ACORN Update: the latest in the sorry saga

The latest in the continuing sorry saga that is ACORN...

It takes a video

Newt Gingrich makes the following observation in his column [1]today:

"Before yesterday's historic vote, no fewer than seven amendments that would have prohibited or conditioned the receipt of federal funds by ACORN were defeated by the majority Democrats in the House in the past year. In one case, House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., said that "the powers that be" in the Democratic-controlled House had put a stop to an investigation of the group."

What a difference a few videos can make...

More House vote analysis from Michael Barone [2]:

"The House's 345-75 vote to defund ACORN [3]is indeed, as my Examiner colleague Byron York put it, [4]extraordinary. Democrats voted 172-75 to defund ACORN; Republicans voted 173-0 to do so. This would not have occurred but for http://biggovernment.com/ [5]the Big Government videos of ACORN employees encouraging tax evasion and prostitution. "Mainstream media" studiously ignored this big, big story, because it put Obama's political allies in ACORN in a bad light--such an egregious bit of biased coverage that it aroused derision and contempt from Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. But "mainstream media" couldn't cover up this scandal, as much as it wanted to..."

Even the Brits can see the bias from across the Atlantic

From the UK Telegraph's blog [6]:

"If there's one story that's had it all in the past week it's the series of undercover reporting stings that have uncovered the true nature of ACORN [7] - the Association of Community Organisations for Reform Now. It's got sex, misuse of taxpayer funds, the condoning of illegal activity by officials and connections to Barack Obama.

You would be forgiven for having missed it, however, because it's got almost no play in the mainstream media. It wasn't the "New York Times", CNN or NBC who broke the story. Rather, it was two twenty-something independents with a few thousand dollars, a bit of time and a lot of guts..."

The "democratization" of media

The fact is that the "democratization" of media is what made this possible.  Quite simply there are more choices, and liberals can't control all of them.  It's easier and cheaper for someone who wants to satisfy a niche audience to establish a new media outlet, (be it cable, radio or a web site).  Which means we'll be treated to more coverage of the kind of stories the "mainstream" media always ignored

Lots more to come in the ACORN saga

Byron York [8] points out that there is much, much more to come, at least in terms of politics and investigations...

"There are still many steps ahead. (Republican Senator) Johanns and others have introduced a new bill, the "Protect Taxpayers from ACORN Act," which would do the same thing as the total-defunding bill in the House. If it passes, there will be a conference committee to reach agreement on a final version of the bill, which will then have to pass the House and Senate before winning President Obama's signature. At any point along the way, Democrats might reverse themselves and again take up ACORN's cause.

Then there is what Republicans see as Part Two of the process. For the GOP, the goal is not just to cut off ACORN's federal money. It's to get to the bottom of all the allegations of corruption at ACORN and affiliated organizations around the country. On Tuesday, Johanns sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder urging a Justice Department investigation into the full range of ACORN allegations. Rep. Lamar Smith in the House made a similar request. No word yet on what Holder will decide..."

Don't hold your breath.

Isolate them and make them politically radioactive

The only way this will happen is if conservatives keep up steady pressure.  Meaning keep the videos and new revelations dripping out slowly...a steady drumbeat.  The "video a day" we saw over the weekend and early this week was exactly the right strategy for such a story.  Don't just drop it all out there at once.  The first hit makes people react and sometimes take positions that they can't defend if it happens again, which is what we saw happen with many politicians, and even ACORN (after the 3rd video).

A steady stream of videos, stories, headlines, investigations, new revelations, etc., is what's called for to take them down.

Already, the latest Rasmussen Poll shows that 67% of voters have a negative opinion of ACORN [9].  And Obama's folks have been scrubbing ACORN references [10]from his websites.

Conservatives just have to keep up the pressure.