The "Glenn Beck Program" had a segment yesterday on Fox News
about the connection between ACORN
and the Tides
Foundation, as I noted at AmSpecBlog
yesterday.
The video clip of the segment wasn't available yesterday but
it's available now. I have embedded the video below at the
bottom of this post.
Meanwhile, from the useful idiots file, comedian Roseanne Barr, a
longtime ally of ACORN who gave the ACORN Institute $50,000
through her foundation in 2005, has leapt to the defense of the
embattled leftist group.
Barr lent her name to ACORN's fundraising efforts. The full
letter is
available here, but immediately below is the top of the
letter:
Dear Friend,
They just can't help themselves. Turn on Fox News this week and
all you hear the right wing talk about is ACORN, ACORN, ACORN.
On Tuesday, right-wing nutjob Representative Michelle Bachmann
accused ACORN of getting billions of dollars in stimulus money
to carry out voter fraud.
She knows it's a lie -- but these guys just really can't stop.
They're so scared of ACORN they're willing to try every lie in
the book. [...]
Of course Bachmann said no such thing. Bachmann told Lou
Dobbs Tonight that
ACORN is eligible for a lot of federal money, a
point lost on ACORN's direct mail department.
Barr explained why she supports ACORN in a
Huffington Post article. Michael Moore introduced her to
ACORN on the campaign trail in 2004, she said.
Returning to the Beck story, the TV host said that Drummond Pike,
head of the Tides Foundation, wrote a personal check for about
$700,000 to ACORN to cover the bulk of the $948,000 that Dale
Rathke, brother of ACORN founder Wade Rathke, embezzled from the
ACORN network.
The Tides Foundation is a pass-through entity. Wealthy liberals
give the charity money, take the tax deduction, and then tell
Tides which causes to give their money to. The money is then
given in the name of Tides and the real donor's name is withheld.
Pike has said that keeping the identity of Tides donors secret is
very important and that's why he covered Dale Rathke's debt. Pike
is also treasurer of George Soros's Democracy
Alliance, which funds ACORN and plenty of other left-wing
causes.
Wade Rathke, who was expelled by ACORN's national board last
summer for his role in covering up the embezzlement, is a
member of the Tides board. Suspicious? You betcha.
Meanwhile, ACORN stands accused of election fraud, extortion, and
racketeering, yet congressional leaders have no interest in
investigating the group. House Financial Services Committee
Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) and House Judiciary Committee
chairman
John Conyers (D-Michigan) refuse to probe ACORN.
Why?
In the clip shown on Beck's show yesterday, Fox News reporter
Griff Jenkins asked Frank about ACORN. Frank, who claims ACORN is
not eligible for $8.5 billion in federal funding, tried
to blame ACORN on the out-of-office Bush administration.
The congressman probably won't do anything about ACORN. Why would
he? ACORN supporters are his power base.
