I will never understand why we on the so-called Left allowed the Republicans with a lot of help from the Corporate Media to completely destroy ACORN. In order to invoke Empathy and Action from the "working poor" one must first identify with and understand their everyday needs. ACORN recruited the very people they represented. Nation wide ACORN delivered more then 6 million additional votes to the Democratic party, yet when they were under attack and the Right-Wing Media Machine (FOX) was moving in for the kill, many spineless Democrats ran for cover! The Right still have their AstroTurf TeaParty , and ACORN is no more; to quote Malcolm X, "this was not by accident, it was by design".
Many of the local and national Democratic party establishment (in my opinion) had a hard time warming up to ACORN because many times the "face" of ACORN looked like Bertha Lewis:
a middle-aged Black woman without a PHD or Pedigree.
People, I think the problem is more with "us" than them.
We make "stupid" choices: allowing ACORN to be destroyed; not fighting like our lives depended on John Conyers's HR676 or a Public Option; not turning out "in-mass" during the midterm elections and blaming the other side for our failures. I say it's time to climb out of this pit of self pity and hand the Republicans their well-fed rear ends!
Don't be afraid to "get your hands dirty" (as ACORN did) dealing with the working poor, the uneducated and the hopeless. To many in our society they may not count, but as long as we can hold on to what is left of our Republic their "votes" will.