ACORN stole the election

No complaints about the Diebold machine this time?  It figures.

Do you have some you'd like to share?  The only stories I heard were those of Obama votes being flipped and he still won.

We can talk about that if you really want?

Nah, it was  sarcasm 

Wow, you really have a lot of faith in Acorn!  If you want to know the truth, and being someone who knows the Acorn organization really well, why don't you look at the GOP?  Do you think maybe Acorn got to them too?

My point being, Acorn did for the next generation something that the GOP did not do, and that is getting them into the political process.  The American way if you will.  That is why the GOP lost.  They are old school, yesterday's news.  It really is a new generation.  But Acorn was just a small part of a bigger picture.  Everyone in their own way helped make this happen.  And despite what the right wing radio people have to say, it really is a good thing for the country in the long run.

But those who believe Acorn is the root of McCain's defeat, you really are giving to much credit to them.  Acorn as well meaning as they are would no way have the resources or the ability to do what the GOP can do in a blink if they truly wanted too.  So before you start blaming Acorn with a conspiracy theory, look at the GOP first.  Where was the GOP in this last election.  That is what you need to ask.

Are you Kenneth Star?

Nah, it was  sarcasm 

Yea, I realized that after I posted.  I have the same problem, my sarcasm doesn't always come through very well to others.

No Parties Needed -- you need to move on.  Obama is now and always has been a citizen of the United States.  The powers that be know that to be true, and your skepticism won't change anything. 

Are you Kenneth Star?

C'mon Winslow, do your homework.  Kenneth Star wrote in all italics and cute smiley emoticons.  Bold is so 2007. 

As for all you libs, I happen to know that Mr. Obama does not have an alibi for either the night of the Hindenburg "explosion", the Titanic or the Lindbergh kidnapping.  You will all see.    The real reason there is no birth certificate is because he's really a pod baby.  Pods don't have birth certificates!  The only thing worse would've been if you'd elected Bat Boy (Though he would look smashing on paper currency, doncha know).  But, other than completely destroying the fabric of the universe with this election, I thought you all did a fine job.  Oh, and you're all Anti-American.

I'm Michelle Bachmann, and I approve of this witchhunt

I don't believe ACORN "stole" the election. McCain was NEVER going to win.

1. He's a republican. It's a bad word right now. As much as you may hate to admit it, in another 4 or 8 years, democrat will be a dirty word. It's how our two party system works.

2. Obama probably did BUY the election to some extent. If you think that the saturation didn't matter, you are fooling yourself.

3. Media bias does play a role. You can easily raise doubts if you are media. Tone, wording, and facial expression play a large role. It is their right and I know that conservative media will have it's boom soon enough too, so I really don't care on this one.

Your guy won. I knew it way before polls starting closing in on him. I figured the demonizing of GWB was large enough in and of itself.

Within the next eight years I look forward to Obama being humbled by the job. I know one thing always remains true - Americans love a good witch hunt.

Ok, YH&S, let me disagree with you softly on some things and see where we stand.  No, Acorn didn't steal the election, there was nothing to steal.  Aside from taytay's work on showing that Acorn couldn't have affected the election, the heart of the matter is- you can only vote once- and Mickey Mouse wouldn't be allowed to vote (Without valid ID), nor could Tony Romo or the Dallas Cowboys vote in Ohio.  The only one hurt in this scandal WAS Acorn- for having to pay dishonest workers that turned in falsified documents.  I'm sure that every Voter Registration Organization has the same issue.  Acorn happened to be the focus.

1.  I agree to an extent.  I doubt if there will ever be a government where EVERYBODY is happy and living as well as they THINK they should, so with that in mind there will always be a body from the "other side" saying, "We can do more for you, we'll do this, that and the other thing", to which people will always yearn for something different.  Alas, the grass always appears greener.  I think "bad word" may be a little harsh in all instances, but yes, surely some people will always believe that there is a better way to do things, Republican, Democrat, Green Party, whomever.

2. This is sort of a tossup.  The discrepancy in money was ridiculous, and there should absolutely be fundraising reform.  I'd like to see a set amount of money that neither candidate can surpass.  And something reasonable- 700 million dollars, really?  Do you know how much good that COULD have done?  That being said, I don't think the saturation played as much of a role as it's made out to.  Quite to the contrart, Obama toe'd the line of OVERsaturation, which can be pretty deadly (Ask Hootie & The Blowfish).  It wasn't the amount of messages, it was THE message.  If Obama had advertised as McCain did, I doubt he would've reached 35% of the vote.  I'd like to speak for America for a second- we are SICK of the negative advertising.  And by that I mean the factless accusations.  If Candidate A was a member of the Communist Party and has an alliance with Fidel Castro, of course the American public should know.  Give us the FACTS.  Don't make allegations without facts to back it up.  If you don't have facts, then tell us why your policies will work better than your opponents.  That's it.  I think both McCain and Elizabeth Dole were victims of this sort of negative advertising.

