New Orleans A suddenly close Senate election in Massachusetts is bringing out the full rightwing arsenal. Wildly, a fixed page in the Republican playbook has now come to egg on heavy breather get-out-the-vote efforts by claiming that ACORN is massing from city to city in the Bay State to steal votes and mess with the election.
Reports all over my Google alerts indicated that in some kind poll, conducted it seems by Public Policy Polling, there was huge fear of ACORN shenanigans. Going to the source I found this posting:
Monday, January 18, 2010
Scott Brown may be leading in the race for Ted Kennedy’s seat in the US Senate, but his supporters are still feeling some trepidation about his chances. 39% of them on our poll said they thought ACORN would try to steal the election for Martha Coakley while 23% think it will not and 38% are unsure.
Overall 25% of voters in the state think ACORN will mess with the Senate election while 38% don’t and 37% are unsure.
I think to most sane people the thought that ACORN would or could steal an election is pretty goofball, but if Martha Coakley pulls out a small victory tomorrow after most of the polls have shown Brown in the lead you’d better believe you’re going to be hearing the ACORN card played quite a bit.
Posted by Tom Jensen at 12:24 PM
A quarter of the voters believing this is indicates a huge amount of drug abuse in the state, so fortunately there is a mandated health plan in the state so there’s hope for a cure, but, wow, how can people be sold such snake oil?
Michelle Maklin headlines today, “Expect ACORN to Lead Voter Fraud Effort.”
Jensen’s got it right despite the wildness in the blogosphere. How could “sane people” believe that ACORN “would or could steal an election…?” Scratch Maklin off the sane list, if she was even remotely still on it.
More dismaying is that in ACORN’s currently crippled state in Massachusetts and elsewhere how anyone could imagine that they can even mount an effort to protect some of their own members in the neighborhoods much less stand up and fight in an election.
The efforts to scapegoat ACORN has truly passed from the ridiculous to the absurd. Does it really take the level of lies for the right to convince its adherents to vote for their candidates?