Swift Boat Two right out of the GOP playbook?
ACORN stories are being generated by someone sending out PR press releases via PRNews Wires out of Fort Worth Texas.
PRNews wires are something I used to do for clients. See at the bottom.....Stanley Kurtz seems to be the original source of the story but someone is pushing it to the press.
And as I write this... I have the feeling that I have been here before?
Freddallas
ACORN Investigations Provide Rallying Cry for Republicans
John McCain and congressional Republicans are railing against ACORN, which is under investigation for voter fraud.
FOXNews.com
Thursday, October 09, 2008
The ongoing investigations into a controversial advocacy group that specializes in registering low-income voters are becoming a rallying cry for Republicans just weeks before Election Day.
John McCain said at a rally Thursday in Wisconsin that the voter-fraud allegations against The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, "must be investigated."
"No one should corrupt the most precious right we have. That is the right to vote," he said to applause.
His campaign later issued a statement highlighting Barack Obama's past legal work for the group, saying "he has a litany of concerning associations that should be fully examined."
Meanwhile, eight senators have demanded the Federal Housing Finance Agency cut off any funding that could wind up in ACORN's coffers. Late Thursday, House Republican Leader John Boehner demanded all federal funding to the group stop, saying the organization can't be trusted with one more taxpayer dollar.
"We're wasting way too much money in Washington, D.C., and this is just a perfect example of taxpayers' monies that are being flushed down the toilet and actually doing harm to our democracy," Republican Nevada Sen. John Ensign said.
But ACORN identifies itself as a non-partisan group that does not accept government funding. And Democrats say the accusations against ACORN amount to nothing more than election-year desperation.
"The idea that they are somehow doing some kind of an organized conspiracy to steal this campaign from John McCain is beyond silly. It's a waste of time and it's grasping at straws from a campaign that's not doing very well," Democratic strategist Bob Beckel said.
ACORN is facing investigations in more than 10 states, including Nevada -- where authorities raided the group's Las Vegas office Tuesday following claims that workers tried to fill out voter forms using the names of several Dallas Cowboys players.
ACORN released a statement saying: "ACORN staff reviews every single application submitted by our canvassers. Special, dedicated staff makes up to three phone calls attempting to reach the voter listed on EVERY SINGLE CARD before they are turned in to verify the information."
FOX News' Shannon Bream contributed to this report.
FREDDALLAS,
This is the last comment I will make about this campaign to you. The info about the foundation that Obama and Ayers worked together on did not completely surface until 10 days ago. That is why the complete story is just now coming out and did not come up in the primaries. Please refrain from sending out this type of info, because people have no use for it.
Obama link to ex-radical is honesty issue
By PHILIP ELLIOTT - 5 hours ago WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Thursday that questions about Democratic rival Barack Obama's association with a former war protester linked to Vietnam-era bombings are part of a broader issue of honesty. In his strongest personal criticism since his faltering campaign began casting Obama as an unknown and unacceptable candidate, McCain told supporters that Obama had not been truthful in describing his relationship with former radical William Ayers. The Arizona senator also said Obama himself has "a clear radical, far-left pro-abortion record." McCain and the Republican National Committee also launched new Web and TV ads about Obama and Ayers. Loud cheers from 4,000 people gathered at a sports complex near Milwaukee greeted McCain's attacks over Ayers, who helped found the Weather Underground, a Vietnam protest group that bombed government buildings 40 years ago. Obama has noted that he was a child at the time and first met Ayers and his wife, ex-radical Bernadine Dohrn, a quarter-century later. "Look, we don't care about an old, washed-up terrorist and his wife," McCain said. "That's not the point here." "He's a terrorist!" a man in the audience screamed without making clear to whom he was referring. "We need to know the full extent of the relationship," McCain replied. Later, McCain told ABC News: "It's a factor about Sen. Obama's candor and truthfulness with the American people." Obama has denounced Ayers and his violent actions and views. He dismisses McCain's criticism as an effort to "score cheap political points." The Associated Press and other news organizations have reported that Obama and Ayers, now a college professor who lives in Obama's Chicago neighborhood, are not close but that they worked together on two nonprofit organizations from the mid-1990s to 2002. In addition, Ayers hosted a small meet-the-candidate event for Obama in 1995 as he first ran for the state Senate. David Axelrod, a senior campaign adviser, says Obama, who was a child living in Indonesia and Hawaii in the late 1960s and early 1970s, was not aware of Ayers' radical past at the time of that campaign event. Some McCain supporters