Whenever I read or hear a wingut refer to ACORN as a "corrupt organization," I see a classic example of the psychological defense mechanism of projection, a psychic act identified by Freud in which one "projects" one's own undesirable thoughts, motivations, desires, and feelings onto someone else.
Accorn a corrupt organization? I doubt that Acorn is capable of the level of corruption of two much more powerful and influential organizations in our midsts. I'm thinking of (a.) Fox News and its object of devotion, (b.) the Republican Party. Both, to me, are clearly and totally corrupt organizations, and I will salute those who might be able to bring about their destruction.
As a little websearch experiment, I just did a Google search of the word list "acorn corrupt organization" and lo and behold, got the following results: 814,000 for "acorn corrupt organization". (0.47 seconds). While this methodology, or course, doesn't necessarily mean that there are 814,000 discrete sites that individually express this meme, there is also no doubt that these words have been linked together, increasingly, by wingnuts as they project away from their own actually corrupt associations. For example, we have the following.
This is by an obsessive teabagger type named Michael J. Gaynor who writes,
ACORN is a sinister association out to take over America by putting politicians of its choosing, especially Barack Hussein Obama, Jr., in power, by doing whatever it takes, despite the law.
ACORN is dangerous.
Bowing to ACORN's political power and thuggish tactics resulted in many of the bad loans that resulted in the current financial crisis and Congressional Democrats blocking the reform and Treasury Department oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that Republicans, led by President Bush and Senator McCain, had urged.
There's also the ironically named Reasonmag/website, which states the following.
the controversial community organizing outfit ACORN is about so much more than a few tax evasion and prostitution scandals. They're also apparently happy to cash in on corporate welfare and eminent domain abuse.
And of course, where would we be without the usual blatherings from Michelle Malkin
The radical left-wing, government-subsidized group ACORN uses your tax dollars to engage in voter fraud, enrich itself as part of the mortgage counseling racket, and serve as an activist branch of the Democrat Party.
There’s more. Ashley Eiler e-mails about a new report: "The Consumers Rights League just released a collection of whistleblower documents from an ACORN staffer that raise some new concerns about how the organization has established policies for its housing counselors to use undocumented / under-the-table income for processing loan applications from low-income individuals. In addition to pushing these and other exotic loans, the documents reveal that ACORN has engaged in some apparently illegal activities by commingling government funds from its tax-exempt offshoot entities to fight political battles against corporate lenders. "
And here, of course, is the voice of Glenn Beck calling ACORN a "corrupt organization" and linking it directly to Obama.
But for some pot calling the kettle black, here is an example of corrupt Fox News serving as a platform for the corrupt GOP to project about ACORN. According to according to report from Republicans on a House oversight committee, a report released by Rep. Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Issa's GOP colleagues. It accuses
ACORN of fraudulent activities and widespread corruption and calls for a criminal investigation into the advocacy group.
Fox handily provides the talking points
"This report is about getting to the truth and when there are significant accusations and questions outstanding regarding an organization that has benefited from millions of taxpayer dollars, those questions should be answered and the truth should be brought to light," Issa said in a statement.
The executive summary of the report says ACORN provided contributions of financial and personnel resources to indicted former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and candidate Obama, among others, in what the report calls a scheme to use taxpayer money to support a partisan political agenda, which would be a clear violation of numerous tax and election laws.
"Both structurally and operationally, ACORN hides behind a paper wall of nonprofit corporate protections to conceal a criminal conspiracy on the part of its directors, to launder federal money in order to pursue a partisan agenda and to manipulate the American electorate," an executive summary of the report reads.
Again, blantant, Freudian projection by the partners in crime - Fox and the GOP. You want to see real examplesof those acting on behalf of a "corrupt organization," then how about the following list (couresty of Source Watch) all of which link to actual evidence for the phrase "Republican culture of corruption".
I. Lewis Scooter Libby
Kenneth B. Mehlman
Bush administration
Bush's Rangers
Republican Party (USA)
Bush administration approval ratings
Bill Frist
Bush administration scandals
Bush regime
Watergate
Alexander Strategy Group
Bush administration: beginning of the end
Office of the Vice President
J. Kenneth Blackwell
Italia Federici
Talk:Rick Santorum
Michael Scanlon
Karl Rove: Outing Valerie Plame
Karl Rove: Outing Valerie Plame: Chain of Events
Karl Rove: Outing Valerie Plame: Republican Reaction
Treasongate: Beyond Karl Rove
U.S. election irregularities in 2004
VelvetRevolution
Republican 'culture of corruption': Articles & Commentary 2003-2004
U.S. election irregularities
Republican 'culture of corruption': Related SourceWatch Resources
David Safavian
Susan B. Ralston
Bill Frist: Inside Trader
Bush administration cronyism and incompetence: SourceWatch Resources
Todd A. Boulanger
Shawn Vasell
Timothy E. Flanigan
Bob Ney
Conrad Burns
Republican 'culture of corruption': Articles & Commentary 2005
Thomas D. DeLay: Related SourceWatch Resources
Ronnie Earle
Jim Ellis
Conspiracy to violate state election code
Mike Ferguson
John Colyandro
Randy "Duke" Cunningham
Lester Crawford
Terry Nelson
DeLay Foundation for Kids
Ed Buckham
U.S. Family Network, Inc.
Stewart Simonson
Brian Darling
Tracy A. Henke
2002 Election NH "Phone Jamming" Case
Bernard Kerik
Richard Pombo
Lawrence Wilkerson
DeLay's "Dirty Money"
The Cheney-Rumsfeld Cabal Deception: SourceWatch Resources
GrassRoots Interactive
Jack Abramoff: Related SourceWatch Resources
MZM Inc.
Brent R. Wilkes
Matt Blunt
Restating the Republican Culture of Corruption as A Few Bad Apples
Firstfruits
The case for impeachment of President George W. Bush: SourceWatch Resources
Will Brooke
Jared Craighead
John Boehner
Max Baucus
Republican 'culture of corruption': Articles & Commentary 2006
Americans for Tax Reform and Jack Abramoff
George W. Bush and Jack Abramoff
William B. Adams
State of the Union 2006
George Allen
Criminality within the United States democratic process
John A. Shaw
Thomas D. DeLay/Commentary
Bill Frist/Commentary
John Doolittle/Commentary
Roy Blunt/Commentary
Dennis Hastert/Commentary
Harry Reid/Commentary
Tim Murphy
Congressional Bribery and a DC Sex Scandal
U.S. presidential election, 2008: Campaign Issues
Brant Bassett
Kyle Dustin "Dusty" Foggo
Charles Wyly and Sam Wyly
Joe Negron
George W. Bush/Related SourceWatch Resources
110th United States Congress
Bush administration U.S. attorney firings controversy
Talk:Bush administration U.S. attorney firings controversy
Efforts to initiate the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney/Related SourceWatch Resources
User:Artificial Intelligence/Top Picks
Tommy Hopper
Presumably, this checklist can trigger some memories of deep and systemic corruption and criminality by the extermist and corrupt organization, the Republican Party which, until they can demonstrate that they are cabable of cleaning house and cghaning their corrupt ways, have no credibility in slinging about the phrase "corrupt organization." Same for Fox News, their propaganda outlet.