Basically, no. ACORN has some problems, but the Republicans basically use ACORN to obscure their vote suppression agenda. But you’ll have to read my new piece at The American Prospect to get the full picture. I’m sorry I haven’t been around JJP for a while, work has been kicking my butt, but hopefully you guys will enjoy the fruits of my labor:

The allegations against ACORN are part of a tangle of misinformation and insinuation that is being played out across the media, and within the Justice Department. ACORN, because of its advocacy on behalf of low-income and minority families, and its efforts to register voters in poor and minority districts, has become a focus for the right’s racial anxieties. At best, ACORN gives the right a weapon against the Democratic presidential candidate; at worst, it allows the conservative media machine to cast doubt on the results of the election should Barack Obama win. Adding to the controversy over ACORN is the organization’s own internal problems, some of which are quite serious.

[...]

The conflation of registration fraud with vote fraud is only the beginning of how the right is attacking ACORN. This election season, conservatives have developed a curious counter-narrative in which the sharpened fangs at America’s throat are borne by racial minorities and the groups who advocate for them. In this retelling of recent history, ACORN is at once responsible for the economic crisis by advocating for banks to lend to minorities, responsible for John McCain losing the election by virtue of an elaborate vote fraud scheme, and a part of the radical leftist matrix that birthed presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Read the whole thing!

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