have expressed skepticism about that. Some of those at the rally questioned why McCain was trailing Obama and why no one was talking about Obama's past associations. Obama's history with Ayers was explored during the primaries in news reports and in a campaign debate. The GOP campaign has resurrected it as the economic crisis deepened in recent days. Responding to McCain's criticism, Obama campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor said: "It's now clear that John McCain would rather launch angry, personal attacks than talk about the economy or defend his risky bailout scheme that hands over billions in taxpayer dollars to the same irresponsible Wall Street banks and lenders that got us into this mess, a scheme that guarantees taxpayers will lose money." One person at the rally here suggested McCain get tougher in his final debate with Obama next Wednesday: "I am begging you, sir." "Yes, I'll do that," McCain said. To press its argument, the McCain campaign also released a 90-second Web ad about Obama and Ayers. "Barack Obama and domestic terrorist Bill Ayers. Friends. They've worked together for years," the ad says. The ad also claims that one of the nonprofits on which Obama and Ayers worked was a radical education foundation. That educational foundation was The Annenberg Challenge. It was funded by the Annenberg Foundation, a charity set up by longtime Republican backer and newspaper publisher Walter Annenberg. Annenberg has died, but his wife has endorsed McCain this year. For his work on this educational project, Chicago gave Ayers its "Citizen of the Year" award in 1997. On Friday, the Republican National Committee will start running a TV ad in Indiana and Wisconsin that links Obama to Ayers and other Chicago figures. "The Chicago Way. Shady politics. That's Barack Obama's training," the ad says. McCain and his campaign have sought to raise doubts about Obama, who could become the nation's first black president. Supporters have used Obama's middle name, Hussein, during introductions of McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin this week - trying to remind voters that he shares a name with deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The Obama campaign denounced the move, which also plays to Internet rumors that Obama is a Muslim, even though he grew up in a secular household and is a Christian. After the fact, the McCain campaign said in an e-mailed statement that it did not condone using the middle name. Palin joined McCain at the town hall - the first of two events in this swing state with 10 electoral votes - and blamed "mainstream media" for not asking Obama tough questions about his proposals. "Are Americans having an opportunity to ask all the questions and are we receiving straight answers from our opponent?" Palin asked. The crowd shouted, "No!" In a response for the Obama campaign, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle said it was preposterous to suggest Obama hadn't been scrutinized during one of the toughest primaries and general elections in modern history. McCain also repeated the false claim that Palin opposed the so-called Bridge to Nowhere, for which she campaigned in her race for governor and accepted federal money to build. When the project drew national scorn as an example of wasteful spending, Congress withdrew its support for the bridge but Alaska kept the money for other projects. A poll released Wednesday by WISC-TV in Madison showed McCain trailing Obama by 10 points, the Arizona senator's largest deficit in Wisconsin since July when polls also showed Obama with a double-digit lead. "Do you know how many times the political pundits in the last two years have written off my campaign?" McCain asked. He later repeated the line at an airport rally in Mosinee. Palin had flown to Cincinnati. Associated Press writer Scott Bauer contributed to this report.
On the Net: * McCain campaign: http://www.johnmccain.com/
Here is the PAID NEWS WIRE STORY:
Mortgage Fallout has ACORN Roots to Presidential Candidate
Barack Obama has strong ties to the group that pressured banks into making high-risk loans
(WiredPRNews.com - Real Estate, Top Stories)
Fort Worth, TX (WiredPRNews.com)—
ACORN, which stands for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, pressured banks into making mortgages to those who would otherwise not qualify for them, according to an October 7, 2008 article by Stanley Kurtz, which appeared on the website for National Review.
As all Americans are footing the bill for the $700 billion bailout to prevent the collapse the financial market, ACORN leader Madeline Talbot—who has close ties to Senator Obama—personally strong-armed banks into making mortgage loans to low income minorities in the Chicago area, according to the National Review article. Kurtz writes that ACORN intimidation tactics include showing up at the home of bankers, breaking into offices and flooding bank lobbies with protestors.
Talbot, according to the Kurtz article, was able to use a provision from the Community Reinvestment Act to coerce banks into lowering their credit standards by blocking the banks’ efforts to expand their business. The program expanded to the national level when prominent Obama advisor Jim Johnson—then the head of government-backed mortgage giant Fannie Mae—joined ACORN’s efforts to expand home ownership among minorities who normally would not qualify for a mortgage, according to the article.
