Congressional Research Service [PDF], as noted in a press release from U.S. House Judiciary Chair John Conyers this afternoon [...]

Of most note to our readers, Conyers' statement points out what we've been pointing out - over and over and over again for years: "There were no instances of individuals who were allegedly registered to vote improperly by ACORN or its employees and who were reported 'attempting to vote at the polls.'" Who knew?! What a surprise! (At least to Fox "News" viewers, who probably won't hear about this report either.)

Also: "No instances were identified in which ACORN 'violated the terms of federal funding in the last five years.'"

Brad has a lot more. Please go read it while I bask in truth and justice winning out for a change.

Oh wait. One more thing! I can't leave you without sharing this little gem:

Finally, according to today's report, Andrew "Drudge's Poodle" Breitbart's phony video-taped "sting operation" against ACORN may, itself, have violated the law in both California and Maryland, about which we might ironically recommend to prosecutors: "Capital punishment" for Andrew Breitbart!

Mmm, wasn't that yummy?

H/t: John Ennis

ACORN review: No illegality

By GottaLaff

Gee, big surprise. I do believe we already knew this, but it's nice to have it confirmed publicly:

An outside review of the beleaguered community group ACORN has found “serious management challenges,” but no pattern of illegal activity.

ACORN has done a world of good, and now maybe they can continue their work without harassment from self-serving, lying cowards who will do anything to diminish Democratic party numbers. Well, minimal harassment. Less harassment?

Okay, never mind.

The review, commissioned by ACORN in the wake of a hidden video expose that showed a few of its employees appearing to offer tips on how to break the law, also largely absolved the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now’s current management, laying much of the blame on founder Wade Rathke for lax oversight and dangerously rapid growth.

Not absolute absolution, but...

The review practically absolved ACORN employees caught up in the expose in which a few employees appeared to be offering advice on how to run a brothel.

It also suggested that ACORN should refocus its attention on community organizing, and away from other services. ACORN already announced it would cease offering free tax advice.

Harshbarger called the review “neither an epitaph nor an absolution for ACORN.”

Wait. There was no illegality, so that's good news. And it "practically absolved ACORN employees" ...but it's not an absolution?

You say potato, I say potahto... but at least they didn't call the whole thing off.

What has Organization of America accomplished since Election '08?

By GottaLaff

TPM has asked the questions I've been asking for a year, but they got answers. See, they did what I failed to do: They went to the source. Now why didn't I think of that?

TPMDC has learned that 24.7 percent of the donations made online to OFA are new donors - people who didn't give during the campaign. That's a pretty striking figure give that a record 3 million people donated during 2007 and 2008.

That's encouraging!

Organizationally, the boots-on-the-ground, Washington outsider vibe has translated into real results as well.

Even better!

I'm giving you the barest of bare bones, so please read the whole post here. It's an exclusive, and I don't want to be grabby.

Since June 6 when the health care push began in earnest, 95 percent of OFA's efforts have been focused on health care.

Good, good. I'm liking this.

In addition, OFA volunteers from 2008 and this year invested time in training new supporters, who learned community organizing techniques that will help Democrats and Obama going forward, they said. [...]

Bird and Stewart shared several stories about OFA supporters on the ground whose calls seemed to make the difference convincing representatives in Arizona and West Virginia. They said Obama gets renergized from these stories and from reconnecting with the grassroots group that helped him win the presidency last year. [...]

[T]he OFA volunteers are spread out across the country and do outreach to all 535 members of Congress. They also get involved in other issues, and organized locally to help tsunami victims in American Samoa.

OFA stays engaged with supporters who aren't as interested in health care, sending out emails on the climate change bill that's pending in Congress, and targeting college supporters on the issue of student loan reform.

Bird said hearing positive stories from volunteers keeps them grounded in reality.

Now go read what I left out.

Health Insurance Reformers Come Out in Massive Numbers

By GottaLaff

We all know what the TeaDeathers have been up to. Want to know what our side has been doing?

Earlier today, more than 3,000 reformers gathered in New York City with the same message of hope. One thousand came out in Portland. Another 1,800 are finishing up a reform event in Austin, Texas. And, nearly 800 rallied for health insurance reform in Fargo, North Dakota today.

