Steve Newton has rightly criticized us and other liberal bloggers for not providing a strong defense of ACORN, an organization that, even by far right conservative blogger David Anderson’s admission, does good work for the poor and, as recently discovered today, in foreclosure and debt counseling. Steve is right, and you all should read his posts on ACORN, here and here. My only defense for not providing a strong defense is what I call a priority of outrage.
What do I mean by that? Well, Republicans are very good about screaming at the top of their lungs about everything and anything, and they will lie pathologically and brazenly about any issue, so long as it fits their narrative of attack. An example of that is their lies about death panels. And they scream and lie about everything, all at once. So with finite time, I have to prioritize responses to the GOP’s attacks. And admittedly, defending ACORN ranked below responding to or exposing Republican lies about the President and his health care plan and economic policies. It was a failing on my part, and I suppose evidence of the success of the Republican strategy of lying and screaming about everything, for surely we will miss something.
My mother often bemoans why the Republicans are so good in attacking and Democrats are so bad in defending or arguing their own case, and I say it is because Democrats are not pathological liars by nature. They actually like to think about issues and policies and what is good for the American people, and in fact they will actually think about Republican criticism to see if it has any merit. It is just a reality of our politics today that brazen liars are considered strong and principled thinkers are weak.
But on the issue of ACORN, and conservative outrage and demands that all funding by stripped over this one incident in Baltimore where it seems one bad apple has ruined the whole batch, I would ask my Republican friends why then did not demand the immediate revocation of contracts with such military contractors like XE (formerly Blackwater), whose founder and subordinates are charged with the murder of innocents in Iraq. Surely murder is a misuse of taxpayer money. Perhaps they don’t think Iraqis are innocent, or human beings.
The two situations are not completely analogous. Yes, federal taxpayer dollars have been given to two private organizations. Yes, individuals in both organizations have been charged with wrongdoing (although it would be correct to say that Blackwater’s potential wrongdoing severely outweighs any potential wrongdoing on the part of ACORN). And yet, there is no Republican outrage about Blackwater.
Funny that. Republicans will protect murderous mercenaries, but God forbid you give tax advice to prostitutes.