3.  Media bias....Yes, no....Certainly there are 'opinion' shows that do overtly state their opinion- and the right certainly has theirs (Hannity, Limbaugh, etc.).  But, regardless of what side you are on, you can certainly discern for yourself which media arm may lean one way or the other, so don't watch it if you don't agree with it.  As long as they still report FACTS, and not simply allegations, then people should still be able to figure things out for themselves.  Let me throw this out there- and it's not any sort of allegation towards this election, but more just a what if....Let's say that the Nazi regime were in power in this day and age (Or the 1930's had the communication technology of today, either way), if all of the news agencies were denouncing the Nazi party and their tactics, would that be considered slanted or objective reporting?  I'm just saying that, just because 5 agencies denounce something, doesn't necessarily mean it's biased reporting, it could be that what they are reporting on is....wrong.  Again, just spitting in the wind, not pointing fingers.

My guy?  I'm not a Democrat, I'm Independent.  According to a website that I went on a year ago and filled out my beliefs on certain topics, "my guy" is Ron Paul.  That being said, I do believe that Obama was the best choice for the job.

I look at Obama and I see a humble person.  I see someone who actively reaches out to others to understand their point of view- especially those who disagree with him.  I find that to be an incredible trait for a leader to have- and many of our past Presidents have possessed such.  I look forward to seeing how he puts this trait to use in the next 4 or 8 years.  After his term(s) ends, maybe we won't be better off than we are today, that's certainly something for all of us to try and objectively decide after-the-fact.  Most important, though, I think will be for us to look at his Presidency and if we believe ourselves not better off because of it, ask "What could we have done differently?" and if we are happy, "How can we continue the road we're on", and not just derisively ride the party lines as we have done in the past.

Americans have loved the witch hunt.  I am hoping, though, that those days are ending and that we simply want what is best for the country- keeping in mind that what I believe is best for the country isn't necessarily what you believe to be best.  Somewhere, though- SOMEWHERE- there has to be a middle ground that we can agree on.  I hope that we an at the very least strive for that.

bejeebies,

Thank you for a well thought out post by someone who actually did some research, rather than just believing the latest gossip.  I'll add some info by Donna Brazile:

Experts who have examined the allegations against ACORN have concluded that there is no significant threat of voter fraud. For the fraudulent registration forms to turn into fraudulent votes, they would have had to get through the election officials' vetting systems and make it onto the voter rolls.

Next, someone would need to arrive at the assigned polling location with valid identification that lists the same name and address as the fraudulent registration. (This is fairly difficult to do if you're dead or named Mickey Mouse.)

Then, having passed all these hurdles, that someone would cast a vote that will cost him or her 10 years in jail. Just find me someone willing to spend 10 years in jail just for a chance to vote for Obama or McCain?

Let's look at the facts. ACORN labeled as "suspicious" the fraudulent registration forms a few of its paid volunteers submitted. Moreover, ACORN delivered them to election authorities under that heading. ACORN offered to help election officials pursue prosecutions against those who filled out the fraudulent forms.

The so-called ACORN scandal is no more than a few canvassers trying to meet their quota and make easy money by cheating the system.

I always thought these allegations were ridiculous, given what you have to do for identification purposes at the voting location.  Nice to see that some people actually look into these things and don't just take campaign rhetoric at face value.

You are so bad, Mark.  You are gonna burn for that one.  I might be there right beside you in that fire though, since I laughed so hard.  I now feel guilty, but, hey what the f***?  Gotta let loose every once in while, don't we?

And oh yeah!  Great breakdown, Tay.  Amazing what happens when you use straight facts to byatch-slap the naysayers.  Gotta love it!

Great post.  I worked the polls this year and the slowdown here was the older people working the polls.  I was about 40 years younger than the other workers and I never had a line but the older workers had long lines.  But we can't have anyone missing the buffet..LOL

Hahaha, yes the dinner buffet! OMFG! What kind of devil spawn do we have as our next preseident that outfoxed the dinner at 4 crowd! Totally @!$%#ed Florida, he did!

RRR

I wondered why there were no long lines at the Ponderosa Steak House...

...but it was a bonanza clusterf**k after the blueplate special was over...

another great great post taytay!

Good job Tay. Obama won hands down and it will just take those against him to take this in.  Good article.

Thank God for Country Kitchen....LOL

You just got to love the fear tactics used by the republican.

They really don't like large turn-outs at the voting booths because they lose elections when the liberals and moderates go out and vote.

You get people in here raring for a fight (just like the Obama IS a Muslim piece) and then we read the article , (like a built-in litmus test. If we come on here and start saying "ACORN didn't steal an election!" then you know we didn't really read the article..) and everyone is happy. 

What they stole was the '"mo'".

Harry Truman said I say facts and they call it hell.

No we have John McCains and Palins stump speeches.

Ohh and 4 out of 24 hours of Fox news commentary

Well, it seems to be a pattern of their employees to committ fraud, so one could say that they somehow in their structure promote it.

