Politics | ACORN ACORN Takedown Campaign Overblown, Misguided The actions of a half-dozen employees doesn't represent the huge organization By Kevin Spak Posted Sep 18, 2009 11:50 AM CDT Copied Estela Jimenz, right, and other supporters of Acorn, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, protest outside a home under foreclosure in South San Francisco, Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2008. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma) The conservative campaign against ACORN—which has now, thanks to a few video “sting” operations, lost its federal funding—is built on an outrageous set of exaggerations and falsehoods, writes Joe Conason for Salon. “No doubt it was fun to dupe a few morons into providing tax advice to a ‘pimp and ho,’ but what ACORN actually does, every day, is help struggling families.” Claims that ACORN perpetrated massive voter fraud are likewise ridiculous. Only a handful of workers falsified registrations—in 2004, for example, six workers faked fewer than 24 registrations, out of more than a million registered that cycle. Judging the whole organization on the actions of a few workers is like condemning the Republican Party for the actions of, say, prostitute clients David Vitter and Ken Calvert. “Nobody is cutting off their federal funding,” Conason observes. Read These Next New Fox star, 23, misses first day after car troubles. White House rolls with Trump's 'daddy' nickname. Supreme Court ruling is a big blow to Planned Parenthood. Man accused of killing his daughters might be dead. Report an error