Kurtz adds that the Obama is closely tied to ACORN because he gave $800,000 to the group to get out the vote when Obama kicked off his presidential campaign. In addition to this, the article indicates that Obama worked with ACORN on the Project VOTE effort, which registered 500,000 voters for the 1992 election.
Speaking of voter registration drives, ACORN is in hot water for allegedly submitting fraudulent voter registration cards, according to an October 8, 2008 Las Vegas Review-Journal.com article by Adrienne Packer and Molly Ball. On Tuesday, Nevada authorities raided the Las Vegas offices of ACORN and confiscated files as part of a voter fraud investigation.
According to the Review-Journal article, Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller—a Democrat—stated that some of the registration forms raised red flags because they had names like Terrell Owens and Tony Romo.
Aside from the fraudulent forms, the article indicates that ACORN may have hired prisoners from a nearby halfway house to do some of the work. The effort, called Project VOTE, is similar to what Barack Obama worked on in 1992.
Jason Meeks · Filed Under Real Estate, Top Stories
-->Online Real Estate News Press Release Distribution - WiredPRNews.com
Friday, October 10, 2008
OK Who is this Guy?
:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Kurtz
Stanley Kurtz
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stanley Kurtz is an American social commentator who identifies with the conservative movement. He is an adjunct fellow of the Hudson Institute and a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, with a special interest in America's "culture wars." Kurtz writes regularly for publications such as National Review, Policy Review, the Weekly Standard, Wall Street Journal, and Commentary. [1] [2] Kurtz graduated from Haverford College and holds a Ph.D. in social anthropology from Harvard University. He did his field work in India and taught at Harvard and the University of Chicago. He has published extensively on family life, child rearing, religion, and psychology in various parts of the world. [3]
During the 2008 election cycle, he has published several pieces detailing the relationships between Barack Obama and various Chicago church leaders such as Jeremiah Wright as well as former member of the radical Weather Underground Organization William Ayers.[4][5]
In August 2008 Kurtz attempted to obtain the University of Illinois at Chicago's Annenberg records detailing the professional relationship between Obama and Ayers. Kurtz's efforts to explore the association between the two men has been controversial. Their relationship was characterized as "a tenuous one" by the Washington Post in February 2008. [6]
In September 2008 Kurtz published his initial findings from his study of the Annenberg records, writing, "As [Chicago Annenberg Challenge] chairman, Mr. Obama was lending moral and financial support to Mr. Ayers and his radical circle." Kurtz also wrote, "The CAC's agenda flowed from Mr. Ayers's educational philosophy, which called for infusing students and their parents with a radical political commitment, and which downplayed achievement tests in favor of activism." According to Kurtz, the educational program on which Obama and Ayers collaborated was ultimately unsuccessful: "CAC's in-house evaluators comprehensively studied the effects of its grants on the test scores of Chicago public-school students. They found no evidence of educational improvement."[7]
Stanley Kurtz's reporting became the subject of an "Obama Action Wire" issued by the Obama campaign. This release, issued in advance of Kurtz's August 2008 appearance on the popular Chicago radio show, "Extension 720 with Milt Rosenberg," requested Obama supporters to call WGN radio prior to his appearance and ask them not to allow Kurtz to on the air [8], and to call into the show "Us[ing] the talking points above" and "report back on your call" [9]. Zack Christenson, executive producer of "Extension 720 with Milt Rosenburg," told the Chicago Tribune that the Obama campaign was asked to have someone appear on the show, and declined the request. [10] . Christenson further said that this was the largest response from a campaign that Extension 720 has ever received, stating "This is really unprecedented with the show, the way that people are flooding the calls and our email boxes." [10] A followup Chicago Tribune story, "Obama campaign flubs a defense", said that "The grass-roots response was weak," but also editorialized that "Kurtz really had nothing new to add" to the Obama–Ayers controversy. [11]
========================== Bottom Line ===============================
CNN’s Drew Griffin Does a Real Fact-Check on Obama/Ayers Connection
By Matthew Balan (Bio Archive)October 7, 2008 - 16:21 ET
During a report on Monday’s Anderson Cooper 360 program, CNN investigative correspondent Drew Griffin presented many of the missing details about the relationship between Barack Obama and left-wing terrorist William Ayers that two earlier "Truth Squad" reports on the network on Sunday and Monday omitted. Griffin stated that despite the spin of the Obama campaign and their mainstream media supporters, "...the relationship between Obama and Ayers went much deeper, ran much longer, and was much more political than Obama said."