And, the endorsement of Obama was at a company ran function within a speech directed at employees at the function, not an employee on his own time.  This is strictly prohibited in order to receive government funding.

McCain meant that ACORN could keep people "away" from the polls with these allegations and convictions of voter registration fraud.  Meaning to extinguish the validaty of our votes in the system.  How can this be perceived as him stating ACORN will steal the votes?

Yeah umm you bring up a good point about the Hatch Act.  We can add that to the list of things to start enforcing.

Nohandouts, Since you said:

Well, it seems to be a pattern of their employees to committ fraud, so one could say that they somehow in their structure promote it.

Did you know that part of the reason for high turnovers in certain fast food chains and some retail stores is because of dishonest employees. when you hire someone to do a job, you expect that they won't rob you blind or dishonor your business. But alas, "$#!+" happens. It doesn't mean their structure "promotes it". It's usually the stupidest employees who think they can do these things and not be found out at some point. if a McDonald's store comes up $150 dollars at the end of the night, the plan is to check everything again and determine where the loss occurred. Now, it's a whole different situation if they don't report it to the corporate. Apply that to ACORN. did they report apparent improprieties? Yes they did.

13 people who were not Acorn employees they were Temps. lets see 13 people and Obama won by 6 million so 13 goes into 6 million   uh forget it no temp is that good.

There was a petition drive in Ohio few years back and 11 workers got caught submitting false names...It happens. People who do this canvassing are sometimes paid by the number of people who they sign up. But in the real world I really thought this was a silly line for Repubs to follow. The reason was Acorn does not register voters. The submit voter registration cards. These cards are then sent to the board of elections to be verified. If the boards cannot verify the person does exist and that person cannot verify hi/her identity no vote can be cast. Simple logic blows their whole argument.

tay - No entity should endorse a candidate if it is against regulation for funding.  If there is another organization directly doing this that shouldn't be, then yes they should be penalized also.

You can't deny that ACORN employees didn't endorse Obama, it is on tape.

You can have the employee theories, but I still think ACORN is responsible for letting their employees bring back thousands of ineligible registrations. 

And, I don't think it is generally thought that most Republicans think the election was stolen.  I haven't heard any talk on this. 

Nohandouts,

Well, it seems to be a pattern of their employees to committ fraud

Yet, if they worked for Diebold, you'd want to shake their hands after another stolen election.

Acorn help the government in each of those cases, they wanted those they paid brought to justice as well.  What about Republican caging recently in MI? or Registration slamming in CA?

Don't forget the fake e-mail sent to George Mason students telling them the election is postponed until the 5th!

   Your post is untrue these people were not regular Acorn employees. Acorn was fined for not teaching their canvassers properly I believe.

Is ACORN a LLC?  And if the behaviour is repeated, then there is a pattern within the company of promoting fraud.

The point is, even without Acorns efforts Obama wins anyway.

Plus in all fairness Fox probably owes Acorn a good percentage of thier advertising revenue.

Nohandouts, 

I'll check to see if they were registered as such, but irregardless..my point was that both statements are correct. Employees were charged with fraud, ACORN as an institution was not.  

From what I've read, it seems the people that should be charging the employees for fraud are ACORN.  They pay by the name, and it's a lot easier to write Mickey mouse a hundred times than actually canvas people. ACORN I think should revisit it's employee standards and guidelines for reimbursement. Otherwise, this sort of thing is bound to repeat itself. 

Just an interesting fact, statistically fictional characters like mickey mouse garner about 5000 votes every election.

ACORN is a registered corporation headquartered out of New Orleans, and was established in 1970.  

new orleans has always been a sticking point about ACORN since the beginning. loose-ee-anna is a deep red state, other than the devil's bastion that is new orleans, and ACORN has had a tough fight to get the poor and underprivileged to the polls. they have been under fire for doing the right thing by the uber-right in this state for decades.

nothing the right does sticks, and it just infuriates them to no end. i find it funny that our so-called problem is now on the burner for national elections.

why is it that the republicans are so hell-bent to keep people from voting. probably coz they know they'll lose everytime if everyone was given a chance to vote in a square fight.

this is old news to us in the big easy.

Hmmmm, speaking of un informed.......m aybe you should have read the article b efore making this foolish statement, it's rather obvious you came in without reading it or we would have never seen this post and you would be saying Great Post taytay!!

Of course not. Only registering voters 73 times for example, offering money or a smoke made an "interesting".operation

Det,

Just for fun, let's say that Acorn came to my house, gave me a registration form which I filled out, then copied it 72 times and turn them all in to the board of elections.

What do you think would happen? Do you think I would get to vote 73 times?

I walk into the polling place, the poll worker sees that I'm listed 73 times, yells to the other poll worker - "hey give this guy 73 ballots".

Agree,

Republicans complaining about a stolen election is down right Comedy Central material after the 2000 and 2004 document Diabold disasters.

They have to have an excuse