Dobbs again peddles baseless GOP claim that recovery bill has $4 billion for "groups such as ACORN"
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SUMMARY: CNN's Lou Dobbs repeated the Republican talking point that the House-passed recovery bill "call[s] for more than $4 billion ... for something called 'neighborhood stabilization activities,' " adding, "That means funding for low-income advocacy groups such as ACORN." In fact, the recovery bill does not mention ACORN or otherwise single it out for funding; ACORN itself has said that it is ineligible for the funds and has no plans to apply for them.
During the February 4 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, CNN host Lou Dobbs advanced the Republican talking point, for the second day in a row, that the House-passed recovery bill "call[s] for more than $4 billion ... for something called 'neighborhood stabilization activities.' " He added: "You want to know what that means? That means funding for low-income advocacy groups such as ACORN [the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now], which actually are partisan groups supporting President Obama and others through its voter registration drives and other activities."
The previous day, Dobbs had claimed that "[t]here's more than $4 billion for so-called neighbor -- are you ready, neighborhood stabilization activities [in the recovery bill] -- $4 billion, which translates into funding for so-called advocacy groups such as ACORN -- ACORN, the left-wing advocacy group. That organization and its voter-registration drives are under investigation in more than a dozen states."
In fact, as Media Matters for America has repeatedly documented, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act does not mention ACORN or otherwise single it out for funding; ACORN itself has said that it is ineligible for the funds and has no plans to apply for them. Dobbs' claim is based on a misrepresentation of a provision of the bill that would appropriate $4.19 billion "for neighborhood stabilization activities related to emergency assistance for the redevelopment of abandoned and foreclosed homes as authorized under division B, title III of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008."
The $4.19 billion would be distributed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Neighborhood Stabilization Program, an existing program authorized under Title III of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. HUD's website states that the purpose of the program is to provide assistance "to acquire and redevelop foreclosed properties that might otherwise become sources of abandonment and blight within their communities."
In a January 28 press release and January 29 piece for The Huffington Post, ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis denied that ACORN is eligible for the "neighborhood stabilization funds" and stated that it does not intend to apply for them.
From the February 4 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight:
DOBBS: Well, the Service Employees International has a long track record of lobbying, amongst other things, for amnesty for illegal aliens as well. The SEIU also has ties with the so-called community organizing group ACORN. In fact, it shares buildings where the groups, such as ACORN, are included, by the way, in President Obama's massive stimulative bill. That bill calling for more than $4 billion, by the way, for something called "neighborhood stabilization activities."
You want to know what that means? That means funding for low-income advocacy groups such as ACORN, which actually are partisan groups supporting President Obama and others through its voter registration drives and other activities. By the way, ACORN is under investigation in more than a dozen states -- ACORN, a major supporter of the Democrats across the country.
nj,
It's the complete inability of Right Wingers to accept facts and the truth. There is something in their brain that prevents accurate information from entering.
This way it is easier for them to maintain the fantasy world that they live in.
Lou "Sean Hannity" Dobbs...!
oh and i wonder if MMFA will plant a follow-up headliner that reads MMFA FAils to Retract FALSEHOOD!!
ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis:
Awaiting your retraction.
OK a little lesson in semantics here:
Not eligible can mean either (1) as in the ACORN case not registered so not eligible or (2) "ineligible" which would mean something outside their control makes then not eligible to participate.
MMFA said they, ACORN, were ineligible which was said in a disengenuous manner because it implied Mr Dobbs was wrong when he suggested ACORN could get some of the funds. If all ACORN has to do is register, then it is true they could get funds.
Not didn't our prince Obama say his wrok with ACORN was rehabilitating South Chicago housing for the less fortunate?????????.
WorldlyMrR: "ACORN did not say it was ineligible..."
ACORN: "[W]e aren't eligible..."
Still waiting.
Can't read I see.. and of course use the loeft's selective hearing/eyesight etc.
Please read above in bold face type (MMFA's words in the headline) -"ACORN itself has said that it is ineligible for the funds and has no plans to apply for them."