Host Anderson Cooper introduced Griffin’s report, which began 19 minutes into the 10 pm Eastern hour, as one of the CNN program’s "Keeping Them Honest" features.
Oddly, a on-screen graphic that read "The Dow Plunges," which had nothing to do with the subject of the segment, ran during its entirety. The correspondent began by repeating Ayers and his wife Bernadine Dohrn’s background in the Weather Underground, "an anti-Vietnam War group that bombed federal buildings, including the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon." He then gave Obama’s early characterization of his relationship with the 1960's radical, that the Democrat "confirmed... that he knew Ayers, and, when pressed, said they served on a charitable foundation board together, and Obama condemned Ayers' support of violence."
Griffin then outlined how "the relationship between Obama and Ayers went much deeper, ran much longer, and was much more political than Obama said." After playing a sound bite from senior Obama campaign adviser Anita Dunn, who thought it was "just wrong, and, frankly, it's quite unfair" that Obama’s opponents were going after her candidate "because of Bill Ayers' past," the CNN correspondent introduced how Obama and Ayers’ "paths repeatedly crossed" as members of the board of the Annenberg Challenge Project, where for seven years, "Bill Ayers and Obama, among many others, worked on funding for education projects, including some experiments supported by Ayers."
In another sound bite, National Review Online’s Stanley Kurtz characterized how this funding worked: "Instead of giving money directly to schools, they gave men to what they called external partners, and these external partners were often pretty radical community organizer groups."
Later, Griffin detailed how Ayers and Obama were also board members for the Woods Fund, another foundation which donated money to liberal groups: "Among its recipients -- Jeremiah Wright's Trinity United Church, where Obama attended, and a children and family justice center where Ayers' wife worked."
The CNN correspondent concluded his report with details about the 1995 meeting at Ayers’ house where then-Illinois State Senator Alice Palmer introduced Obama as her heir-apparent: "In 1995, months after the little-known Barack Obama became Annenberg Project chair, [Illinois] State Senator Alice Palmer introduced the young Obama as her political heir-apparent. Where was that introduction made? At the home of the '60s radicals Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn."
Dunn, in another sound bite, tried to portray this meeting as innocent: "A Democratic state senator organizes a meeting of her supporters at the house of another one of her supporters. What is the problem here, Drew? It is the worst kind of inference and the worst kind of politics to say that, somehow, that says something about Barack Obama."
However, after his report concluded, Griffin countered that "this meeting at Bill Ayers' home has been classified in many different ways. What I can tell you from two people who were actually there is: number one, former State Senator Alice Palmer says she in no way organized this meeting. She was invited, and attended it briefly. And, Dr. Quinton Young, a retired doctor, told us this indeed was Barack Obama's political coming-out party and it was hosted by Bill Ayers."
The full transcript of Drew Griffin’s report from Monday’s Anderson Cooper 360:
SARAH PALIN: It turns out one of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers.
(Crowd Boos)
PALIN: And, according to The New York Times, he was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that quote,'launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and our U.S. Capitol.'
ANDERSON COOPER: Well, that, of course, is Sarah Palin today on the stump spearheading this new effort by the McCain campaign to raise doubts about Barack Obama. Now, critics say they're simply trying to change the focus from the economy to this issue back on Obama. But, in this case, they're linking him to a '60s radical, Bill Ayers. Supporters of the McCain campaign say, look, this is all fair game. In a debate earlier this year, Barack Obama described Ayers as quote, 'a guy who lives in my neighborhood,' and with whom he served on a board. Now, the Obama campaign is clearly trying to play down any allegations of a relationship between these
two men, and, just as clearly, the McCain is trying to play up allegations of a relationship. So, what's the truth? CNN Special Investigations Unit correspondent Drew Griffin is 'Keeping Them Honest.'
DREW GRIFFIN (voice-over): Bill Ayers and his wife, Bernadine Dohrn, in the 1960s and '70s, were radicals -- members of the Weather Underground, an anti-Vietnam War group that bombed federal buildings, including the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon. On the run for years, the case against them was thrown out, due to illegal wiretaps and prosecutor misconduct. Ayers has never repented and has said, as late
as 2001, he wished he had done more to stop the war.
Barack Obama confirmed during a primary debate that he knew Ayers, and, when pressed, said they served on a charitable foundation board together, and Obama condemned Ayers' support of violence. But the relationship between Obama and Ayers went much deeper, ran much longer, and was much more political than Obama said.
