ACORN's Shocking Radicalism is Nothing New

According to Matthew Vadum, "ACORN is sleazy, criminal, and dangerous and the tabloid style of storytelling is ideal for explaining what the group is all about."

He's referring to the new piece on ACORN at the New York Post, "Sowing the Seeds of Destruction: ACORN's Shady Tactics Made Headlines Last Seek. But Their Shocking Radicalism is Nothing New":

Just how nutty is ACORN?

Very, say longtime watchers of the extreme leftwing group that sprouted out of a radical 60s anti-government movement.

For decades ACORN has presented itself as a grassroots network dedicated to improving the lives of the poor.

But there's more to ACORN than its do-gooder veneer.

Just ask the banks, corporations and politicians who've been the target of ACORN's shameless shenanigans over the past 40 years.

Here's how the tiny seed of 1960s radicalism blossomed into a well-funded, national organization with political connections reaching all the way to the White House ....

Be sure to read the whole thing, which has a useful background chronology of ACORN's crooks, liars, and thugs. Can't resist the conclusion though:

THE FUTURE?

ACORN's altruistic façade came tumbling down — possibly for good — this month after a series of videos showed staffers giving an undercover pimp and hooker tips on defrauding the government, laundering money, cheating on taxes and obtaining a mortgage to open up a home-based brothel.

The damning display put ACORN on the defensive again and even rocked its once solid base of support among Democratic lawmakers.

Both the House and Senate have passed bipartisan bills calling for an immediate halt to federal funding to ACORN, which a Republican tally puts at $53 million since 1994.
Governor David Paterson on Friday placed a hold on all state contracts with the agency's local chapter, and the US Census Bureau kicked ACORN off its upcoming 2010 population count.

Yet ACORN needs more than just a slap on the wrist for encouraging people to commit mortgage and tax fraud, according to Von Spakovsky, a former Department of Justice investigator. The activist organization has yet to be held accountable for most of its actions — past and present, he said.

"Nobody knows for sure how many subsidiaries ACORN has, but many investigations have shown they're mostly shell groups, used to transfer money around," said Von Spakovsky.

"We'll only know the true extent of their wrongdoing when the Department of Justice does a forensic audit, and we find out where those millions in federal funds have gone," he said.

Check also, Roger L. Simon, "Stephanopoulos and ACORN: Obama Lies Again."

Related: "Obama's Watergate: Could ACORN Bring Down a President?"