These crowds come on the heels of last night's 1,500-plus reformers gathering in Denver, Thursday's 1,000 plus rally in Albuquerque and another 1,100 on Wednesday night in Phoenix -- all part of Organizing for America's national bus tour.

In addition to this, hundreds of health insurance reform activists were trained on community organizing skills in Maryland, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Louisiana, Arizona, Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana and Montana in the past two weeks. Thousands more woke up this morning, gathered together as neighborhood volunteer teams, grabbed clipboards and continued going door-to-door, making calls and connecting with their neighbors one-on-one as part of OFA's methodical, meticulous, focused organizing strategy.

This weekend's outpouring of support follows weeks of organizing from pro-health insurance reform supporters across the country. They have visited their Congressional members' offices (some 64,000 in one week took part in that civil action). They have called their members' offices. They have attended town halls -- over 2,100 reformers in Reston, VA, 1,200 in Kansas City, MO, 800 in Albuquerque, NM, and 700 in Queens, NY, just this week alone.

In addition, over 1.5 million OFA volunteers -- not to mention the volunteers from other health insurance reform coalition partners -- have taken direct action on health care in the past 11 weeks: writing letters to their editors, canvassing their neighborhoods, and organizing local events to spread the truth about President Obama's health insurance principles.[...]

The real story of August is the story of these reformers. Don't let the cable news obsession with a minority group of angry protesters tell you otherwise. We knew it would not be easy [...]

Want proof this strategy can work? If the group of 800 reformers in Fargo, hundreds of whom signed up to volunteer door-to-door earlier today is not enough for you, then come on out to one of the 2,000 plus local events happening across the country in the next few days. We knew change was not going to come easy. It never has. But, it is coming.

Just thought you might enjoy a palate cleanser.

H/t: Ellen

Democrats fight back on healthcare, town halls

By GottaLaff

It's about time... Snap to it, Dems:

After a week on the defensive, Democrats on Monday stepped up their response to what they consider to be a contrived harassment campaign against their healthcare plan.

"What they consider to be contrived harassment"? Um, it's pretty much been documented. The misinformation continues...

Moving on:

The coordinated efforts came from the White House, House Democratic leaders and allied groups, and suggested Democrats see some political gain by going on the attack.

Gee, ya think? We sure aren't seeing political gain by hoping it will go away, cowering, and/or sitting up and begging for more.

Organizing for America, the successor to President Obama's grassroots campaign organization, sought to counter confrontations at town halls by asking members to visit their lawmaker’s offices to show support for the health legislation.

The White House set up a website to debunk opponents' claims, including one that the bill would lead to euthanasia.

House leaders, worried about attacks on their members in conservative districts, set up a “war room,” to answer lawmakers’ policy questions and help them prepare for disruptions at town hall meetings.

Outside groups that support the healthcare overhaul also revved up their efforts. A coalition of religious groups is airing a television advertisement supporting the overhaul, holding “in-district” prayer events in the districts of key lawmakers, and will host a national teleconference Aug. 19 that will feature Obama. [...]

The House Democrats’ “war room” is being run out of Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s (D-Md.) office, and is manned around the clock by a rotation of leadership and key committee staff members.

The war room, or “healthcare hotline,” is primarily designed to give members the ability to get immediate health policy answers and updates from leadership offices. Top Democrats are also planning to use it to help their colleagues respond effectively to political and press attacks, if necessary.

The White House web site, dubbed the “health insurance reform reality check,” features six videos of different administration officials debunking claims about healthcare reform legislation backed by Obama.

OFA, now an arm of the Democratic Party, is urging members to show up at lawmaker offices in person to tell them they support the healthcare legislation. [...]

The effort has also been good for liberal fundraising. MoveOn.org said in an email to members that it “blew through” its $210,000 fundraising goal for the weekend, then said it will try to double that in coming days to double the size of its campaign.

That's better. Now grow some spines and speak loudly, clearly, and assertively. It's time to take charge and get a public option passed. Enough of this mob mentality taking over what should have been civil discourse and informative meetings.

Time to tell all those Tantruming TeaDeathers that they're grounded.

Nasty, vile little brats.

Video- President Obama speaks to non-profits, innovators