Mighty Oaks and ACORN

When John McCain warned, in Wednesday's debate, that ACORN was "on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history," one that could destroy "the fabric of democracy," I hope Al Gore didn't have a mouth full of his favorite beverage.

There is a reason why, for decades, Department of Justice policy was to not initiate or announce investigations of possible electoral misfeasance in the period just before an election. That was to prevent the electoral process from being manipulated by "investigations" initiated by the party in power, frightening off potential voters for the opponent. Under the Bush Administration this policy has been -- surprise! -- ignored. Thus, Attorney General Mukasey's FBI has opened (and, of course, leaked news of) an "investigation" into ACORN.

So there's a pre-election strategy involved in this ACORN business. But be prepared for the post-election strategy, too. A base that thinks Barack Obama is a Muslim who cavorts with terrorists will be easily convinced, if Obama manages to pull off a victory in this election, that a great fraud has been perpetrated. Let's see how that plays out.

Meanwhile, the NY Times editorializes about ACORN here. And one of the (Republican) US Attorneys who was fired for refusing to gin up a bogus vote fraud investigation reflects on the latest developments here.