I see the word ineligible. Don't you as well???????
Remeber I claimed MMFA is spouting a FALSEHOOD, not ACORN. Read above again slowly for improved comprehension.
Sorry that maybe I have not been clear. MMFA says ACORN is "ineligible". ACORN CEO says not "eligible" but only because they haven't filed.
So I suggest a compromise here - how about MMFA doing a detailed article as they did with the SSN numbers and quote the sections of the bill that would prove that ACORN would not EVER be eligible to receive any of the stimulus funds.
Upon failing to do that perhaps MMFA could then show how ACORN can apply and can get eligibility to receive funds under this stimulus bill.
What part of the CEO of ACORN saying, "We aren't eligible" don't you get? And, she also states that ACORN is not getting any of this money.
Also, it would behoove you to know that ACORN has never received ANY federal funding.
"None of ACORN's contracts to perform work on projects receiving federal grant money has provided funding for voter registration."
That is directly from acorn's web site. So, you should be changing your command that acorn "never received ANY federal funding" to "yeah, they do receive federal funding."
Give it up, WorldlyMrR, everybody is on to you. We've heard it all before, blah, blah, blah.
As I read the bill it is very general about what type of neighborhood groups can get funds. they have to apply under code such and such. I did not read any language that excludes groups like ACORN. Nothing. If ti is there someone please show the rest of us.
This whole section was a late add on by the Dems - and sorry but for MMFA and trhe Lemmings, ACORN could over the next three years file the right papers and become eligible to receive and use funds uynder the House bill that passed. The facft that they are now not eligible but for fiuling some paperwork is a toitally different spin than either Dobbs or MMFA are putting on it.
So prove me wrong by quoting statute or some other proven honest independent 3rd party source because I for one can not believe a thing ACORN says - but I do believe in what their actions say and they say differently.
You have no freakin' clue about which you speak and you're getting all excited because you've been shown to be wrong. What semantic, hair-splitting bull sheitz...trying to reading nuance into "aren't eligible" and "ineligible". Prove that it's a matter of ACORN filing paperwork in order to become eligible. Prove it...
Irony - show me where in the bill are the words that would prevent ACORN, today and at all times into the future, to receive any stimulus money! You can't.
ACORN says they are not elligible, confirming exactly what MMFA said. Case closed. You are a nutcase.
Gee, my 18 year old grand son isn't eligible to drive, but all he has to do is fill out paperwork.
Quick question to the hard-core liberals: What lie did Dobbs profess? Mmfa says he lied....what lie? I've heard more lying from you liberals than from Dobbs. You liberals claim acorn never received federal money, you liberals claim acorn could never receive federal grant money. You liberals were proven to be liars when acorn's website says they DO receive federal grant money. NOW! What lie did Dobbs profess?
Mr.R:
Ineligible: adjective; not eligible; not permitted or suitible; "Acorn is ineligible for the funds."
Disingenuous: lacking in frankness, candor, or sincerity; falsely or hypocritically ingenuous; insincere: "Mr.R's claim was rather disingenuous."
MMFA's article leads the casual reader to believe that Dobbs and Company have lied in suggesting that groups like ACORN would be able to get funds under th stimulus bill. This is indeed true! My read of the bill suggests that ACORN could in a matter of days file the necessary paperwork and become eligible to receive funds under the House passed bill. If this is wrong - I say prove it.
Quoting the ACORN CEO that says they are not NOW eligible does not mean for the purpioses of the 3 to 4 years it is going to take to spend the stimulus money that they will be ineligible for the entire 4 year period. I read nothing from ACORN, either official or unofficial, where they come out and unequivocally state that they will not file and will not make any attempt to access the funds. Why this absence of such absolute statement - because they would have to eat those words once a president signed bill is out there because they will be first in line with their application to access the funds.
Care to place bets??
My read of the bill suggests...
