ACORN and Michelle Bachmann

[HashiriyaS14]

http://www.politico.com/news/s....html

I HATE this woman, I think she represents everything that's gone wrong with the GOP, although I back her on this recent drive to ensure that ACORN gets no more taxpayer dollars.

Then I thought about it a little bit... ACORN's annual budget is way, way less than a billion dollars, so I'm not sure how "billions of taxpayer dollars" can even be used in the same sentence as ACORN.

I'd prefer that ACORN, it being really a political organization, receive ZERO public funds. That said, I'm not 100% certain that it actually IS receiving public funds. I think that causes ACORN lobbies for are receiving funds as part of the stimulus, but most of these causes are pretty innocuous things like inner-city school improvements and such.

Can anyone get information on precisely how much, if any, public funding the ACORN organization actually receives, or has received in the past (and when)?

If it's getting public funds or has in the past, I'm with Bachmann, despite my general distaste for her, in that it needs to STOP. If they're NOT getting public funds, then this is all a big publicity stunt designed to rally the base around yet another non-existent cause and I will thus dislike her even more.

I happen to like Michael Steele, so I sort of hope that this is NOT a big scam, as he's throwing his weight behind it pretty seriously and I'd hate to have to eat my words in regards to liking the guy.

Run with it people. Show me what you've got.

[themadscientist]

I got a man on the inside.

[HashiriyaS14]

Really? That's what we've got here? A squirrel in a hat?

None of the many conservatives who b|tched and moaned about the public funds being received by ACORN during election time is jumping at the opportunity to back up their claims and make me eat crow by agreeing with Michelle Bachmann?

I'm not even saying that it isn't happening, I'm just saying that I'm not positive that it is happening. Someone needs to close this gap, but it isn't going to be me, because my (current) party isn't the one that's asserting that it is occurring.

[themadscientist]

It's like 9AM EST and 10PM my end, how about letting people look around?

[HashiriyaS14]

Ok, it's certainly been awhile now.

I thought people would JUMP at this opportunity, considering how ACORN was mentioned in every sentence on this board just a few months ago.

I'm not even saying that I know the answer! I'm not even taking a position here, I'm just giving my adversaries in here the opportunity to forcibly ally me with someone they know I dislike. It's like I'm giving them an early Christmas present.....but nothing so far?

[WDRacing]

Unless you can dig up these posts we made, I don't think they exist. By dig up I mean 50 or 60 of them since you're acting like that is all we talked about for months prior to the damn election.

The topic sucks anc requires research in order to discuss it. Which never works because we can't simply voice an opinion.

BTW, the guy you promoted is doing a bang up job

[HashiriyaS14]

BTW, the guy you promoted is doing a bang up job

Uh.....yes?

[themadscientist]

Uh.....yes?

Uh, no

[HashiriyaS14]

Did anyone see Bachmann debating Barney Frank on Lou Dobbs last night?

I'll be a monkey's uncle by the way. Apparently ACORN *does* get federal funds, about $1.7 million per year.

This is a far cry from the "billions" claimed by the GOP (a number which refers to federal dollars going to ACORN-supported causes, many of which are supported by dozens of other organizations, rather than ACORN itself).

That said, I still think that even $1.7 million is more than they should get. I think that they should get nothing.

Now, I think that Bachmann is making this point for the wrong reason. She is saying that ACORN shouldn't get the money because they have been "indicted on charges of voter fraud". An indictment is not a conviction, anyone can generally get indicted for anything, and so I don't think that would be a good precedent as it would allow trumped-up indictments to block funding to otherwise-legitimate organizations.

I still think they should get no money though, but not because of the indictment. I think they should get no money because they are, IMO, a political organization before all else.

As much as I dislike Bachmann, she definitely used Frank's weaknesses against him during the debate. Frank is tremendously intelligent, however he's a crappy debater because he focuses too much on facts & figures, doesn't engage the viewer visually, etc. Michelle just stares at the camera with her Kool-Aid stare, says simple crap no one can disagree with, and it WORKS.

Barney tried to make the point I made above about the indictment thing, and it's a good point, but it wasn't really what the discussion was about. The discussion was about whether this organization should EVER get funding, and the answer is no.

Barney also pointed out that ACORN didn't get any kind of increase of funds under Obama, it gets the same $1.7M/yr it got from Bush, but again, that wasn't what the discussion was about.

So yes, I agree with Michelle Bachmann that all ACORN funding should be cut off. I think she's making all her points for the wrong reasons, but I agree with her on the end result.

She and Steele need to stop talking about "billions" though, that pisses me off. It's blatant fabrication, and they have a GOOD POINT, and shouldn't need to fabricate to support a good point. Their point should just be "It only gets $1.7M, but that's still a lot, and it should get zero". People value simple honesty, and simple honesty is what the GOP is supposed to be about.