The Great and Powerful ACORN – Part II

Last month, when I wrote a post about the Right’s opposition to President Bush’s first judicial nominee, David Hamilton, I took issue with their attempt to tie him to ACORN by pointing out that his “ties” to the organization consisted entirely of a one-month stint as a canvasser some thirty years ago.

I didn’t bother explaining at the time the back story about the Right’s hatred of ACORN because a) it is already well-known and b) it would have been a time consuming project to compile all the smears against the organization.

Fortunately, Media Matter has now released a report chronicling the countless examples where right-wing commentators and members of the media have used ACORN as a whipping boy and debunking the various lies about their work which includes, among other things, this list of the the various times Hamilton’s “ties” to ACORN were mentioned: 

  • NBC deputy political director Mark Murray, in a March 17 post to the MSNBC.com blog First Read

  • The Chicago Tribune‘s David G. Savage, in a March 17 post to its blog The Swamp

  • USA Today‘s Mark Memmott, in a March 17 post to its blog The Oval

  • The American Spectator‘s Matthew Vadum, in a March 17 blog post

  • Wendy Long, in a March 17 post to the National Review Online blog bench memos

  • Fox News Supreme Court reporter Shannon Bream, during the March 18 edition of Special Report

  • Co-host Pat Robertson on the March 18 edition of the Christian Broadcasting Network’s The 700 Club

Media Matters has done a great job of showing how ACORN has been blamed or otherwise mentioned in connection with a wide range of issues including the financial crisis, voter fraud, the Minnesota Senate recount, the economic recovery legislation, SCHIP legislation, the 2010 census, and the election of Barack Obama and setting the record straight on right-wing attempts to smear the organization. 

Be sure to check it out.