And who the hell are you...? Some guy who's trying to sell the goofy notion that aren't eligible and ineligible are semantically different...and trying to convince people that ACORN could merely file papers to become eligible although you offer nothing to support your "read" of the bill. Who the hell are you? Get back on the porch until you can run with the dogs...
Suggesting that you are not NOW attempting to juggle live chickens while whistling Dixie does not mean that you will not do so in the future.
I repeat because you did not seem to understand: disingenuous: lacking in frankness, candor, or sincerity; falsely or hypocritically ingenuous; insincere: "Mr.R's claim was rather disingenuous."
Are you actually claiming to have read the entire bill? What are your qualifications? Do you actually understand what Acorn does? You, sir, are trolling.
You are also missing the point that this money that Dobbs is talking about is not from the current bill but from last years FHA modernization Act. You and Lou clearly have not read the American Recovery ans Reinvestment Act because it does not make any mention of the 4.19 billion referenced by Dobbs. It is not hard to find I can provide a link if you would like.
Apparently, Mr. R, you aren't worldly enough. It is misleading because they are attempting to insinuate that the money mentioned in the bill will be automatically going to ACORN or that it's a done deal that ACORN will get the money. As of right now, ACORN is not applying for the federal funds. So the statements are inaccurate. This nonsense is meant to stimulate the anti-thinking, anti-intellectual, neanderthal, knuckledragging base of the Republican Party that takes their cues from Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, and Dobbs. Lou also needs the truck drivers and construction to continue tuning in to him, so he needs to say things about tax money going to liberal groups who will support the big bad brown people who will take your jobs away.
THANK YOU.
njguy93@yahoo.com
And MMFA article was not equally disengenuous so as to have an unknowing or ill informed set of lemmings saying how bad Lou is???
Pot meet kettle!!!!
Mr. Worldly,
You are proven worng so you resort to name calling, nice!
How is mentiontioning that MMFA is no different than the Lou Dobbs they are complaining about is name calling??? If you are referring to the Lemmings comment, see above where the mjority of the people on here fail to do any critical reading or analysis - they take what they are told at face value and charge into battle thinking they have truth justice and the american way on their side.
Probkem is that our entertainment based news media have critically dumbed down America.....
There isn't too many things more clear than, "We're not eligible..."
You so help prove my point - you have taken the argument down to three words. But the issue at hand goes way beyond that. ACORN is a media lightning rod. I would have thought that anything to do with ACORN MMFA would have exercised low ones let me repeat.
Yes today ACORN wopuld be ineligible because they have not filed to be eligible.
If ACORN makes the requisite filing they could, as Dobbs and others suggest, receive stimulus funds. It is that simple. MMFA makes Dobbs and others appear to be be partisan or stupid for not listening to ACORN say they are not NOW eligible.
My claim of MMFA being disengenuous is their attempt to paint the other side as wrong when Dobbs and company are just as right as MMFA is. You see this is an argument about principle and not just three words.
I raised those three words solely to show that MMFA can and often is just as disengenuous as those they criticize. Now don't get me wrong, when there sre indisputable facts MMFA quotes those facts but when the other side is gaining ground they parse statements, don't tell the whole story, quote the accussed for facts and fail to do the same detailed critical analysis they do when they are 99+% right.
Left side hacks
You are like the crazy people on American Idol who can't sing but somehow think they have the pipes of Beyonce. These people are so delusional that even after hearing their own horrible performance played back for them they are unable to admit the sad truth.
Delusional folks are pretty sad. It must be tough for you.
People like you talking about dumbing down America is hilarious.
THANK YOU.
njguy93@yahoo.com
I don't know, njguy. "Me thinks" [sic] he's very wordly.
Yeah. Bizarro World-ly.
This whole right wing media affair with ACORN is astonishing. I work for a large bank and ACORN does the home buyer education for loans for low-moderate income purchasers that we work with. I work closely with them and know first hand the good that they do for people the disadvantaged. I would bet that Dobbs, Oreilly, Limbaugh et al do not know anything about ACORN.
While it is technically true that the parrot is dead, the potential exists for it to be just resting.
