Why Was McCain Involved With ACORN?

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.  But McCain and his supporters think there is when Obama has the ACORN relationship, and they’re using it in advance to claim the election will be fraudulent.  But John McCain was their keynote speaker at a February 2006 rally held by the organization that he is now negatively trying to tie to Obama.

Mark Ambinder has the video of McCain telling ACORN, “What makes America special is what’s in this room tonight.  That’s what makes America special.”  It’s at 1:54 into this video:

In fact as Firedoglake points out, Republicans love ACORN, too:

• Both Gov. Charlie Crist and Secretary of State Kurt Browning have said they don’t mind ACORN being active in Florida’s election process. When reporters asked Crist if there was a problem with ACORN here, he said, ‘No.’

• ACORN supported a law signed by Governor Crist which changed the rules last year to restore the voting rights of about 112,000 former convicts.

• [Connecticut Congressman] Chris Shays? He supports ACORN too. Shays put out a press release stating, “Congressman Christopher Shays (R-CT) today announced the availability of free tax assistance for low- and moderate-income residents of Bridgeport, Norwalk and Stamford.”

• Arnold Schwarzenegger? According to the San Francisco Chronicle on 7/9/08, Arnold Schwarzenegger signed SB1137, a bill designed to help California homeowners avoid foreclosure.” He was joined by “members of community group ACORN, which helped draft the measure.

• [Florida Republican] Senator Mel Martinez even awarded a grant to ACORN: According to the Times-Picayune on 10/3/03 the [then] U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Mel Martinez recently announced that his agency has awarded grants to Xavier and Tulane universities as well as ACORN and the city of New Orleans. The money will be spent to remove lead, educate the public about the dangers of lead-based paint and support research.

• Mitt Romney, as Massachusetts governor, and Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota both signed Acorn-sponsored bills into law.

Does the McCain campaign actually do its homework?

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.