ANITA DUNN, SENIOR OBAMA CAMPAIGN ADVISER: What they are arguing is that, somehow, the fact that these two people who served -- both [as] educational reformers in Chicago, both of whom did have their paths cross professionally, as well as -- as neighbors occasionally, that, somehow, this association is a problem for Barack Obama because of Bill Ayers' past and things that happened in the 1960s, when Barack Obama was 7 years
old. And that's just wrong, and, frankly, it's quite unfair.
GRIFFIN: One place their paths repeatedly crossed, according to a CNN review of board minutes and other records, was Chicago's Annenberg Challenge Project, where a $50 million grant from the Annenberg Foundation matched locally-raised funds to improve schools. According to participants and project records, Bill Ayers fought to bring the Annenberg grant to Chicago. Barack Obama was recruited as its chair. For seven years, Bill Ayers and Obama, among many others, worked on funding for education projects, including some experiments supported by Ayers.
Stanley Kurtz, a conservative researcher for the Ethics and Public Policy Center, has also been reviewing the recently released records of Chicago's Annenberg Challenge.
STANLEY KURTZ, NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE: Instead of giving money directly to schools, they gave men to what they called external partners, and these external partners were often pretty radical community organizer groups.
GRIFFIN: And the board gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to Bill Ayers' Small Schools Project promoting alternative education, like the Peace School, with a curriculum centered around a United Nations theme, and another school where the focus was African-American studies.
GRIFFIN: (on-camera): And this was directly funded by Annenberg?
KURTZ: Oh, yes.
GRIFFIN: Under Obama's chairmanship?
KURTZ: Oh, yes, and the specific job of the board of directors was to give out the money.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): While continuing work on the Annenberg Challenge, Barack Obama and Bill Ayers also served together on a second charitable foundation, the Woods Fund. Among its recipients -- Jeremiah Wright's Trinity United Church, where Obama attended, and a children and family justice center where Ayers' wife worked. Ayers has strong defenders in Chicago, among them Richard Daley, the mayor, who called Ayers a valued member of the Chicago community. The city gave Ayers its Citizen of the Year award in 1997 for his work on the Annenberg Project.
For Obama, the chairmanship of the $100 million Annenberg board helped vault him from South Side Chicago lawyer to political player, and that, too, has another connection to Bill Ayers. In 1995, months after the little-known Barack Obama became Annenberg Project chair, [Illinois] State Senator Alice Palmer introduced the young Obama as her political heir-apparent. Where was that introduction made? At the home of the '60s radicals Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn. The Obama campaign again says it is just a coincidence.
DUNN: A Democratic state senator organizes a meeting of her supporters at the house of another one of her supporters. What is the problem here, Drew? It is the worst kind of inference and the worst kind of politics to say that, somehow, that says something about Barack Obama.
GRIFFIN (on-camera): Anderson, this meeting at Bill Ayers' home has been classified in many different ways. What I can tell you from two people who were actually there is: number one, former State Senator Alice Palmer says she in no way organized this meeting. She was invited, and attended it briefly. And, Dr. QuintonYoung, a retired doctor, told us this indeed was Barack Obama's political coming-out party and it was hosted by Bill Ayers.
COOPER: So, Drew -- bottom line, if Obama and Ayers worked together with others to, I guess, improve schools, what exactly is the McCain/Palin camp saying is wrong with -- with this relationship, or this working relationship, or however you want to characterize it?
GRIFFIN: Well, Anderson, I haven't contacted the McCain campaign on this issue. What they're saying on the stump is the same thing that Hillary Clinton brought up during the primary campaign. It is the issue of trust. You know, by raising this issue of Bill Ayers, and whether or not Barack Obama was hanging around with him, palling around with him, or just working with him -- Bill Ayers, in the '60s, had a very, very different view of the United States that many Americans did. A lot of Americans were against the Vietnam War, but not a lot of Americans formed a group and started bombing things because of it. Now, they're trying to say that that raises judgment issues on Barack Obama, which has been the tag other campaigns -- now McCain's, have been trying to peg on him ever since he started running for president.
COOPER: But Barack Obama has publicly stated he does not agree with this guy, correct?
GRIFFIN: Well, he has said that he does -- I forget his exact words, but he certainly deplores the -- the violence in the past.
COOPER: Right.
GRIFFIN: I haven't been able to ask him directly about the relationship he has or had with -- with Bill Ayers.
COOPER: All right, Drew Griffin, thanks very much.
—Matthew Balan is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.
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