I think it's pining for the fjords myself.
Beautiful plumage!
Doubtful, a deeply impacted intelligence, digging ever deeper into his favorite grooves.
The thing is, MyWorld or whatever its name is, is making assumptions, and leaps of logic, and saying the "ACORN could apply", but they will not anyway. Here's why. ACORN has never received federal funding. They have worked with groups that have received federal funding, but they have never asked for federal funding. Why would they start now? If they do, we can all be proven wrong, well, actually not wrong, because right now, they won't be getting any federal funding.
These whack-a-doos like Mr. Worldy and AnotherAmerican on the other ACORN thread, see them as some sort of ultra left wing liberal activist group, which they're not. They're non partisan. Anyone can join them. Anyone can volunteer for them. When they register voters, they dont' just register democrats, they register, whomever wants to register to vote. ACORN has never comitted voter fraud, an actual voter has to do that. When ACORN has been found to be getting fraudulent voter registrations, what have they done? They turned them into the local elections board, as is per their rules. They note what they think might be frauds on voter registration cards, and turn them. It's not ACORN's job to determine who is, and who isn't eligible to vote. They can't legally throw away voter registration cards. And in the rare cases when people who work for them fill out voter registration cards, ACORN has done their own investigation, turned in the people responsible, and have always cooperated with the authorities.
It basically kills these republicans that they're registering, and working, and for POOR people.
"Prove that even if ACORN could just "file some paperwork" that they would get a dime. You can't. The simple fact is they have not "filed the paperwork" so they are NOT ELIGIBLE or to put in another way INELIGILE. It does not matter if they could become eligible in the future, right now they are indeed INELIGIBLE. Do you get it? Can you follow that very very very simple logic?"
So, you say they could become eligible? ("It does not matter if they could become eligible in the future"). Well, that alone proves a case that acorn 'could' receive more federal money in the future. I guess you aren't very good at following simple logic, either.
Besides, I don't remember Dobbs saying they 'will' receive federal money. Doesn't he simply say 'groups like acorn could receive federal cash'?? It seems that mmfa and all you liberals (who despise anyone with a differing opinion) is lying by saying Dobbs said acorn will receive the money. How very missleading and dishonest. Dobbs says groups like acorn can receive this money and THAT is true!! Groups LIKE acorn can receive the money. Try to follow SIMPLE LOGIC. Or, are you going to deny that groups LIKE acorn will receive federal stimulus moneys?
Philib, talk about FACT check. you use the word LIKE but if you scroll to his comments, he said"SUCH AS" which I believe points out ACORN specifically.
For example...Someone LIKE phillib is a liar. As compared to, Someone such as philib is a liar. Do you see the difference?
Actually, I see no difference in your statements. In your analogy, 'like' and 'such as' are used as equal descriptionaries, so they have the same meaning. But, thanks for proving my point. Look up the conjunctional use of the word 'like'.
Philib, you are a fool. I never said they could become eligible. I said even if they could, prove that they would get a dime. Why is reading comprehension so hard for you and Worldly? I mean really this is pretty basic stuff.
Neither you nor worldly have shown any proof that ACORN could get money "if they filed paperwork". And of course that is not what Lou Dobbs said. He said groups SUCH AS ACORN. He did not say like ACORN. He was saying ACORN and groups like it would get money and that is just plain false. You know it, I know it, and I bet that $4 billion in ACORN funds (that is a joke, btw) that Mr. Dobbs knows it as well.
"He was saying ACORN and groups like it would get money and that is just plain false."
I thought you were whining over my use of the word 'like' as in 'like acorn'. He did NOT say acorn would get the money, he said groups like acorn would get the money. Which is what I clarified and you called me a fool for saying. Then you say the exact same thing and you expect us to think any less of YOU?? So, are you whining about Dobbs saying "such as" or "like"? Either way, you're simply whining, because you already proved yourself to be a fool.
