No Watering The ACORN

ACORN is back in the news, and not in a good way as the Senate last night voted to cut off federal funding for the organization after a series of legal problems have surfaced this month.

The 83-7 vote came as ACORN , which stands for the Assn. of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is receiving bad publicity related to surreptitious videos. Two conservative activists posed as a prostitute and her pimp, then released a hidden-camera video in which ACORN employees in Baltimore advised the couple on house-buying and how to account for the woman's income on tax forms. Two other videos, aired frequently on media outlets such as the Fox News Channel, depict similar situations in Brooklyn and Washington, D.C.

If the House agrees with the Senate, ACORN could not win HUD grants for programs such as counseling low-income people on how to get mortgages.

Last week, the Census Bureau severed ties with ACORN, saying it does not want the group's help with the 2010 count. The group, which advocates for poor people, conducted a voter registration effort last year and became a target of conservatives when some workers were accused of submitting false registration forms with names including Mickey Mouse.

Last week, prosecutors in Miami-Dade County, Fla., arrested 11 people on charges that they falsified hundreds of voter applications during a registration drive last year. ACORN tipped off authorities to the suspected fraud.

As with the Van Jones resignation, conservative bloggers are taking credit for the vote.

As BooMan points out:

And, as far as I can tell, the whole Congress is afraid to do anything disagreeable to the teabaggers.

The only U.S. Senators willing to stick up for ACORN?

Burris (D-IL), Casey (D-PA), Durbin (D-IL), Gillibrand (D-NY), Leahy (D-VT), Sanders (I-VT)

Casey and Gillibrand just went up significantly in my estimation.

And for the same reason, Al Franken and Russ Feingold just took a hit in my books.

It's amazing how the Wingers continue to run Washington. For the second time in two weeks, they demand scalps, Washington snaps to attention so quickly that it makes your head spin, including "progressive" Senators and the Obama White House.

And here I was worried about the Democrats emboldening thugs.