Defund ACORN Now!, Thunders Right-Wing Extremist... Barney Frank?

Sounds like ACORN is too sleazy for even Barney Frank to defend now.

That is what you call penetrating into the public consciousness. If even Barney Frank is now running... well.

Barney Frank being Barney Frank, he blames Bush for funding ACORN. Well, not blames, exactly, but he's trying his black little heart out to make this a "bipartisan scandal."

Emphases added below:

A number of factors, one of which in particular is my own fault, have contributed to my position on ACORN being unclear. My biggest error was to sign a letter to the Congressional Research Service which I had not thoroughly read and which does not accurately represent my own position in all aspects.

Part of the confusion arose from the fact that I had to miss the vote on the motion to cut off funding for ACORN... [T]hrough a misunderstanding with a member of my staff, it was incorrectly reported that I said I would have voted against the motion to defund ACORN. In fact, I would have voted for the motion at that time. I am very disappointed in the actions that were taken by members of ACORN, and I do not believe that ACORN’s response has been adequate for an organization that has received public funding.

He lays it on thick in the part I cut out about how he was so distracted because he was attending a ceremony to award a medal posthumously for a soldier. I could almost taste his tears as he tells us about his heroic visit to the White House.

Um, I don't think this was a misunderstanding.

I think even Barney Frank is catching heat for pimping for ACORN, and now he's telling us how interested in reform he is.

There are questions about the constitutionality of Congress passing a law that singles out one organization, but the basic principle that ACORN should not now be receiving public funding is an important one. I have therefore urged the Obama administration to withhold any additional funding for ACORN at least until there is very firm evidence that the abuses of which ACORN members have been guilty have not only ceased, but that procedures are in place to prevent them from happening again.

Note that he is of course flacking for them here -- stop funding them for a month or two, then certify that everything's ship-shape and start the gravy-train again.

I have previously communicated to ACORN my dissatisfaction with their lax supervision of employees and volunteers. The fact that people who were improperly registered to vote did not actually cast ballots in no way excuses the organization’s failure to exercise better control in this way.

CYA. Of course he "communicated" his "dissatisfaction," because he needed to give himself cover as he blocked actual investigations and consequences.

But again, it's nice to see him scramble to claim "Hey, I was one of their biggest critics!"

Further, the motivation of those who went to ACORN offices and initiated the discussions involving prostitution are wholly irrelevant to the fact that ACORN’s employees’ actions were outrageous and further indication of an organization that is at best poorly run in many regards. The defense against sting operations is not to ban them, but to behave properly so that they do not reveal as they did in this case clear evidence of gross impropriety.

Walking back singing that letter directing the CRS to investigate Breitbart, Giles, and O'Keefe.

Think he sensed he was on the wrong side of this?

Now he tells us how much the Evil ACORN-connected Bush funded them. I'll skip that.

...

It is important for the public to know, given what has been made public about these activities, what funds ACORN has received, under what authority, in what
administration etc. It was for that reason that I signed the letter of request and I will continue to press for that information. I have asked Subcommittee Chairman Dennis Moore of the Oversight Committee of the Committee on Financial Services to be ready to hold a hearing on this question when those figures are made available to us. And I reiterate that my own view is that the appropriate response here would be to have the Obama administration continue what it began with regard to the Census and withhold any funding or authority from ACORN pending a very serious examination of their past behavior and significant changes regarding the future.

Significant changes, again, to be completed in... oh, about the three months Bertha Lewis said it would take her to fix anything.

Pretty amazing, though. When even Barney Frank, whose district is so liberal he doesn't even have to sweat his boyfriend running a gay escort service out of his apartment, starts walking it back and making noise, you know the public reaction is pretty sharp.

posted by Ace at 04:53 PM

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