Let me get this straight, you are trying to say these 2 sentences would be the same:
"Groups like Acorn are getting the money"
"Acorn and groups like it are getting the money"
Read them again and see the difference? The difference is huge. One has the inclusion of ACORN in those getting the money, the other MIGHT include ACORN but might not. Are you really too dense to see thew difference? And of course he said neither. He said groups SUCH AS ACORN. This would clearly include ACORN in those groups getting the money. He lied, and now so are you. I doubt anyone is shocked by either.
"Let me get this straight, you are trying to say these 2 sentences would be the same:"Groups like Acorn are getting the money" "Acorn and groups like it are getting the money". "
I am not trying to say that, you are. What I am saying is that when Dobbs said this: "That means funding for low-income advocacy groups such as ACORN.", then he did not lie. As you and mmfa continue to claim (without a shred of evidence). The funny thing is that you just 'make things up' in order to quantify your belief that Dobbs lied. Either that, or you're simply another liberal parrot doing and saying what you are told to do and say. Your freinds must be quite proud of your ability to say/do what your are told to say/do.
FACT CHECK!?! Oh baby, are you opening a can of worms! What fact did he get wrong? What LIE did Dobbs spout about acorn?
You really are illiterate, aren't you?
Please read the post. Mr. Dobbs said groups SUCH AS ACORN would get money, not groups like ACORN would get money. He also characterizes those groups as partisan groups supporting Obama. So the only groups getting the $4 billion will be partisan groups supporting Obama? Again I ask for any small amount of proof. Any at all. So yeah, Mr. Dobbs lied. He lied here and he lied about it before. I am sure if we wait a few more days he will lie about it again.
Are you a complete idiot? Have you ever gone to acorn's web site. They admit they receive federal grants and explain that each project does not include voter registration.
"None of ACORN's contracts to perform work on projects receiving federal grant money has provided funding for voter registration."
That is from acorns web site. Any idiot (hopefully that includes you loony liberals who can't read) can see they are saying that they work on federal projects that receieve grant money. They simply point out that the money they do make from these federal projects don't go to voter registration.
Now, I've proven MY case, how about you prove YOUR case: Dobb's lied. Let me give you a hint...don't use acorn's web site, they obviously know federal grant money comes into their business.
HUH?? What did you prove here? That ACORN has gotten federal money has nothing to do with if they will get money from the $4 billion. Show the proof that they will get $4 billion. Show proof that only "partisan groups" will get the $4 billion. Come on philib, this is really just plain dumb. I did not just ask for random facts about ACORN, but proof that they would get money from this bill. Heck, I will even settle for proof that the money will only go to "partisan groups that support Obama". I'll wait.
"HUH?? What did you prove here? That ACORN has gotten federal money has nothing to do with if they will get money from the $4 billion." and "Neither you nor worldly have shown any proof that ACORN could get money "if they filed paperwork". "
That was quite liberal of you to finally admit you are wrong. What I did was to prove acorn receives federal grant money (by their own admission), so the FACT that they have gotten federal grant money is inherrent proof that they could receive further federal grant money. Now, it's on YOU to prove Dobbs lied. I suspect I'll never hear from you, or any of your cohorts again, on this subject.
I like the way you changed your arguement from "could" to "will" get federal money. I take that as an admission that you are wrong with your arguement and decided to change it to a different arguement.
Just to make sure I'm up with your stance, you used to claim acorn never received and never would receive federal grant money, because they are ineligible. You have since changed your stance to 'they will not receive federal grant money'. Is this because you were shown they 'could' receive and you were shown they 'have' received federal grant money. I wonder what you'll change your stance to next? What a liberal you are!
The limits you have deliberately imposed on your own ability to process information are awe inspiring.
And your ability to post statement after statement that have NO relative meaning to current discussions is well... liberal of you.
I take it you don't think Dobbs or Rush or Savage are 'precious children of God' that you say other right wingers are? That's not being very Christian, of you, to judge those three while releasing from judgement other right wingers. Is that what your God teaches you to do (to hate some, but love others)?