Did you know that House Republicans really, really, really don't want any money going to the defunct organization known as
ACORN?
Although last week's attempt to pass a bill funding the Transportation and Housing & Urban Development departments (THUD) landed with a, well, an acronym, it would have marked the 13th time the Republican-led House of Representatives passed a bill with language ensuring that no funds go to that organization.
You know ACORN, it's the scary, all-powerful group that tried to register low-income folks to vote and do other kinds of advocacy work for the poor. Republicans believe ACORN is so powerful that, at least according to a PPP survey, 49 percent of them think that ACORN stole the 2012 presidential election. This is down from the 52 percent of Republicans who thought ACORN stole the 2008 presidential election. Oh, did I mention that ACORN ceased to exist in 2010? I guess that fact accounts for the three percent drop from 2008 to 2012.
But back to last week's House vote. What are Democrats saying about it? Well, as a historian, this reply gets my vote for most humorous remark of the year by a Congressional staffer (there may not be stiff competition, I realize):
"Word is the majority will also prohibit foreign aid to the Ottoman Empire this year."
This ridiculous Republican revisiting of ACORN's non-existing funding reminds me of that classic Saturday Night Live "Weekend Update" newscast where anchor Chevy Chase announces that Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead, so I've embedded it above for your viewing pleasure.