Sen. Durbin Defends ACORN Vote

By Karl Klockars in News on Sep 21, 2009 9:20PM

Despite any existing ideological feelings about the existence and efforts of ACORN (what's that stand for, anyways? Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, that's what) any organization that is documented as doing anything to game the system should be bounced, and bounced fast. We live in a society that's got rules, whether we like it or not, and no organization on either side of the political fence gets to play outside the sandbox. Sometimes a few bad apples do get to ruin the whole damn bunch.

The Senate recently voted to defund ACORN, and to remove federal moneys from student aid bills as well as an interior department bill. When you're on the small end of that 83-7 vote, especially in this Senate, you're not in a very popular position. Dick Durbin voted to continue funding the operation, as did everyone's favorite Blagojevich appointee, Roland Burris (whom op-ed columnist Dennis Byrne describes as a "demonstrable twit" on the Chicago Daily Observer). So...why, Dick?

Sen. Durbin took to Morning Joe to make his case for continuing the funding. "I'm one of those traditional law schools," he said. "First the trial, then the hanging." Durbin stretched the analogy a little further to make the point that if someone on the MSNBC crew was, say, smoking dope, would the Federal Government quit doing business with General Electric?

All right, fair enough. But turnabout is fair play. If the same actions were being done by, say:

• The American Conservative Student Union
• The Christian Coalition of America
• The Heritage Foundation
• The Cato Institute
• Focus on the Family
• Swift Boat Veterans for Truth

...do you think the hanging would commence a little bit quicker? Yes, of course, it's dependent on what federal funding was being accepted by those groups, as ACORN was getting Housing and Urban Development cash as well. But what are the chances that if, say, someone organizing a Tea Party or someone working under Glenn Beck was caught on video discussing helping child prostitutes to beat the Federal Government, that quick action wouldn't be taken? Is it apples to oranges? You be the judge, but the point remains.

Is this as big of a deal as FOX News would like to have us believe? Not really. Has ACORN done good things in underprivileged communities? Sure. But is it disappointing to see our senior Senator, someone who we'd love to see in a leadership position instead of a Pelosi or a Reid, play political softball with an organization which is certainly smoking, if not fully on fire. One positive outcome from the vote? The Senate can now claim to be just a little bit more bipartisan - at least on this issue.