Missing the Forest for the Acorn

If NPR had ever done any serious reporting on the unquestionable Republican fraud of the stolen 2000 election, or on the likely fraud of the 2004 election - then its Sunday morning feature piece on some of the problems with ACORN's voter registration drive would be more palatable. But NPR has done no investigative work on Republican-led election fraud and corruption, and - in Pravdaesque style - has actually praised the Republican corruption as an effort to stop voter fraud.

Steven Rosenfeld of AlterNet points out the trivial nature of problems with ACORN's voter registration errors and provides the context for this Republican farce - most notably the connection to the attorney firing scandal, connections that run right up to...the White House! This doesn't stop NPR from giving lots of airtime to Sean Cairncross, the Republican National Committee's chief legal counsel. You'd think he was talking about his bosses and the current administration - not ACORN - when he says:

• "It is at best a quasi-criminal...organization..."
• "Is a clear and present danger to the integrity of the election process."
• "...a threat to public safety."

NPR should be covering the role that this and other phony "voter fraud" charges play in the overall Republican strategy of undermining free and fair elections in the US - particularly since these efforts didn't end with the 2000 or 2004 elections, and - as this ACORN ploy reveals - will continue into and beyond this crucial November election.